Technical Regulation and Work Autonomy: Human Resource Management in a Specific Pathogen Free Animal Unit

Many workplace technologies regulate human behaviour. One such example is the technology used to ensure particulate and pathogen free environments in industries such as electronics, pharmaceutics, hospitals and the food industry. Humans are inimical to these environments and the usual management response to the risk of contamination, is to have a highly regulated workplace. An alternative, suggested by this present study, is to have the work group accept the responsibility for maintenance of the physical environment, thus increasing autonomy. Concomitant with this is the need to address factors that produce dissatisfaction and provide staff with a sense of the value of their work.