Technology and the Future of Work
1st Edition
Published on 23. April 1992
351 pages
978-0-19-536116-2 (ISBN)
Description
This book brings together a set of essays exploring the implications of new technologies in the workplace. The common premise of the contributions is that the effective implementation of automation in manufacturing and engineering operations will typically require a workforce with a higher skill profile. Examining the experience of countries in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the U.S., the book analyzes four themes: the new competencies required for effective implementation of new technologies; how firms can develop these new competencies; the implications of these changes for industrial relations; and how firms can weave together business strategy, technology strategy, and personnel strategy, to build competitive advantage. with greater rather than lesser skills. This argument contradicts the conventional assumption that automation will not only reduce the number of workers required to produce a given product but also require less skilled workers to do so.
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Paul S. Adler
Technology and the Future of Work
Book
06/1992
Oxford University Press Inc
€307.00
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Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1. Introduction
- Stumbling Backwards into the Future
- The Emergent View
- Overview
- Two Key Themes
- 2. Automation and Competency Requirements in Manufacturing: A Case Study
- The Context: The Westfield Plant
- Model of Competence
- Skills: A Function of Tools and Problems
- Hierarchy of Skill Layers
- The Roles of Direct and Indirect Personnel
- The Role System and the Principle of Complementarity
- Mapping Competencies
- Summary
- 3. Skill and Occupational Changes in U.S. Manufacturing
- Theories of Skill and Occupational Change
- Empirical Studies of Long-Term Occupational and Skill Change
- Recent Occupational and Skill Change in Manufacturing
- The Future
- Conclusion
- 4. Automation and Work in Britain
- British Debates on Automation and Skills
- Policy Analysis: 1950s to 1970s
- Labor Process Analysis
- The British Contextualist Critique
- Automation and Skills in the 1980s
- Managers' Influence on Technology and Work Organization
- Conclusion
- 5. New Concepts of Production and the Emergence of the Systems Controller
- The Automobile Industry: A New Personnel Policy
- Machine Manufacturing Industry: Centers of Craft in Reconstruction
- The Chemical Industry: The Skilled Production Worker is Accepted
- Electrical and Electronic Products: About to Take the Great Leap?
- Systems Controllers as a Key Group within the Workforce
- Long-Term Trends in Germany's Work Structure
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Work and Skills in the History of German Industrial Sociology
- 6. Institutions and Incentives for Developing Work-Related Knowledge and Skill
- Competitiveness, Automation, and Learning on the Job
- The Spectrum of Institutions for Developing Work-Related Knowledge and Skill
- Schools
- Corporate Training
- Learning-Intensive Production
- Some Policy Implications
- 7. Issues in Skill Formation in Japanese Approaches to Automation
- Contextual Factors Influencing Approaches to Automation and Worker Training
- Approaches to Skill Formation in Japanese Manufacturing
- Reasons for Worker Support and Management Adoption of Microelectronic Applications
- Training Strategies for Automation
- Japan's Approach
- 8. Technology, Industrial Relations, and the Problem of Organizational Transformation
- History of Debates on New Technology and Industrial Relations
- Integrating Human and Technical Attributes in Production
- Changes in Industrial Relations Theory and Practice
- Conclusion
- 9. Union Initiatives to Restructure Industry in Australia
- A New Union Strategy
- Macro Elements of Union Strategy
- Enterprise-Level Elements of Union Strategy
- Strategic Unionism
- Conclusion
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
- 10. Transforming the Routines and Contexts of Management, Work, and Technology
- Formative Context
- The Firm as a "Thinking Organization
- Levels of Learning
- Strategies for Innovation and Change
- Conclusion
- 11. Innovation and Institutions: Notes on the Japanese Paradigm
- Forms, Forces, and Institutions
- The Evolution of Organizational Forms in Japan
- Innovation in Interfirm Systems
- Innovation in Administrative Networks
- Adapting the Japanese Paradigm to the American Context
- Name Index
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- Subject Index
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