Social and task-related impacts of office automation: An exploratory field study of a conceptual model of the office *

The paper presents a conceptual model of the office and describes a methodology derived from it. The method was applied in two offices, one at a very early and one at an advanced stage of automation. People in the more highly automated office were found to have relatively more task-dependent connections requiring mutual adjustment, to place more emphasis on social as opposed to standardization influences (rules and procedures) on task performance, to have a more positive view of others as sources of influence on performance, and to have fewer criticisms associated with automation.