DOI•
Enterprise content management systems and the application of Taylorism and Fordism to intellectual labour
01 Jan 2010-
TL;DR: In this paper, a content analysis of ECM system technical white papers reveals that such systems are potentially disastrous to intellectual workers, by subdividing intellectual tasks into the smallest possible constituent parts and automating as many tasks as possible.
Abstract: Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems confer numerous advantages to corporations including superior data management, streamlining of office workflows and potential costs savings. However, a content analysis of ECM system technical white papers reveals that such systems are potentially disastrous to intellectual workers. The trends of increasing management control, routinization and deskilling observed and critiqued by Harry Braverman in the 20th century in industrial labour are fully realized in intellectual labour by such systems. In addition to the detailed surveillance capabilities of content management systems (CMS), the employer captures and retains the entire iterative history of the documents produced by its workers. Content management systems deskill workers by subdividing intellectual tasks into the smallest possible constituent parts and automating as many tasks as possible. Content management systems provide some potential opportunities for the reskilling of workers, but a critical examination of the effects of these systems is necessary to determine their exact influence on digital work
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89 citations
Proceedings Article•
01 Jan 2012TL;DR: After approximately one decade of ECM research, this paper provides an in-depth review of the body of academic research: the ECM domain, its evolution, and main topics are characterized.
Abstract: Managing information and content on an enterprise-wide scale is challenging. Enterprise content management (ECM) can be considered as an integrated approach to information management. While this concept received much attention from practitioners, ECM research is still an emerging field of IS research. Most authors that deal with ECM claim that there is little scholarly literature available. After approximately one decade of ECM research, this paper provides an in-depth review of the body of academic research: the ECM domain, its evolution, and main topics are characterized. An established ECM research framework is adopted, refined, and explained with its associated elements and working definitions. On this basis, 68 articles are reviewed, classified, and concepts are derived. Prior research is synthesized and findings are integrated in a conceptcentric way. Further, implications for research and practice, including future trends, are drawn.
24 citations
01 Jan 2013
21 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three prominent strands of literature suggest conflicting expectations about the direction of change in the complexity of work and the required skill levels of the labour force in Europe, and they suggest conflicting expectation about job complexity and skill levels.
Abstract: What are the directions of change in the complexity of work and the required skill levels of the labour force in Europe? Three prominent strands of literature suggest conflicting expectations – ups...
17 citations
Cites background from "Enterprise content management syste..."
...A literature review by McNally (2010) found that Braverman’s argument remains relevant in explaining deskilling in traditionally high-skill occupations, such as nursing, librarianship, journalism and law (p. 359)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 2003
48 citations
"Enterprise content management syste..." refers background in this paper
...The primary value of Braverman’s thesis lies not in objective tests of whether it is invariably correct, but as an analytical tool for the examination of the dynamic interaction between management policy, technology and workers skill (Huws, 2003)....
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...If skills are being transformed by such systems into those that are more easily routinized and quantified, then workers face an increased danger of being made expendable (Huws, 2003: 165-166)....
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...…1642), underemphasized the role of cooperation in capitalist production (Knights and Willmott, 2007: 1370), oversimplified his conception of skill (Huws, 2003: 119; Meiksins, 1994: 46), and exaggerated the degree to which capitalist workplaces embody Taylorist principles (Friedman, 1977: 44;…...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of technological change on the skills of shopfloor oerators and supervisors are examined by analysing two dimensions of skill, technical complexity and discretion or autonomy, concluding that the outcomes of technical change are framed by managerial perceptions and consequent decisions on how technology should be implemented in terms of work organisation.
40 citations
TL;DR: This work identifies three stages of document life cycles in ECM implementations—content, reification, and commodification/process—as the content management model and presents the model as a mechanism for decision makers and scholars to use in evaluating the organizational impacts of systems such as ECM.
Abstract: Web management and knowledge management systems have made significant technological advances, culminating in large information management systems such as enterprise content management (ECM). ECM is a Web-based publishing system that manages large numbers of electronic documents and other Web assets intended for publication to Web portals and other complex Web sites. Work in nonprofit organizations can benefit from adopting new communication technologies that promote collaboration and enterprisewide knowledge management. The unique characteristics of ECM are enumerated and analyzed from a knowledge management perspective. We identify three stages of document life cycles in ECM implementations—content, reification, and commodification/process—as the content management model. We present the model as a mechanism for decision makers and scholars to use in evaluating the organizational impacts of systems such as ECM. We also argue that decision makers in nonprofit organizations should take care to avoid overly commodifying business processes in the final stage, where participation may be more beneficial than efficiency.
40 citations
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of technological change on the skills of shopfloor oerators and supervisors are examined by analysing two dimensions of skill, technical complexity and discretion or autonomy, concluding that the outcomes of technical change are framed by managerial perceptions and consequent decisions on how technology should be implemented in terms of work organisation.
Abstract: Copyright (c) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. The deskilling/reskilling controversy within the labour process debate is considered within the context of the implementation of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). Effective implementation of CIM is shown to require an appreciation of the social and organizational issues associated with organizational change. As such the deskilling/reskilling issue is worthy of analysis within the CIM context and aspects of the labour process debate are examined. The effects of technological change on the skills of shopfloor oerators and supervisors are examined by analysing two dimensions of skill, technical complexity and discretion or autonomy. The paper concludes that the outcomes of technical change are framed by managerial perceptions and consequent decisions on how technology should be implemented in terms of work organisation.
38 citations
"Enterprise content management syste..." refers background in this paper
...Knowledge management systems have been found to have a deskilling effect (Hasan and Crawford, 2003), and computer integrated manufacturing was found to deskill machine operators while upskilling managers (Agnew et al., 1997)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors illustrate the de-skilling effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on journalists through in-depth interviews with Taiwanese newspaper workers and illustrate the degradation of reporting work resulting from the use of ICTs has enabled managers at Taiwanese newspapers to hire young employees to fill the jobs of experienced reporters and to reduce salary costs.
Abstract: Through in-depth interviews with Taiwanese newspaper workers, this paper illustrates the “de-skilling” effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on journalists. In recent years, Taiwanese reporters have experienced an increase in workload and an intensification of managerial control due to the introduction of new technologies in the newsroom. Using ICTs in the workplace consequently has harmed journalists’ working conditions and autonomy. Moreover, ICTs have led to a trivialization of reporting tasks and devaluation of reporters’ experience and knowledge. The degradation of reporting work resulting from the use of ICTs has enabled managers at Taiwanese newspapers to hire young employees to fill the jobs of experienced reporters and to reduce salary costs.
Resume : En se fondant sur des entretiens en profondeur menes avec les employes de quotidiens taiwanais, cet article illustre la dequalification de journalistes causee par les technologies de communication et de l’information (TCIs). Depuis quelques annees, les reporters taiwanais ont subi une augmentation de leur charge de travail et du controle administratif exerce sur eux a la suite de l’introduction de nouvelles technologies dans les salles de nouvelles. Ainsi, les TCIs au travail ont porte atteinte aux conditions de travail et a l’autonomie des journalistes. En outre, les TCIs ont banalise les tâches des reporters et ont devalue leur experience et leur savoir. La degradation du travail journalistique resultant de l’introduction des TCIs a permis aux dirigeants des quotidiens taiwanais d’engager de jeunes employes a la place de reporters experimentes et de reduire les salaires.
34 citations
"Enterprise content management syste..." refers background in this paper
...Deskilling has occurred in occupations as diverse as nursing (Rinard, 1996), librarianship (Hannah and Harris, 1996), journalism (Liu, 2006), and even law (Wall and Johnstone, 1997)....
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