The Impact of Technological Change in a Service Organization

Any technological change has the potential to impact the job content of all organizational levels, from the shop floor to upper management echelons, but not necessarily in the same manner. This study evaluates the impact of a technological change in a service organization on actual and perceived job content across different organizational levels. The research investigated the reaction of bank employees and branch managers to the introduction of a significant technological change. The change was the introduction of a comprehensive software package that enabled a wider variety of services while reducing response time. One hundred and sixty participants from 23 branches of a single bank were involved in this study: 79 constituted the experimental group and 81 participants served as a control group. Results show that while tellers did not perceive any change in job content, branch staff experienced an increase in autonomy and an overall increase in motivating potential, but managers experienced a decrease in motivation and satisfaction with their growth and development. At the same time, after the change, employees' job content, objectively measured, had expanded. A subsequent management survey suggested that a major reason for the difference in response was lack of information sharing and inadequate preparation for the change.