Social Aspects of Computing Computerization, Productivity, and Quality of Worklife

The rapid spread of computer and telecommunication technologies throughout white-collar work has forced social scientists to consider the impact of these technologies on the people who use them directly and on the work force and economy as a whole. Questions about the effects of these technologies on employment levels and organizational efficiency arose in earlier discussions of the impact of automation [52]. Now researchers are also asking about the effects of information technology on the social experience of individuals who use it, i.e., the nature of their jobs and the quality of their working lives. But the answers to these questions are not straightforward. As Attewell and Rule note, the “research literature on the impact of new information technologies on job content and job satisfaction provides a mass of contradictory findings [5, p. 1185].” Both economic and social theory as well as a rich case study literature suggest that while information technology may increase productivity it can degrade the work lives of those who use it. One way for-employers to cut labor costs is to substitute less experienced, educated, and skilled employees for more skilled employees by using technology. Information technology can aid this process in at least two ways. First, it can incorporate some skill and knowledge directly, requiring the user to have less. Much special purpose expert system software avowedly has this aim [Z]. More generally available technology on both the shop floor and in the office, including numerically controlled machine tools, spelling checkers, and syntax-directed programming editors, can also be used in this way. Second, information technology can complement Taylorism-