Thursday, March 19, 2009
Deskilled Work…What is the problem?
I have to admit even after our discussions in class about deskilled work, it is difficult for me to understand why deskilled work was a problem. I would rather have corporations divide the labor process into deskilled work so that computers and technology can complete the work for me. I enjoy the use of computers everyday. I am able to complete projects easier with assistance of software and the internet. I do understand that there is a negative to deskilled work. For example, jobs in service businesses like McDonald’s and grocery stores are decreasing their labor force with the aid of technology. Jobs in McDonald’s are being transferred to call centers. At first, I thought how great of an operations improvement. Workers do not have to multitask in restaurants and the orders are more accurate. But we also have to consider the ethics involved. The best way to highlight the problems with this is to examine is the employees are free. Are these employees free? If we are defining freedom as growth, then the answer is no. The employees deskilled work is not providing with means to grow intellectually. If we are defining freedom as participative, the answer is no again. The workers do have a say in how their jobs are formed or regulated. Management in their pursuit of M-C-M’ have the complete control over their employees. So, yes fast food orders are more accurate and efficiency I being accomplished with technology, but is that a good thing? Can the customer sacrifice a few seconds while waiting on their order? Can the corporation sacrifice money in order to keep their labor force in tact? As long as the capitalism and M-C-M’ are ruling our lives I do not see these outcomes happening.
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I agree with this notion about deskilled work because it is very unclear where the lines are drawn in terms of how far the company can take this and still stay ethical. The M-C-M’ attitude takes precedence when a company is making a decision so it appears that if their actions are ethical it is because their business model allows for such, and not because they care about their actions and the externalities associated with these actions. The company could not afford to sacrifice seconds and labor costs at the expense of human labor, because competition will not allow for this. If a company takes the ethical approach in this scenario then a competitor will take the opposite approach and as a result they will thrive by generating profits and taking business away from the other company. The market and attitude of companies makes it very difficult for all of their actions to be ethical, because their existence requires innovation and efficiency.
ReplyDeleteThough I expressed myself differently in another blog, I find myself agreeing with what Kristina says that deskilled work and the onset of advanced technologies, such as call centers, is taking away the freedom of the employees. Not only are they stifled by the the management, but also by the technologies that constantly "one-up" them and deem them unnecessary because of their advanced efficiency. Companies need to remove their heads from the M-C-M' bubble and ask themselves if what they are doing is ethical. Decreasing the labor force is detrimental to our society as a whole, and will cause problems that cannot be fixed by computers, self-service kiosks, or call centers in faraway countries. People need to regain control of the workforce and regain control that has been lost to computers - this is something that needs to be realized, and implemented, by company's management. Efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved through human work too, not just by the work of computers.
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