Office Automation, Gender, and Change: An Analysis of the Management Literature

Abstract

This study examines the consequences of computerization for women who do information work. Syntheses of research findings from both the general social science literature and the business and management periodical literature are compared with each other. The two bodies of research results converge with respect to employment consequences and shifts in work, but differ markedly when it comes to control of the labor process and training. In contrast to social scientists, management researchers pay scant attention to differential gender effects of microcomputer deployment. Similarities and differences between the two research traditions show that social science and business research, if combined, yield a better understanding of the changes prompted by new information technology.This article deals with women who do information work and the ways they have been affected by the adoption of computers. Information work-that is, work intended to produce information rather than goods or noninformation services-is the fastest growing form of work in the United States. It has grown from less than 2% of all workers in 1800 to about 50% in 1986 (Beniger 1986;Kraft 1987). This transformation has been particularly important for women. It has been a major impetus for women's entry into the labor force. In 1986, about 60% of women in the labor force did information work (Kraft 1987).Computers, which are primarily information processors, make possible the automation of this work. There has been much concern in the social science literature as to how computerization will change information work, especially with the widespread adoption of microcomputers, starting in the early 1980s. Most attention has been paid