Work in Global Society
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BUSM4559Topic41.pptxBUSM4559 Work in a Global Society
Topic 4 -Technological Change and the Future of Work
Technology
Objectives:
Introduce the concept of technology and technological change
Discuss some of the common assumptions about technology and the contrasting views about the impact of technology on the world of work
Identify which jobs and occupations might be at most risk to automation.
Analyse the relationship between technology, management and employees.
RMIT University
Slide 2
Thinking about Technology
A critical exploration of the claims and counterclaims of the relationship between technology and progress and technology’s impact on the world of work.
‘Why do we take so little for granted in the social sciences and so much for granted in the natural sciences?…what happens when you apply the scepticism normally reserved for social relations to technology?’ (Grint and Woolgar, 1997, 37).
RMIT University
Slide 3
Thinking Point:
Technology does not emerge from an objective exercise in problem solving.
Technology should not be thought of as an “end point”
If we focus on capturing technology as the end of a process, then we miss out on the human interactions, resistance and expertise!!
Please remember this when you become a consultant
Defining Technology
‘Technology’ is a fairly new word—coined by Jacob Bigelow, Harvard professor, in the 1820s.
Roots of the word are much older:
Techne (Greek): art, craft or skill
Teks (Indo-Euro): weave or fabricate
RMIT University
Slide 4
Defining Technology
Knowledge that is produced or articulated:
‘A system based on the application of knowledge, manifested in physical objects and organisational forms for the attainment of specific goals which maybe for practical reasons, symbolic reasons or for reasons of generating profit’.
RMIT University
Slide 5
Do we take these definitions for granted?
Or are these definitions underpinned by a analytical tradition?
5
Technology and Progress
Common assumptions:
Technological change is usually one of continuous improvements of existing technologies.
‘We’ can always make things better and faster.
The progressive element of technology makes it a unique human endeavour.
Advances in technology bring positive advances to an organisation and the world of work.
An organisation’s level of progress can be measured in its advances in technology.
determines organisational design and the nature of work
is developed according to a particular ‘logic’, process or universal law.
Does evidence support these claims? Totally? Partially? Not at all?
RMIT University
Slide 6
Technology Driven Organisations?: Key Concepts
Technological Determinism:
‘The assumption that technology determines—that is leads directly to—a particular form of society or organisation’ Grint and Case (1998)
We are the ‘servants’ of technology rather than its ‘master’ (‘Frankenstein Monster’)
Robert Blauner concludes in his research on work in American industries that:
‘technology more than any other factor determines the nature of the job tasks performed by blue collar employees and has an important effect upon a number of aspects of alienation’ ? (Blauner 1964).
RMIT University
Slide 7
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Technology Driven Organisations?: Key Concepts
Technocracy
That organisations can be governed by engineers and technical experts (scientific managers) who attempt to solve workplace problems’ based on technical/scientific principles.
RMIT University
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Technocrats believe technology can ‘fix’ all problems:
Car accidents seat belts, air-bags
Hyper active kids Retalin (prescription drugs)
Heroine addiction methadone
Graffiti resistant paints
Dangerous jobs robotics
Global warming carbon capture and storage/geosequestration
‘Ugly people’ cosmetics/cosmetic surgery
‘Lazy’ workers surveillance equipment robots
RMIT University
Slide 9
Technology Driven Organisations?: Key Concepts
Technological Imperative:
The view that the development of new technologies are inevitable, essential and must be embraced for the betterment of workers, organisations and broader society.
It is a dominant (hegemonic view) but should we accept such a view:
“Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences” (Lewis Mumford) (Philosopher of technology 1895-1990)
RMIT University
Slide 10
While some embrace technology
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……………………..
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others question the technological imperative.
RMIT University
Slide 13
Technology as socially determined
Technology as socially determined
Technological changes are themselves socially engineered and all human relationships (including organisational relationships) are derived from and ultimately determined by cultural and/or social relationships rather than technological aspects.
Technologies have different meanings to different groups
“..technology is not a pure application of science; it is co-determined by social, cultural, economic and technical factors in the environment that contextualizes it”
(Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006: 155).
RMIT University
Slide 14
Critical Perspectives about Technology’s Impact on the World of Work
Harry Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capitalism (1974)
Key arguments:
Technology is used as a tool by management for ‘technical control’
Through the process of deskilling and work degradation, all employees are finding themselves in a similar disempowered and alienated position.
All work is becoming the same and workers are becoming extensions of machines.
Under the ‘logic’ of capitalism ‘deskilling’ is a universal process and the skilled craft worker is becoming extinct.
Through ‘deskilling’ workers have lost control over the production process and are largely powerless to stop any workplace changes (e.g. technological change, the hiring and firing of workers, managerial decision-making, shift rosters, speedup, etc.)
RMIT University
Slide 15
Critical Perspectives about Technology’s Impact on the World of Work
Technology can be is a subversive force:
Technological change can be a subversive process that results in the modification or destruction of jobs and established organisational roles, processes, relationships and values.
