ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the organisational and human implications of electronic office technology, with a special emphasis on issues relating to the quality of working life. These issues include implications for job and organisational design, communication and decision-making, physical and mental health, and employment levels. The chapter discusses the organisational and human implications of microelectronics over the medium run. It illustrates some of the concerns of the phase 1 revolution by examining perhaps the most widespread form of office automation - word processing. The chapter discusses the organisational and human implications in the medium to longer term, a period when phase 2 of the microelectronic revolution should be taking place in a more substantial way. These implications will fall under four categories - communication and decision-making, the hierarchy and managers, flexibility of work time and place, and effects on lower level personnel.
