Social Dimensions of Office Automation
Advances in computersPublished 1 January 1986
Abbe Mowshowitz
Citations94
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
This chapter discusses different approaches to automation, the impact of office automation on employment (based on employment levels, skill requirements, and career paths), some key policy issues concerning the effects of automation on Employment, changing skill levels in clerical and professional work, the policies of organized labor and union responses to the challenges posed by office automation.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the social implications of office automation, and describes the effects of office automation on people and organization. Office automation is a controversial subject which amplifies residual biases present in all studies of social impacts of technology. Study of office automation begins with an examination of productivity in the office. The chapter discusses different approaches to automation, the impact of office automation on employment (based on employment levels, skill requirements, and career paths), some key policy issues concerning the effects of automation on employment, changing skill levels in clerical and professional work, the policies of organized labor and union responses to the challenges posed by office automation, and the organizational and managerial implications of office automation. The literature on computers and organizations is being reviewed that focuses on the computer's role in decision making and problem solving. The chapter concludes by discussing the future of work. Since work is a central concern in office automation, it is natural to consider its future at the end of the study.
Keywords
Social Sciences
Journal of Applied PsychologyDevelopment of the Job Diagnostic Survey.
7,242 Citations1975J. Richard Hackman, Greg R. Oldham
The Economic JournalThe Principles of Scientific Management.
5,317 Citations1912Lord Woolf, Frederick Winslow Taylor +2 more
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and SocietyPrinciples of Scientific Management, The
5,094 Citations2015
The Architecture of Complexity
4,484 Citations1991Herbert A. Simon
A number of proposals have been advanced in recent years for the development of “general systems theory” which, abstracting from properties peculiar to physical, biological, or social systems, would be applicable to all of them.
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology
3,419 Citations2014Max Weber, C. Wright Mills
The Bureaucratic Phenomenon
1,875 Citations2017Michel Crozier, Erhard Friedberg
IRE transactions on human factors in electronicsMan-Computer Symbiosis
1,793 Citations1960J. C. R. Licklider
Preliminary analyses indicate that the symbiotic partnership will perform intellectual operations much more effectively than man alone can perform them.
Communications of the ACMInformation systems and organizational change
908 Citations1981Peter G. W. Keen
The causes of social Inertia, resistance and counterimplementatlon are reviewed, which stresses the pluralistic nature of organizations.
ACM Computing SurveysSocial Analyses of Computing: Theoretical Perspectives in Recent Empirical Research
781 Citations1980Rob Kling
The roles of computer technologies in the workplace, in decision making, in altering power relationships, and in influencing personal privacy are examined and two broad perspectives are contrasted.
Communications of the ACMStructuring computer-mediated communication systems to avoid information overload
684 Citations1985Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Murray Turoff
Unless computer-mediated communication systems are structured, users will be overloaded with information, but structure should be imposed by individuals and user groups according to their needs and abilities, rather than through general software features.
Advances in computersThe Web of Computing: Computer Technology as Social Organization
595 Citations1982Rob Kling, Walt Scacchi
It is noted that web models allow better predictions of the outcomes of using socially-complex computing developments in contrast to the discrete-entity models.
Computer Power And Human Reason: From Judgement To Calculation
408 Citations1991Joseph Weizenbaum
ACM Computing SurveysCentralized versus decentralized computing: organizational considerations and management options
323 Citations1983John Leslie King
The long-standing debate over whether to centralize or decentralize computing is examined in terms of the fundamental organizational and economic factors at stake, and a more behavioralistic assessment suggests that the driving issues are the politics of organization and resources, centering on the issue of control.
Communications of the ACMRemote office work
283 Citations1983Margrethe H. Olson
Examination of some behavioral, organizational, and social issues surrounding remote work, particularly work at home finds individuals who worked at home successfully were found to be highly self-motivated and self-disciplined and to have skills which provided them with bargaining power.
Medical Entomology and ZoologyWho Knows: Information in the Age of the Fortune 500
193 Citations1981Herbert I. Schiller
This books analyzes the international and national factors promoting the development of the emerging information society and exmaines the weaknesses of existing information systems, critiquing their durability, applicability and ultimate desirability.
Communications of the ACMComputer information systems and organization structure
185 Citations1981Daniel Robey
Findings suggest that CIS is a flexible tool that is compatible with a variety of organizational design options and not a cause of design per se.
Programmers and Managers: The Routinization of Computer Programming in the United States
138 Citations1977Philip Kraft
The routinization of computer programming and management practice and the de-skilling of programmers.
IFIP advances in information and communication technologyHuman Choice and Computers
113 Citations2024Robert M. Davison, David Kreps
Microelectronics Revolution
99 Citations2013
Advances in computersComputing as Social Action: The Social Dynamics of Computing in Complex Organizations
83 Citations1980Rob Kling, Walt Scacchi
The chapter presents an examination of the usefulness of different social perspectives for explaining how computing developments work in complex organizations and suggests that the six perspectives are best introduced by indicating how they help explain a complex case of computer use.
