Impact of Two Successive Mechanization Projects on Motivation and Work Organization in a Bank

Abstract

The structure of the Bank is such that in the branches mainly commercial work is done, whereas the administrative tasks are carried out by large, centralized operational departments. In the latter, an interdisciplinary study on the medium-term repercussions of routine screenwork showed that mental and physical health, as well as work satisfaction, were more negative when the work is more mechanized. In the future the Bank plans to equip the branches with terminals connected to its data-processing network. Thereby administrative tasks would mainly be carried out in the branches, so that the large operational departments would virtually be eliminated. As such, one meets the principle that repetitive work should be shared out amongst as many people as possible. However, transferring hundreds of employees from the administrative to the commercial sector raises enormous problems, e.g. retraining.