Abstract
The ability of computer systems to rapidly process and transmit large quantities of operating information over dispersed geographical areas has important implications for supervision and management control of the labour process (Child, 1984, p. 258). The characteristics of this technology provide management with the opportunity to incorporate into the machine elements of control associated with directing, monitoring and evaluating production operations (Edwards, 1979, pp. 18–162). Such an application of new technology may serve to reduce managements’ dependence on hierarchical control structures, and thereby alter the dimensions and combination of other control systems within the organisation (Thompson, 1983, p. 152). The options open to management include: devolving additional elements of control to the local level and enhancing the role of the supervisor; concentrating control at a higher level of management and eroding personal supervisory control mechanisms; replacing the traditional role of the supervisor with a computerised system of control (Dawson and McLoughlin, 1986). It has thus been suggested that computer technology may necessitate a reconstruction of line management (Buchanan, 1983, p. 79) and a redefinition of the supervisory function (Dawson, 1986a).
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© 1988 David Knights and Hugh Willmott
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Dawson, P. (1988). Information Technology and the Control Function of Supervision. In: Knights, D., Willmott, H. (eds) New Technology and the Labour Process. Studies in the Labour Process. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19242-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19242-7_6
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