Communications of the ACMComputer mediated work: the interplay between technology and structured jobs
78 Citations1984Jon Turner
Interactions with clients, operators, and perceived task environment and well being are seen to be influenced by the type of system interface used, and mental strain symptoms is shown to be an important indicator of operator wellbeing.
The Computer and the Clerk
74 Citations2018Enid Mumford, Olive Banks
Office Technology and PeopleRACE AGAINST TIME: AUTOMATION OF THE OFFICE
56 Citations1982Judith Gregory, Karen Nussbaum
Office automation refers to the use of computer technology to process and transmit information, combining word and data processing, and involves linking together today's many modern devices into “integrated office systems”.
Technology and CultureThe AI Business: Commercial Uses of Artificial Intelligence
55 Citations1986Steven Lubar, Patrick Henry Winston +1 more
The AI Business offers a comprehensive summary of the commercial picture, present and future, for Artificial Intelligence in the computer industry, medicine, the oil industry, and electronic design.
Communications of the ACMOn approaches to the study of social issues in computing
47 Citations1981Abbe Mowshowitz
The analysis of positions documents the close relationship between research and policy formation and reveals the misleading and dangerous character of the presumption of scholarly objectivity in research on social issues.
Technology and CultureThe Impact of Computers on Management
42 Citations1968Daniel A. Teichroew, Charles A. Myers
The purpose of this collection is to articulate as completely as possible the relationship between man and machine and the role of both in industrial organization.
Operational Research Quarterly (1970-1977)How Computers Affect Management
34 Citations1973J. R. S. Kistruck, Rosemary Stewart
RePEc: Research Papers in EconomicsThe Impact of Computers on Management
33 Citations1968Charles A. Myers
Technological Forecasting and Social ChangeInformation, value, and the internal marketplace
28 Citations1985Murray Turoff
Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics SocietyA Radiation and Industrial Hygiene Survey of Video Display Terminal Operations
27 Citations1981William E. Murray, C. Eugene Moss +2 more
The results of these tests demonstrated that the VDT operators included in this investigation were not exposed to hazardous levels of radiation or chemical agents.
eScholarship (California Digital Library)The impacts of computing on the work of managers, data analysts and clerks
23 Citations1978Rob Kling
Overall, respondents report that computer use enlarges their jobs, but does not profoundly alter the character of their jobs.
Personnel ReviewExperiments in Work System Design: Economic and Human Results. Part II.
12 Citations1977James C. Taylor
A survey of instances of work system design (WSD) experiments will be continued, with cases chosen for inclusion report the economic and human results of actual physical or structural innovations in a set of human tasks which, taken together, form some meaningful technical whole.
How Computers Affect Management
12 Citations1971Rosemary Stewart
Technological Forecasting and Social ChangeTechnological innovation and futures of work organization
10 Citations1983Trevor Williams
This paper examines the essential choice between social design principles for organizing work and the implications of the alternative design Principles for decisions about new technology.
The FuturistTelecommuters: The Stay-at-home Work Force of the Future.
10 Citations1983Peter F. Eder
The author, who sees a gradual adoption of teleworking while these technological, societal, and marketing barriers are dealt with, develops a scenario for an information society of the future.
DatamationThe real cost of OA
8 Citations1985Paul A. Strassmann
Over-expression of cathepsin K reduced lung collagen deposition and improved lung function parameters in the lungs of transgenic mice, thereby providing at least partial protection against bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis.
Obsolescence and self-assessment
5 Citations1972Paul Armer
I want to talk to you about a problem which I believe deserves the attention of each of you as individuals and of SIGCPR as a group; the disease I'm concerned with is obsolescence.
Computers — A Gift of Fire
5 Citations1985C. C. Gotlieb
An issue arises out of evidence presented by managers and social scientists that using computers in decision making can lead to systems which are too rigid and, especially in government, to procedures which fail to meet human needs.
Personnel ReviewExperiments in Work System Design: Economic and Human Results Part I
4 Citations1977James C. Taylor
Computers and ethical judgment in organizations
4 Citations1978Abbe Mowshowitz
A study in descriptive ethics that seeks to identify and analyze organizational features that enhance or inhibit the making of ethical judgments and a scheme for analyzing ethical conduct is presented.
ACM SIGOA NewsletterNARS proposes definition of office automation
4 Citations1980Dale Stouder
The general consensus was that, while the proposed definition was not perfect, it was a good start toward achieving the common understanding of office automation which is essential to the effective use of technology to increase worker productivity in the Federal Government.
MIS technology
4 Citations1971Charles H. Kriebel
Industry tabulations for 1970 indicated there were some 85,000 computer installations in the world, valued in excess of $40 billion; by 1975 these figures are expected to double; in ten years they may be redoubled.