Advanced technology and the quality of working life: The effects of word processing on video typists

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a case study which describes the impact of word processing technology on the characteristics of typing jobs in an engineering consultancy. Examination of company documents and interviews with managers indicated that the decision to adopt this technology was influenced by pressures and people within the organization, rather than by external forces. Interviews with typists indicated that the change from copy typing to word processing had reduced task variety, meaning and contribution, control over work scheduling and boundary tasks, feedback of results, involvement in preparation and auxiliary tasks, and communication with authors. The change had increased pay and promotion opportunities, and control over typing quality. The overall pattern of skills and knowledge required by typists had altered. These changes were determined weakly and indirectly by the technology of word processing, and strongly and directly by management decisions about the way in which the typists' work was reorganized and controlled. Management felt that closer control over typing work would increase productivity. The new work organization achieved this control, but appeared to restrict the typists' ability to exploit fully the potential benefits of the new technology.