Computers, managers, and control at work

Abstract

In recent years microelectronic technologies have penetrated into virtually every branch of'the economy, giving rise to widespread concern and debate over the fate of workers' skills and trends in the level of managerial control. Some social scientists have argued that new technologies elevate skill requirements and afford workers greater autonomy, in effect freeing them from the yoke of mechanization (see Bell, 1960:222-265; Woodward, 1958; Blauner, 1964; Shepard, 1971; Hull et al., 1982; Hirschhorn, 1984). In sharp contrast, other social scientists have contended that technological development poses a major threat to workers' skills and imposes newer, more despotic forms of managerial control at work (see especially Braverman, 1974; Feldberg and Glenn, 1979; Noble, 1978, 1984; Zimbalist, 1979; Wilkinson, 1983). After more than a decade of repeated confrontation between advocates of these two