Winners and losers: Employee perceptions of their company's technological transformation

Abstract

AbstractThis paper reports an unusual opportunity to explore the range of reactions that a company's technological transformation aroused in its workforce. Based on tape recordings of interviews conducted with 56 of the 141 employees, individuals were categorized on the basis of their perception of proportion of personal gains to losses: 21 were identified as winners, 17 as losers, and 18 as sideliners. Concurrently, researchers independently rated the job fate of each individual as a result of the changes, classifying jobs as protected/enhanced, threatened/diminished or unaffected. Losers were similar to winners in their belief in the need for change, their strong identification with the company, and even the amount of job disruption already experienced. Where they differed significantly, was in their perception of the future; losers feared that they would not have a place in the new company or elsewhere, and from their perspective job content was clearly irrelevant until and unless job security, or at least employment elsewhere, was assured. Losers' fears could not be dismissed simply as ‘resistance to change’ but had some basis in reality in that there was a strong correlation between loser status and threatened diminished job status, as judged by external observers. Based on these findings, the argument is made that research on the human consequences of technological transformation cannot be limited only to positive or negative effects, but should include a consideration of both; the recognition of the complexity and differential impact of technological change constitutes a first step in being able both to foster its progress while, at the same time, seeking means to moderate its negative consequences.