Technological Change as a Social Process: A Case Study of Office Automation in a Manufacturing Plant

Abstract

As new computer technology moves into more and more workplaces, the study of its potential impacts on workers and their work is becoming increasingly common. However, such research is often weakened by a too‐narrow conception of technology and technological change as primarily a technical issue. In fact, it is impossible to abstract the “impacts” of technology from the dense web of social relations and the complex milieu surrounding technology's design and use.this article describes a different approach to studying technological change as a social and cultural process. Using ethnographic principles and methods, it reports on the key social and organizational issues surrounding the implementation of a complex computer system at a small manufacturing plant. It also argues that this ethnographic approach has special promise for helping work organizations analyze and understand their experiences with technological change.

Working Knowledge Goes Global: Knowledge Sharing and Performance in a Globally Distributed Team

“…In their transformational and care-taking roles, technicians often supply vital tacit or informal knowledge that may be missing from formal production processes, yet is necessary to ensure quality (Howard andSchneider 1988, Orr 1990). The absence of informal working knowledge from technologically sophisticated production processes is commonplace, and occurs because the designers of these processes could not know in advance all of the contingencies that might arise once the process was activated in a work context.…”

The Skill Requirements of Work Activity: An Ethnographic Perspective

“…Perhaps managers believe that on-the-job training will be sufficient to achieve upgrading, and/or they may not want to raise wages (the latter possibility seems especially likely in view of the fact that many managers still have cost savings in mind when new technologies are implemented, even though empirical data demonstrates that such savings usually do not materialize; see Majchrzak, et al, 1987). Alternatively, managers may underestimate the level of conceptual skill needed to cope with problems presented by new technology (Orr 1986;Howard andSchneider 1988, Sachs and; see also Hirschhorn 1984). Part of this problem may be a Tayloristic managerial philosophy which suggests that workers should not possess substantial conceptual skill (whether or not such skill actually is needed; see Sachs and Scribner 1990).…”

“…Kusterer's base-line characterization of local knowledge at traditional work sites may be compared and contrasted with ethnographic data on local knowledge drawn from studies of work groups at advanced technology sites. Observations at two such sites (Howard and Schneider 1988, Sachs 1988 point to the emergence of a new type of local knowledge, one required to cope with the problems posed by automation. This new type of knowledge, called knowledge about systems (Howard and Schneider 1988), integrates formal and informal understandings about the abstract rules of automated production systems on the one hand, together with experiential understandings about concrete steps in the production process on the other.…”

“…Observations at two such sites (Howard and Schneider 1988, Sachs 1988 point to the emergence of a new type of local knowledge, one required to cope with the problems posed by automation. This new type of knowledge, called knowledge about systems (Howard and Schneider 1988), integrates formal and informal understandings about the abstract rules of automated production systems on the one hand, together with experiential understandings about concrete steps in the production process on the other. Workers use this integrated body of knowledge about system rules and production processes to solve, predict, plan for, and avoid problems that arise as a result of automation.…”

“…This comparison enabled the workers to pinpoint and correct the source of the discrepancy (a data entry error) and to locate the missing parts. Howard and Schneider (1988) likewise found that workers in a small aircraft instruments plant needed to understand abstract system rules of MRP in order to achieve "end runs" around the system in response to actual production demands. Illegal maneuvers around MRP were necessary in order to circumvent system-imposed bottlenecks (e.g., as when MRP would not allow parts to move backward in the production chain for rework).…”