I am extremely interested in this area and in particular the leveling of
positions due to technological change. I would agree that in the support
staff area where performance appraisal is linked to financial reward there
appears to be a move towards cloning the pc so that all the staff are using
the same packages, which is then translated by management to the same skill
level. This is then applied to performance levels when undertaking reviews
of positions. Although there is little evidence to support this there is
now an opportunity for management to lump all secretarial/executive
assistant level staff into one band. The skills applied then come
demeaned in the process and are seen in the same context as the pencil and
notepad and learning shorthand. It seems that the social structure in
organisations is still hierarchical, but in a different form, with the
computer replacing the notepad and pencil and the secretary remaining at,
and recognised as a lower level in the organisation. The glass ceiling
(if I may use the phrase) is still there in regard to secretarial and
executive assistants, and although it looked like progress was being made
with the introduction of wordprocessing and then desktop publishing with a
recognition of these skills, it appears that now they may well be lumped
together as "basic" computing skills but in different packages. I look
forward to other views on this
At 04:59 PM 1/5/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Not to take anything away from John Naman's list (below) because it is a
>dandy, but to clarify something...
>
>Give a little thought to the examples John provides below and you will
>quickly see that they certainly illustrate Robert Bacal's earlier point
>about tools (and innovations in general) not being neutral, that is, they
>have positive and negative consequences, some foreseen and some unforeseen.
>
>That aside, my question had more to do with examples where a specific
>technological change was used to induce a specific sociological change. I
>doubt that Gutenberg, for example, had it mind to free the average person
>from the tyranny of clerics and professors (although I certainly support
>freeing all people from any form of tyranny). Then again, my grasp of
>Johnny G and his fabulous printing press is quite limited so maybe he was
>indeed a socio-technical engineer of the first water.
>
>One example of the kind I am seeking was posed to me off-line; namely, the
>technology of large-scale, nationally-normed or standardized tests. That
>technology was consciously and deliberately deployed as a way of
>identifying talent, regardless of socioeconomic status, and then educating
>these talented people with an eye toward having them take special roles in
>the running of our society. (See Nicholas Lemann's book, "The Big Test.")
>
>As another in a similar vein, consider the large, land grant colleges and
>universities. It could be argued that they represent a deployment of the
>technology of teaching/educating in the service of some sociological goal
>as well. These are, however, quite broad and sweeping examples. Does
>anyone have any of a slightly more focused nature?
>
>I'm stretching here but allow me to fabricate or at least inquire about a
>hypothetical example: Does anyone know of companies where PCs with an
>office suite such as Microsoft Office has been deployed as a deliberate
>attempt to alter the relationship between so-called "staff support"
>personnel (e.g., secretaries, executive assistants, etc.)?
>
>Less far-fetched is the phenomenon of the Edmunds web site, where a
>prospective automobile purchaser can obtain information previously
>available only to the dealers. The availability of this information has
>altered dramatically the interaction between an informed car buyer and the
>much maligned car salesman. Indeed, one of the reasons the car
>manufacturers are buying dealerships is that the profit margins have moved
>out of the sale of the automobile and into its post-sale servicing.
>
>Anyway, I'm looking for instances and examples of the conscious, deliberate
>use of technological change to induce sociological change.
>
>At 06:07 AM 01/05/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>>Intended or unintended?
>>
>>1. Printing press - freed average person from tyranny of clerics and
>>professors (woops!)
>>2. Mechanical warfare - required women to replace men in factories, proving
>>that they could do the job.
>>3. Mass communications, radio and TV
>>4. Farm mechanization - caused transformation from agrarian to cosmopolitan
>>society.
>>5. Rifle and revolvers - enabled average person to pioneer American West and
>>live to tell about it.
>>--
>>Prof. John Naman Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh
>
>Fred Nickols
>The Distance Consulting Company
>"Assistance at A Distance"
>http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
>
nickols@worldnet.att.net
>(609) 490-0095
>
>
Regards Catherina
c.wallace@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au
Catherina Wallace, MEd(T&D)
Office of Enterprise and Promotion.
La Trobe Uni. Bendigo.
PO Box 199,
Bendigo 3552.
Phone 03 54447932
Fax 03 54447555