Computers in the Workplace I

1
Computers in the Workplace I

• The Nature of Work

2
Computers in the Workplace I

• "Our Mission"
• To demystify 'hype' etc.
• To separate social from technical issues.
• To get some idea (however small) of policy
  implications.
• What would you do or not do?
• -

3
Computers in the Workplace I

• Some Issues
• (tinael)
• Levels of employment and unemployment.
• Telecommuting and homeworking.
• Changes in power structures.
• Deskilling
• -

4
The Nature of Work Some Technical Issues  

• Automation 
• 1. This is not new
• 1940s - 1970s - assembly lines.
• 1970s - microchips replace relays.
• 1980s - integration of manufacturing processes,
  robot arms, guided vehicles etc.
• 2. Widely seen as a way to greater safety and
  reliability
• Driver-less trains
• Pilots as EPs
• Computerization of Banking Services

5
AutomationAdvantages

• (tinael)
• More reliable and consistent.
• Lower production costs.
• 24 hour, 365 day production.
• No Health and Safety requirements.
• Robots can work in hazardous conditions.
• Humans relieved of boring and dangerous work.
• Remaining workers can be made more skilled.

6
AutomationDisadvantages

• (tinael)
• Spiraling job losses.
• Remaining operators may be deskilled.
• Work loses meaning for many workers.
• Because the remaining operators no longer
  understand the system, they cannot intervene in a
  crisis.
• Complex systems may be poorly understood,
  brittle, and hard to maintain.
• We do not yet know much about integrating humans
  into large-scale automated systems.

7
Some Social and Ethical Issues

• Unemployment - many people very worried.
• Deskilling - a real problem.
• Loss of human interactions and social networks in
  the workplace.
• Risk of large-scale accidents.
• Many people feel that the machines are 'out of
  control'.
• The few people who control large-scale systems,
  particularly information systems, are acquiring
  far more power over almost all other people.
• Where do you fit into these changes?

8
Levels of Employment

• Writers in this area have identified several
  possibilities
• (tinael)-
• 1.Transitional Phase-
• Unemployment in the short term, but new jobs
  emerge which compensate. Kondratief cycle.
• 2. No Effect-
• IT, computers, etc. do not put anybody out of
  work. They produce higher productivity and
  increased output increased income increased
  happiness.
• 3. Permanent Reduction in Labour required-
• Reduced hours for all, more leisure.
• Some people never work.
• Policy changes needed?

9
Deskilling

• Surprisingly, perhaps, humans are often employed
  to sweep up, pack boxes, and so on in
  highly-automated factories.
• One noticeable trend has been for human jobs to
  become increasingly low-skilled - the opposite of
  predictions of robots taking over the boring and
  monotonous work.
• There are financial pressures for employers to do
  this - it may well continue.
• It is probably not good for society as a whole -
  do you care? - who should do something about it?

10
Changes in patterns of workHomeworking and
Telecommuting

• Technically possible now for many workers
  because-
• PCs, modems, LANs, WANs, www, email, and
  videolinks all available at reasonable cost.
• Low and reducing 'physical' content of work.
• These trends look set to continue.
• There is great pressure to reduce the
  environmental costs of physical travel.

11
Changes in patterns of workHomeworking and
Telecommuting

• But-
• Telecommuting and homeworking is much rarer than
  most writers predicted.
• It is often unpopular with workers.
• Why?

12
Changes in patterns of workHomeworking and
Telecommuting

• Some Possibilities
• Some people are not psychologically suited to
  homeworking.
• Management structures, performance measures,
  promotion patterns etc. have not evolved to keep
  up with the technology.
• Most people's homes are just not designed or
  suitable for work.
• Technologies not yet good or cheap enough.
• Forrester T. 'The Myth of the Electronic
  Cottage', in Forrester (ed) Computers in the
  Human Context.

13
Changes in patterns of workHomeworking and
Telecommuting

• But-
• Improvements in technology during the 00s.
• A new generation on the job market.
• Will you work from home?''