"In the Age of the Smart Machine"
by Shoshana Zuboff
 
 
As discussed in several previous readings, developments in computers and information technology are a driving force in virtually all areas of technological advance.  Nowhere are the impacts likely to be more profound than in the nature of work, its organization, and its management.  In her widely discussed and influential book In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power, Shoshana Zuboff argues that the computerized workplace is qualitatively different from its predecessors.  Traditional approaches to organizing and managing work will not work in the new "informated" environment.  An alternative vision is needed for the organization of the twenty-first century.

Changes in the workplace will affect the fundamental nature of society, as authority relationships, class structure, individuals' control over their own fates, and opportunities for self-fulfillment all take new shapes.  The new information technology "offers a historical opportunity to more fully develop the economic and human potential of our work organizations," according to Zuboff.  If we don't seize this opportunity we run the risk of seeing the future becoming nothing but a "stale reproduction of the past."  Like many of the other works represented in this anthology, In the Age of the Smart Machine is a rich and complex work, and the brief excerpt that follows can do little but give the reader an idea of its flavor and introduce a few of its basic ideas.

Shoshana Zuboff is professor of organizational behavior and human resource management in Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration.  She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard and an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago.  She has published numerous articles and cases on the subject of information technology in the workplace and lectures and consults widely on this subject.

                                                                        Abstract written by Albert Teich

 
 
 [Introduction to Web Analysis][Section 1 Overview][Section 2 Overview]
 
 
 HOME