ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the cultural causes of work organization. In 1974, the West German Ministry of Research and Technology and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs jointly launched an extensive programme of research and action to "Humanize Life at Work". The programme took the form of subsidies and grants to organizations that wanted to do something about changing the nature of work. While at work, people are subjected to a variety of influences affecting their health and well-being and reaching far into other areas of life. One difference between the work in this programme and the work in the Anglo-Saxon countries and in Scandinavia, with which the author was more familiar, was that in Germany social scientists were not accustomed to taking action roles. Nevertheless, having heard and read so much about the Scandinavian approach and work, the head of the Humanization Programme wanted some involvement from them.
