Knowledge and Control: A Marxian Perspective on the Productivity Paradox of Information Technology

Abstract

It has been argued that there is a continued basis for Marxian discourse in the deskilling debate, given the nature of “skilled” labor in the context of the modern microelectronics-based economy. While Marxian discourse continues to emphasize manual labor in the context of an industrial paradigm, most often within the metal-mechanic industry, little has been written on the role played by information technology (IT) in control and rationalization of knowledge work since it was examined by Harry Braverman, Harley Shaiken, and Shoshana Zuboff. Meanwhile, a great deal continues to be written in the management literature on the failure of IT to deliver on its promise of increased productivity. This paper illuminates this issue of the productivity paradox of IT through extension of Marxian economic and social theory, and proposes that much of the failure in IT systems to deliver to their full productive capacity may be rooted in the contradictions of advanced capitalism. It further extends this analysis in the examination of the most recent failure of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.