Unit 5 SeminarWork and Technology

SS430 Sociology of WorkDr. Evelina Panayotova

Overview

We review the impact of technology on the workforce via: tracking changes in the organization of work

as it has evolved from the household farm to the urban factory and bureaucracy

tracking changes in technology

Key Concepts Technology: The application of knowledge and skills for

practical purposes Organizational structure: The pattern of relationships

among the various parts of an organization and among the various employees

Technological determinism: Forms of technology determine organizational structure.

Types of technologies Simple Tool Craft Mass production Microchip. 

Implications of Technological Change Technology functions to amplify and surpass

the organic limits of the body. In creating jobs that demand less of the

body, industrial production has tended to create jobs that give less to the body.

However, information technology can redirect the negative, seemingly deterministic effects of automation.

What is Skill? Skill is the ability to act according to rules

which depend on feedback from a non-social environment. Skills might be the ability to chop wood or type on a typewriter. The actor him/herself is able to judge whether the action has been successful or not.

Complexity, diversity and autonomy of jobs

What Makes for a Good Job?

Autonomy – self-direction and potential for expression of creativity

Diversity – the number of different tasks and responsibilities required

Complexity – level, scope, and integration of physical, mental, and interpersonal tasks

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Division of Labor in Capitalism

What type of division of labor was unique to capitalism: systematically subdivide the work in each

productive specialty into limited operations.assign each operation to an individual

worker What are the three steps that uniquely

identify the capitalist mode of production?

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The “Detailed Worker” What are the 3 steps that create the detail

worker? Step 1: Analyze the production process

Step 2: Separate into individual tasks Step 3: Assign separate tasks to individual

workers = the breakdown of work among workers that creates the detail worker

All steps are impractical in the absence of sufficient quantities to be produced, i.e. mass production only.

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Dividing the Craft Cheapness its Individual Parts Why is that? Because the labor power needed to

produce an article can be purchased more cheaply as separate skills rather than as a capacity integrated in one single worker.

Do you agree with this statement?

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Deskilling – Braverman*

Would you agree or disagree? Can you provide examples to support your

argument in reaction to Braverman’s statement that: “The capitalist mode of production

systematically destroys all-around skills where they exist and brings into beings skills and occupations that correspond to its needs”.

*(p.162 in your text for reference)

Frederick Taylor (1856-1915)

Taylorism: A practice, named after Frederick Winslow Taylor, of the scientific management of work processes. In Taylor's task management system, each worker was given a definite task with detailed written instructions and an exact time allowance for each element of the work. The task was based upon detailed time study and standardization of methods, tools, and materials.

Principles of Taylorism

Factory management must: determine the best way for the worker to do the job provide the proper tools and training, provide incentives for good performance.

Task allocation: Each job is broken down into its constituent motions, analyzed to determine which are essential, and timed for efficiency

Superfluous motion is eliminated, Worker follows a machinelike routine, becomes more

productive BUT has no control over the work process.

Why SCIENTIFIC Management?

Taylor applied scientific principles and measurement to the work process, rather than to machines.

Problem: Neglected the human element Task allocation: no room for the worker to excel

or think; everything is prescribed Assumed worker motivation with financial

incentives only; Carrot=money

Drive system in Industrial Factories The process of factory worker management

and control by which the foreman pushed workers to work faster, more continuously, and under increasingly dangerous conditions, in order to meet production goals.

Is a “carrot” or a “stick” a better method for control and motivation?

While replacing the “stick” what kind of a “carrot” did Taylorism offer?

Problematic Assumptions of Taylorism:

Scientific management theorists assumed that workers desired to be used efficiently to perform their work with a minimum of effort, to receive more money. workers would submit without question to

standardization of physical movements and thought processes.

The system ignored human feelings and motivations, leaving the worker dissatisfied with the job.

Employers omitted the altruistic elements in Taylor's system and employed time and motion studies to set high norms of production and speed up the production line while still keeping wages down.

Task allocation=dehumanization

Detailed Division of Labor RevisitedBreaking the work down into smaller

and smaller units to maximize efficiency without giving thought to the job satisfaction of the worker = dehumanizing of the work

Hawthorne Experiments: Elton Mayo

Mayo, Harvard Business School - experiments at Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company 1924-1927

Finding: Getting workers involved, asking their

opinions, as in consultations/interviews between labor and management, gave workers a sense of belonging to a team and increased productivity

Summary of Mayo's Beliefs:

Individual workers cannot be treated in isolation, but must be seen as members of a group.

Monetary incentives and good working condition are less important to the individual than the need to belong to a group.

Informal or unofficial groups formed at work have a strong influence on the behavior of those workers in a group.

Managers must be aware of these 'social needs' and cater for them to ensure that employees collaborate with the official organization rather than work against it.

Additional Motivational Approaches

Industrial engineers/sociologists have suggested additional approaches toward improving motivation and productivity. These include job alternation to relieve boredom; job enlargement, or having the worker perform

several tasks on a project rather than performing a single operation;

job enrichment, redesigning the job to make it more challenging.

Bureaucracy

According to Weber, a system of legal rational management in which administration is based on impersonal, written rules and a hierarchy of offices. Office holding is a vocation based on expert training, a salary, and a career ladder in which promotion depends on seniority and/or ability.

Weber’s Bureaucracy

Efficient Rational Impartial Management follows rules and regulations Officials are appointed based on expertise Hierarchy of authority among offices Consistent information flow

What is your Experience with Modern Bureaucracies? Are they: Efficient? Rational? Impartial? Management follows rules and regulations? Officials are appointed based on expertise? Hierarchy of authority among offices? Consistent information flow?