Multi-Disciplinary Socio-Technical Management: Integrating Robot Technology and Management Issues

Optimal integrated design is potentially the most significant consequence of recent advances in service robotic technologies, enabling novel organizational forms to evolve. This paper provides a broad vision of the advent of a novel multi-disciplinary organizational function in the manufacturing and service sectors. Socio-technical management means an appreciation of the interplay among technology, economic issues and human factors. This allows an extended range of economic feasibility for robotic applications that also enables a more humane work organization. Contemporary trends are reviewed. Anticipated changes in operation and work organization are discussed, indicating a new robotic era.