Human-centred technology was at first associated with the work-humanization initiatives of the 1960s and 70s, such as the Volvo group technology experiments, job enrichment and job enlargement schemes, and the SOCIOTECHNICAL SYSTEMS APPROACH (see also QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE, HUMAN RELATIONS SCHOOL). More recently, human-centred technology is seen as a crucial feature of new production systems based upon flexible specialization. The theory of flexible specialization posits an emerging post-Fordist manufacturing strategy (see FORDISM AND POST-FORDISM) in which multiskilled and functionally flexible craft workers replace the Tayloristic work patterns of mass production. According to the theory of flexible specialization, human-centred technology is both more ‘efficient’ in management terms, and more humanitarian and democratic in terms of management – worker relations: a ‘non-zero sum’ worker-management relationship. Although an important corrective to the simplistic logic of DESKILLING implied by LABOUR PROCESS THEORY, critics of human-centred approaches to technology cast doubt upon the extent to which they are realized in practice and point to the negative consequences found in case studies, such as increased levels of stress and work intensification. Furthermore, critics of flexible specialization question the extent of genuine worker participation, and note the increase in peripheral workers on part-time or temporary contracts who support core workers enjoying greater job security and better conditions of work (see Wood, 1989).