Amazon’s use of Mechanical Turk in its warehouses is seen by Spencer as “a technology ‘leveraged by capital to capture and alienate labour power’” (see Spencer 2016: 5).
Technology might be selected not because of its innate superiority, but because it meets the needs of the power holder within that organisation.
“..what kinds of digital technologies get produced, how they are used and what outcomes they yield, are at least partly dependent on the interests of capital and its representatives” (Spencer, 2016: 4).
RMIT University
Slide 16
Critical Perspectives about Technology’s Impact on the World of Work
RMIT University
Slide 17
Technology can have intended and unintended consequences for workers and managers.
For example:
The invention of the Davey Lamp for the mining industry
In the early 1800s:
Intended: improve mine safety
Unintended: allowing deeper mines to be worked
“When should workers embrace or resist new technology?” (Edwards and Ramirez, 2016)
“Management may intend a technology to challenge extant job controls, but are unlikely to make this explicit. It would be necessary [for workers] to try to establish whether there were such unstated aims so as to respond appropriately” (105).
“…new forces of production contain potential benefits for workers, but these benefits have to be realised in the twin senses that people are aware of them and that the benefits are actualised. ..the positive aspects of technical change may be more developed in the future than has often been the case in the long history of workers’ engagement with new technology” (112).
RMIT University
Slide 18
Will technological change make your job obsolete?
Will technological change only impact unskilled labour intensive jobs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0WdCa-o3cI&t=37s
See: Furman reading ‘Is this time different?’; Smith ‘Public predictions for the future of workforce automation’ (2016)
Which occupations are most vulnerable to technological change?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skG3okhx2TU
See: Penny ‘The robots are coming for your jobs’ (2015); Ehrenreich ‘Rise of the robots and ‘shadow work’’ (2015)
RMIT University
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Conclusion
RMIT University
Slide 20
Thinking Point:
Technology does not emerge from an objective exercise in problem solving.
Technology should not be thought of as an “end point”
If we focus on capturing technology as the end of a process, then we miss out on the human interpretations, resistant and expertise!!
Please remember this when you become a consultant, because we often fail to think about the intended and unintended consequences of technology for workers.
Key concepts and essay questions:
Concepts:
Technological determinism
Technocracy
Technological imperative
Questions:
How has technology impacted on the changing nature of work?
Is technology a job killer? What jobs are most at risk?
When should workers embrace or resist new technology?
RMIT University
Slide 21
References
Blauner, R. (1964). Alienation and freedom: The factory worker and his industry.
Dorling, D (2013) ‘Generation Jobless’, New Statesman, 16-22 August, http://www.newstatesman.com/economics/2013/08/generation-jobless-worst-youth-unemployment-crisis-european-history-should-be-blam
Edwards, P and Ramirez, P (2016) ‘When should workers embrace or resist new technology?’, New Technology, Work and Employment, 31(2): 99-113.
Ehrenreich, B (2015) ‘Rise of the Robots’ and ‘Shadow Work’, New York Times, 11 May, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/books/review/rise-of-the-robots-and-shadow-work.html
Furman, J (2016) ‘Is This Time Different? The Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence’, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/20160707_cea_ai_furman.pdf
Grint, K., & Woolgar, S. (2013). The machine at work: Technology, work and organization. John Wiley & Sons.
Grint, K., & Case, P. (1998). The violent rhetoric of re‐engineering: management consultancy on the offensive. Journal of Management Studies, 35(5), 557-577.
Hatch, M. J., & Cunliffe, A. L. (2012). Organization theory: modern, symbolic and postmodern perspectives. Oxford university press.
RMIT University
Slide 22
References
Padulla, M. (2016) ‘Could we be underestimating the human condition when we think about the future of work?’ http://staffingamericalatina.com/en/no-estaremos-subestimando-lo-humano-cuando-pensamos-en-el-futuro-del-trabajo/?platform=hootsuite
Penny, L (2015) ‘The Robots are Coming for Your Job. That might not be bad news.’, New Statesman, 9-15 October, http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2015/10/robots-are-coming-your-job-might-not-be-bad-news
Samuel, A. (2016) ‘a labor day look at the future of work’ http://daily.jstor.org/a-labor-day-look-at-the-future-of-work/
Skidelsky, R (2013) ‘The Rise of the Robots’, The Centre for Global Studies, 22 February, http://globalstudies.org.uk/the-rise-of-the-robots/
Smith, A. (2016) ‘Public Predictions for the Future of Workforce Automation’ Pew Research Centre http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/03/10/public-predictions-for-the-future-of-workforce-automation/
Spencer, D (2016) ‘Work in and beyond the Second Machine Age: the politics of production and digital technologies’, Work Employment and Society, 1-11.
RMIT University
Slide 23
References
Thompson, C (2016) ‘We have reached the tipping point where technology is destroying more jobs than it creates, researcher warns’, Business Insider Australia, 4 June, http://www.businessinsider.com.au/technology-is-destroying-jobs-and-it-could-spur-a-global-crisis-2015-6?r=US&IR=T
RMIT University
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