Measuring the Level of Automation and its Impact on Organizational Performance and Employees’ Job Performance

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to propose the methodology for the measurement of levels of automation with the help of a dynamo reference scale for dynamic levels of automation and to find its relationship with organizational performance, and employee job performance while bifurcating the tasks performed by human and machine. The present research employs quantitative analysis to find out the hypothetical relationship between levels of automation, organizational performance, and employee job performance. The data was collected from managers and employees working directly with machinery involved in production, particularly the Kotri textile mill. The hypotheses testing suggests that the proposed model achieved an acceptable fit with the data (i.e., out of 7 hypotheses, 6 hypotheses were significantly accepted). The study has limitations in generalization, in terms of the survey questionnaire, and the targeted audience (employees of the firms & managers of the concerned department) of textile mills of the Kotri industrial zone. This is the first research that contributes to the methodology in business studies for measuring levels of automation by employing a dynamo reference scale for levels of automation from industrial engineering which is a new concept in business studies. Secondly, this research provides insight into how organizations are performing at optimal levels with the help of machinery with only a minimal number of employees. Finally, future research strongly suggests implementing the methodology for measurement of automation coupled with business research methods in other industries to understand their level of automation and task performance by employees and machinery as this may bring about interesting possible outcomes.