The purpose of techno-structural interventions is to improve work content, methods, relationships, and to lower costs. Many organizations have turned to techno-structural interventions to increase worker efficiency and satisfaction. The most common strategies are job enlargement, job enrichment, and alternative work schedules. Job enlargement interventions attempt to increase satisfaction and performance by consolidating work functions from the work unit to provide greater variety and a sense of the whole task.
Informal job enlargement takes place as a normal supervisory practice in most organizations. Job enrichment involves varying some aspect of a job in order to motivate workers. Alternative work schedules (AWS) allow employees to modify their work requirements to satisfy their personal needs. According to a study of 521 corporations, 93 percent of the responding organizations have some type of alternative work schedules. The two most common AWS interventions are the compressed workweek and flextime.
According to research, it appears that techno-structural interventions can lead to changes, but that they are less effective overall than human process-based interventions. Of the three types of techno-structural interventions, job design has the greatest effect on productivity, while alternative work schedules have the greatest effect on attitudes. All three types have the greatest affect managerial/professional employees.