Technology, Work and Organizations

Stephen R. BarleyManagement Science and Engineering

Center for Work, Technology and OrganizationStanford University

Organization Studies of Technology & Work

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s onward1950s

Sociology ofAutomation

MaterialistsDeterministsFocus on WorkMethods: Field observations, interviews

and survey research.

Walker and Guest. The Man on the Assembly Line. 1952.Eli Chinoy. Automobile Workers and the American Dream. 1955.Mann and Hoffman. Automation and the Worker.1960.Blauner. Alienation and Freedom. 1964.Faunce, “Automation and the Division of Labor”, Social Problems, 13:147-160. 1965

Blauner’s Inverted U

AlienationCentralization

Extent of Automation

CraftProduction

Continuous Process

EnergySource

Trans-formation

Mass Manufacturing

Transport Control

Skill

Organization Studies of Technology & Work

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s onward1950s

Sociology ofAutomation

Socio-TechnicalSystems

MaterialistsVolunteeristsFocus on Work & Organization StructureMethods: Field observations, interviews

and survey research

Trist and Bamforth. “Some Social Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal Getting”. Human Relations, 4: 3-38. 1951

Rice. Productivity and Social Organization: The Ahmedebad Experiment. 1963

Organization Studies of Technology & Work

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s onward1950s

Sociology ofAutomation

Socio-TechnicalSystems

DeskillingTheory

MaterialistsDeterministsFocus on WorkMethods: Historical case studies.

Braverman. Labor and Monopoly Capital. 1973.

Noble. Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. 1984

Greenbaum. In the Name of Efficiency. 1979.

Braverman’s view of Blauner

AlienationCentralization

Extent of Automation

CraftProduction

Mass Manufacturing

Continuous Process

EnergySource

Trans-formation

Transport Control

Organization Studies of Technology

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s onward1950s

Sociology ofAutomation

Socio-TechnicalSystems

DeskillingTheory

SocialConstruction

of Use

ConstuctionistsStructurationistsFocus on WorkMethods: Ethnography,

Historical case studies.

Chicago School(Kling) Ethnomethodology

(Suchman)

Perspectives on the Social Construction of Technology

Perception Interpretation Appropriation Enactment Alignment

Aspect ofImplemen-tation

Adoption Use Use Use Adaptation

What is constructed

Attitudes, Beliefs and Values

Schemas and Frames

Patterns of deviation and conformity

Work Practices

Roles and Relationships

Construction Process

Social Influence

Transference Intra-group interaction

SituatedImprovisations

Inter-group interaction

Fulk et al. (1987)

Rice & Aydin(1991)

Fulk et al. (1995)

Barley (1988)Prasad (1993)Markus (1994)Orlikowski &Gash (1994)

Poole &DeSanctis

(1990)Orlikowski & Robey (1991)

Orlikowski & Yates (1994)Orlikowski

(2000)

Barley (1986, 1990)

Zuboff (1988)Thomas (1994) Edmonson et

al. (2001)

Barley’s Law of Technological Change

You almost never get just what you expect and most of the time you don’t even get that.

Corollary: However, you will get something.

First and Second Order Effects

• First Order Effects– Economic– Quick– Utilitarian– Relatively predictable

• Second Order Effects– Socio-cultural– Slow but pervasive– Critical but not utilitarian– Hard to predict

Reverberation Model of Technological Change

Work PracticesWork Relations

Division of Labor

Family

Education

CommunityDemography

OTHERINSTITUTIONS

Network Structures

Work

OrganizationIndustry

Flow of Information and Technical Assistance in a Radiology Department

Administrators Radiologists

CTTechs

CTSecretaries

Sonographers

SpecialsTechs

Nurses

X-rayTechs

Orderlies

OtherSecretaries

Technician's Work at the Empirical Interface:The Epistemic Core

Material Entities

Biological SystemsPhysical SystemsMechanical Systems

Empirical Interface

TechnologiesTechniquesKnowledge

Representations

DataTest ResultsImagesDiagnoses

Transformation

Caretaking

Distribution of Knowledge When Techs are Buffers

ContextualUnderstanding

Theoretical Understanding

Technician’sKnowledge

Professional’sKnowledge

Distribution of Knowledge in IT

Technician’sKnowledge

User’sKnowledge

ContextualUnderstanding

Hazy understanding, bordering on ignorance

Theoretical

Typical Notions of the Distribution of Technical Knowledge

Professional’sKnowledge

Technician’sKnowledge

A quote

Computer people….don’t have the requisite capacity for judgment.

Buy this Book!!!!

Freedom to Work…..

where you want!!!

when you want!!!

how you want!!!

Informants’ Source of Retirement Funds

None 45%IRA 20%401K 12%SEP 8%Kough 2%Former Employer 12%

Proportion of Articles that Mention Key Themes

Telecommutersas a Market

Energy and Air Pollution

Flexibility Work & Family

Year

Some Unanticipated 2nd Order Effects of an Information Infrastructure

• Employers have been able to appropriate portions of our and up to three additional weeks of our time per year, usually without compensation.

• Costs of employment are being shifted onto workers in a fashion that undermines the U.S. system of social welfare.

• The industrial culture of status seems to be reestablishing itself within the technical labor force, especially with respect to technicians.

References

Evans, J. G. Kunda and S. R. Barley. (2004) “Beach Time, Bridge Time, and Billable Hours: The Temporal Structure of Technical Contracting.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 49: 1-38.

G. Kunda, S. R. Barley, and J. Evans. (2002) “Why do Contractors Contract? The Experience of Highly Skilled Technical Professionals in a Contingent Labor Market.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 55:234-261

O’Mahony, S. and S. R. Barley. (1999) “Do Telecommunications Technologies Affect Work and Organizations? The State of our Knowledge” Pp. 125-161 in B. Staw and R. Sutton, (Eds) Research in Organizational Behavior, Volume 21, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Barley, S. R. (1996) "Technicians in the workplace: Ethnographic evidence for bringing work into organization studies." Administrative Science Quarterly, 41:404-441.

Zabusky, S. E. and S. R. Barley. (1996) "Redefining success: Ethnographic observations on the careers of technicians." Pp. 185-214 in Paul Osterman (ed.) Broken Ladders: Managerial Careers in Transition. Oxford, Eng: Oxford University Press.

Barley, S. R. (1990) "The alignment of technology and structure through roles and networks." Administrative Science Quarterly, 35: 61-103.