Brave New Workplace

This article examines the present and future effects of technological change in the workplace. Several key technological innovations in the factory and in the office are examined with respect to their relevance to ten long-standing core issues: the “high flex” workplace; control of work; organizational change; impact on skill; technological unemployment; educational requirements and retraining; changing occupational and class structures; occupational safety and health; the interaction of work, leisure, and family; and the quality of working life. The article argues that while technological change sometimes makes work easier, cleaner, and safer, it also has a disruptive impact on many facets of working life that will have to be confronted by participants in, and students of, the New Economy.

[1]  Nelson N. Foote.  The Professionalization of Labor in Detroit , 1953, American Journal of Sociology.

[2]  H. Braverman.  Labor and Monopoly Capital , 1974 .

[3]  Koya Azumi,et al.  Determinants of Administrative Control: A Test of a Theory With Japanese Factories , 1976 .

[4]  D. Gordon,et al.  Capitalist Efficiency and Socialist Efficiency , 1976 .

[5]  Martin L. Ernst.  The Mechanization of Commerce. , 1982 .

[6]  Vincent E. Giuliano,et al.  The Mechanization of Office Work. , 1982 .

[7]  The Mechanization of Agriculture , 1982 .

[8]  A. Kalleberg,et al.  Industrial transformation and the decline of craft: the decomposition of skill in the printing industry 1931-1978. , 1982 .

[9]  Kenneth I. Spenner,et al.  Deciphering Prometheus: Temporal change in the skill level of work. , 1983 .

[10]  Robert U. Ayres,et al.  Robotic Realities: Near-Term Prospects and Problems , 1983 .

[11]  Trente ans d'automatisation et coûts opératoires dans les banques françaises , 1983 .

[12]  AnnaLee Saxenian,et al.  The urban contradictions of Silicon Valley: regional growth and the restructuring of the semiconductor industry , 1983 .

[13]  W. Form,et al.  Women, Men, and Machines , 1983 .

[14]  Impacts of the High Technologies on Vocational and Technical Education , 1983 .

[15]  Electronics and the Future of Work: The Impact on Pink and White Collar Workers , 1983 .

[16]  At Home: Winners and Losers in the High-Tech Workplace , 1983 .

[17]  Harvey Brooks.  Technology, Competition, and Employment , 1983 .

[18]  Richard L. Simpson,et al.  Social Control of Occupations and Work , 1985 .

[19]  W. Form.  On the Degradation of Skills , 1987 .