Clerical Work and the Impact of Automation

Abstract

‘Work situation’ —‘the position of the individual in the social division of labour’ (Lockwood, 1958, p. 15) refers both to the nature of the work itself and the social relationships — particularly between superiors and inferiors — characteristic of particular employment. Both of these elements were emphasised by Lockwood in his description of clerical work and the clerical class situation in the late 1950s. In small offices, Lockwood suggested that the social relationships of the ‘counting-house’ era — that is, a relatively close relationship between superior and subordinate — still persisted. However, in large organisations, bureaucratic rationalisation was already well established, and clearly there could be no close, personal relationship between employer and employed. Nevertheless, even in large bureaucracies, individual working groups tended to be small, ensuring close working relationships with superiors. In any case, bureaucratic administration was frequently modified by ‘administrative particularism’: ‘For a hundred years the manuals of office procedure have suggested that you do not get the best out of your clerks by ordering them about bluntly’ (Lockwood, 1958, p. 79).