ABSTRACT
Organizational consultation is a rapidly growing area with a diverse array of approaches and applications. Among this diversity, sociotechnical systems (STS) consultation is the most extensive body of theory and method applying the systems perspective to the design of work organizations today. From its British origins at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London, the STS approach has spread to most industrialized countries in a little over four decades (Trist, 1981). In Europe and Scandinavia, STS has become almost synonymous with efforts to enhance quality of work life; in Canada and the United States, it undergirds the growing trend toward enriched work and selfregulating work teams.
