AUTOMATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE - THE CASE OF ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN SINGAPORE

We studied the impact of production automation on organizational perfo rmance in 52 electronics manufacturing firms in Singapore. Four dimens ions of organizational performance were identified: operational perfor mance, labor management effectiveness, workers' well-being and remuner ation. On the whole, automation was perceived to have resulted in grea ter improvements in operational performance and worker's well-being th an in labor management effectiveness and workers' remuneration. Howeve r, there was significant positive correlations among all four dimensio ns of organizational performance. Moreover, the key determinants that affected the extent of improvement achieved by automation varied among the four dimensions. Implications of the findings for automation mana gement are discussed.