ABSTRACT
The question of technological change, as with most questions in the analysis of work and workplace relations, takes on a different cast depending on whether it is asked from the standpoint of capital and management, or from the view of labour and the employee. For management the primary issue is whether the productive benefits of technology outweigh its costs, and therefore how to realize and maximize those benefits. For labour, the chief concerns relate to the consequences of technological change for work experience and control – and even for the very existence of many jobs. Given the different applications of information technology (IT), and the contrast in many respects in the pre-existing application of technology, it is helpful to consider changes in the non-manual and manual work environments separately before making other, more general, observations. The debate over one other area of non-manual work clearly illustrates the divergences arising from different analytical approaches and fieldwork findings on IT.
