Productivity and Information Technology: The Elusive Connection

This study analyzes the effect of information technology on the efficiency of production operations in a specific manufacturing process. Survey data from 584 establishments engaged in the machining process in 21 different industries are used to construct and test an empirical model that takes into account product characteristics, the type of technology computer-programmable automation or conventionally controlled machines, the extent of technological change at the plant, process-specific characteristics such as the scale of operations and degree of customization, labor policies, and structural features of the organization of work. The results indicate that there is a significant efficiency advantage from using programmable automation technology and that technological advantages accumulate with experience and with the repeated opportunities for learning associated with large volume and frequent product changes. The most efficient use of this technology occurs in plants with work practices that involve a higher ratio of machines to workers as in a cellular approach to manufacturing and allow production workers to perform programming tasks to a greater degree. Unionized plants are also significantly more efficient than non-union plants.

[1]  Joan C. Woodward.  Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice , 1966 .

[2]  C. Perrow.  A FRAMEWORK FOR THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONS , 1967 .

[3]  N. Rosenberg.  Factors affecting the diffusion of technology , 1972 .

[4]  C. K. Harley,et al.  On the Persistence of Old Techniques: The Case of North American Wooden Shipbuilding , 1973, The Journal of Economic History.

[5]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  A Task Contingent Model of Work-Unit Structure. , 1974 .

[6]  K. Clark.  Unionization and Productivity: Microeconometric Evidence , 1979 .

[7]  M. Burawoy.  Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism , 1982 .

[8]  Donald Gerwin,et al.  The Comparative Analysis of Structure and Technology: A Critical Appraisal , 1979 .

[9]  P. Goldman,et al.  Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century , 1980 .

[10]  B. Gold.  Changing Perspectives on Size, Scale, and Returns: An Interpretive Survey , 1981 .

[11]  B. Gold.  Technological Diffusion in Industry: Research Needs and Shortcomings , 1981 .

[12]  J. Pfeffer.  Organizations and Organization Theory , 1982 .

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

[14]  R. Kaplan.  Measuring manufacturing performance: a new challenge for managerial accounting research , 1983 .

[15]  James L. Medoff,et al.  What Do Unions Do , 1986 .

[16]  Larry Hirschhorn,et al.  Beyond mechanization: Work and technology in a postindustrial age , 1984 .

[17]  J. Ettlie,et al.  Organization Strategy and Structural Differences for Radical Versus Incremental Innovation , 1984 .

[18]  G. Hall,et al.  The experience curve from the economist's perspective , 1985 .

[19]  David E. Mills,et al.  Industry Structure with Fluctuating Demand , 1985 .

[20]  H. Shaiken,et al.  The Work Process Under More Flexible Production , 1986 .

[21]  J. Dutton,et al.  The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis , 1986 .

[22]  Maryellen R. Kelley,et al.  Programmable automation and the skill question: A reinterpretation of the cross-national evidence , 1986 .

[23]  G. Zicklin.  Numerical Control Machining and the Issue of Deskilling , 1987 .

[24]  D. Wells,et al.  Choosing Sides: Unions and the Team Concept , 1988 .

[25]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Implementation as mutual adaptation of technology and organization , 1988 .

[26]  G. Dosi.  Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation , 1988 .

[27]  Bernard Burnes,et al.  New technology and job design: the case of CNC , 1988 .

[28]  K. Clark,et al.  Recapturing America's Manufacturing Heritage , 1988 .

[29]  Staffan Jacobsson,et al.  Flexible Automation: The Global Diffusion of New Technology in the Engineering Industry , 1988 .

[30]  M. Baily,et al.  Innovation And The Productivity Crisis , 1988 .

[31]  R. Cole.  Strategies for Learning , 2023 .

[32]  William N. Cooke.  Improving Productivity and Quality Through Collaboration , 1989 .

[33]  W. Nord,et al.  The Transformation of Work , 1989 .

[34]  Shoshana Zuboff,et al.  In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power , 1989 .

[35]  Dieter Boelzing,et al.  Calculating investments for integrated manufacturing: looking at the overall costs and benefits , 1989 .

[36]  M. Kelley.  New Process Technology, Job Design, and Work Organization: A Contingency Model , 1990 .

[37]  D. Levine.  Participation, Productivity, and the Firm's Environment , 1990 .

[38]  L. Argote,et al.  The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings , 1990 .

[39]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Beating Murphy's Law , 1991 .

[40]  R. Milkman,et al.  Technological Change in an Auto Assembly Plant , 1991 .

[41]  M. Kelley,et al.  External Learning Opportunities and the Diffusion of Process Innovations to Small Firms: The Case of Programmable Automation , 1991 .

[42]  Lan Xue.  Technology choice and manufacturing performance: an empirical analysis of the implementation of computer-integrated manufacturing technologies , 1991 .

[43]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Behind the learning curve: a sketch of the learning process , 1991 .

[44]  Oscar Hauptman,et al.  Effectiveness of Organizational Responses to Technological Change in the Production Process , 1992 .

[45]  Merwin W. Mitchell,et al.  Union Effects on Productivity: Evidence from Western U.S. Sawmills , 1992 .

[46]  John Paul Macduffie,et al.  Integrating Technology and Human Resources for High Performance Manufacturing: Evidence from the International Auto Industry , 1992 .

[47]  K. Clark,et al.  Innovation: Mapping the winds of creative destruction☆ , 1993 .