THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL-CHANGE IN A SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Any technological change has the potential to impact the job content o f all organizational levels, from the shop floor to upper management e chelons, but not necessarily in the same manner. This study evaluates the impact of a technological change in a service organization on actu al and perceived job content across different organizational levels, T he research investigated the reaction of bank employees and branch man agers to the introduction of a significant technological change. The c hange was the introduction of a comprehensive software package that en abled a wider variety of services while reducing response time. One hu ndred and sixty participants from 23 branches of a single bank were in volved in this study: 79 constituted the experimental group and 81 par ticipants served as a control group, Results show that while tellers d id 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 wi th their growth and development. At the same time, after the change, e mployees' job content, objectively measured, had expanded, A subsequen t management survey suggested that a major reason for the difference i n response was lack of information sharing and inadequate preparation for the change.