Commentary Job design meets organizational sociology

The world of work has seen a vast transformation in the three decades since Hackman and Oldham published their foundational research on work redesign. At the broadest level, the US has nearly completed the transition from a manufacturing to a service economy foretold by Daniel Bell (1973). By 2010, perhaps as little as 10 per cent of the American workforce will be employed in agriculture and manufacturing—growing food and making things. During the years of the Bush administration, the manufacturing sector suffered a net loss of 4.2 million jobs—about one in four. Although the steep decline in manufacturing employment is often attributed to offshoring, another fundamental source of job loss is productivity growth. The US still leads the world in manufacturing value added, with almost one-quarter of the world’s total. It simply no longer takes as many people to accomplish this. Just as 1 per cent of the population is sufficient to produce all the food we need, it is possible to foresee a time when less than 5 per cent of the workforce produces all the manufactured goods we need. Where are the jobs now? Today, nine of the 12 largest American employers are in retail or fast food. (In descending order, these are Wal-Mart, UPS, McDonald’s, Target, Kroger, ATT Corak, 2004).