Office Automation

The application of new technology to the office is increasing at an unprecedented rate with new products appearing on the market virtually every day. However, it is debatable whether the far reaching changes it is claimed office automation can bring about have yet fully materialized. Research undertaken over the past ten years has concluded that it is the social rather than the technical aspects of a technology which are responsible for its effects. This book attempts to counterbalance the wealth of available material on the technical side of office automation. It acts as a dialectic, providing a serious treatment of the social and organizational aspects of office systems. For unless these factors are given full consideration, the authors argue, office automation is destined to meet with only the limited success that has greeted past computer-based information systems.