ABSTRACT
In the new global context, as noted by Ellis (1994) in his discussion of the challenges confronting American engineers, production systems are experiencing fundamental shifts in forms of organization and pro duction. Three primary engines of change are driving these shifts: automation, telecommunications, and the changing nature of the rela tionships governing those subject to management and supervision. Com puter systems have deeply affected the nature and types of work, significantly reducing elementary tasks and threatening to substitute for jobs, which, while of a higher order, may eventually be subject to automatization. The remarkable development of telecommunications has largely eliminated the need for close physical proximity, even for teams requiring a high degree of coordination. At the same time, in the more technically and scientifically advanced workplaces, the nature of organization has changed as the dominance of highly skilled profes sionals has come to blur distinctions between supervisory roles and other work categories. Ellis goes on to note (pp. 13 and 18) that
Like all historic social forces, globalism is a mixed blessing. A great world culture is emerging, in which educated people everywhere share common interests. There is a potential for a vast expansion of the pool of talent and thus for the creation of new human capacities. But the process of change entails its friction, and some people do not fare well. As educated workers from formerly obscure countries arise to claim their share of the available work, those who were doing the work before must either compete or retire. If the total amount of work to be done grows fast enough to accommodate
increases in the size of the pool of talent, this situation presents no serious problems . . . [but] there is a real possibility that the supply of work will not keep up with the supply of workers . . . the world-wide spread of de cent educational systems, from primary grades to an increasing number of third-world universities, means that highly skilled people can be found everywhere . . . Like it or not, we must all now compete in a much bigger arena if we wish to survive as practitioners of state of the art technical disciplines.
