This dual focus is now reflected in the view that organizations are best understood as
“sociotechnical systems.” The term was coined in the 1950s by members of the Tavistock
Institute of Human Relations in England to capture the interdependent qualities of work. In
their view, these aspects of work are inseparable because the nature of one element in this
configuration always has important consequences for the other. When we choose a technical
system (whether in the form of an organizational structure, job design, or particular
technology) it always has human consequences, and vice versa.