Introduction
The age of new technologies and informational knowledge is strongly linked to the digitization of society. The essay examines the publications of Zuboff, Taylor, Boyett and Conn, Davidow and Malone, and Castells to investigate their perspectives on the fundamental principles, needs, and possibilities of modern society experiencing the technological shift. Even though their works were published in the twentieth century, these authors provide intriguing viewpoints on present reality. The ideas obtained from the spreadsheet comparison of typical college students at UCSB, their future, and Case’s life, precisely a hero from William Gibson’s Neuromancer, are included. Comprehensive learning, flexibility, and networking are needed to maintain a ‘human existence’ in the age of informational knowledge work.
Workplace of the ‘Future’
When thinking about the future of the UCSB college students and comparing them to Case, the main character from Neuromancer, the crucial similarity is that they have to adapt and acquire new knowledge quickly to progress with life. The leaders should incorporate scientific management and work collaboratively to share information efficiently. Taylor states that each generation’s innovation has devised faster and more efficient techniques for performing every piece of labor in every trade (16). Techniques can be seen as an evolution indicating the survival of the fittest concepts that have been established in various professions.
In general, in the past, the best management style in common usage may be characterized as management in which workers take the initiative and receive some unique incentive from their leaders. This form of management can be referred to as ‘initiative and incentive management,’ as opposed to ‘scientific management, with which it will be compared (Taylor 18). The general bias favoring the management of ‘initiative and incentive’ is so strong that no simple theoretical benefits can persuade the ordinary manager that any other system is superior (Taylor 18). Under the traditional management style, success is almost totally dependent on gaining the workers’ initiative (Taylor 19). Nonetheless, it is a rare occurrence when this initiative is indeed obtained.
When considering scientific management, workers’ initiative is acquired with greater consistency and more considerable than under the old approach. Taylor states that in addition to this improvement in personnel, the managers take on extra loads, duties, and responsibilities never imagined (Taylor 19). Upper management in virtually every firm will have the technical means in Workplace 2000 not only to analyze company-wide performance on a personal computer but also to access “company-wide performance at the lowest level” (Boyett and Conn 23). Taylor emphasizes that the managers have the task of accumulating all of the conventional information that the workers previously held and then categorizing, tabulating, and reducing this knowledge to rules, regulations, and formulae that the workers may use in their everyday work (19). Hence, the workplace in the technological era is focused on mutual collaboration, decision-making, and knowledge sharing.
Consequently, both managers and employees in informational knowledge work should be prepared for new challenges. Boyett and Conn emphasize that workplace insecurity and massive competitive pressures will put unprecedented pressure on businesses to perform at their best (3). Flexibility and inventiveness will be more crucial in the workplace in 2000 than “endurance and loyalty” (Boyett and Conn 4). The flow of information in the new organization will be substantially altered (Boyett and Conn 5). Thus, sharing information will be necessary to maintain performance, and new technologies will enable this sharing.
The workplace of the human living in the age of digitalization can be called a learning organization. Senge presents an idea of learning organizations; the author claims that they are feasible because, at their core, all individuals are learners (4). The whole global business community is learning to study together, transforming itself into a learning community (Senge 4). Mastery may imply attaining dominion over people or things, yet, mastery may also refer to a high degree of expertise (Senge 7). Individuals with a high degree of personal mastery can constantly achieve the most meaningful outcomes; in essence, they pursue their lives like an artist would explore a masterpiece (Senge 7). Humans are naturally curious, adept individuals who learn to walk, speak, and manage their families independently (Senge 4). As a result, learning companies are possible since it is not merely human nature to learn, but individuals also like learning. As new technology combines data across time and space, managers and employees must transcend their restricted functional viewpoints to build new roles more adapted to increasing value-adding tasks in a data-rich world (Zuboff 7). The new technological infrastructure becomes a battleground for strategies, with managers creating new ways via learning to improve certainty and control.
Based on the spreadsheet, college students in the future will dedicate more time to studying and acquiring new skills in order to stay competitive at the workplace, create new ideas, and live life to the fullest. Boyett and Conn suggest that the ordinary American’s future employer will be “flatter, leaner, and more aggressive” than the corporation they currently work for (2). That is how it will have to be to adapt to fast-changing client expectations. Most Americans will have fewer prospects for promotion if the corporation becomes flatter and leaner (Boyett and Conn 3). Actual employment development and chances for professional and financial progress “will come from new, smaller, entrepreneurial concerns” (Boyett and Conn 3). Therefore, individuals may be compelled to establish their businesses to succeed.
The Employee of the ‘Future’
Notably, knowledge and technology are advancing at such a rapid pace. Zuboff claims that even more terrifying was the sense that the future was slipping away so quickly that there was little time to plan or make decisions (Zuboff 4). To address how to survive in Workplace 2000, Boyett and Conn agree that every worker must become adaptable and flexible (43). Zuboff discusses a halfhearted appreciation for the new technology, its influence, intellectual ability, and the atmosphere of progress; nevertheless, that admiration is tinged with sadness (4). The ‘future’ worker will require a very adaptable mentality to avoid being psychologically impacted by the rate of change (Zuboff 4). As a result, workers would require extensive education and training to cultivate flexibility.
There is a possibility that a significant number of jobs to disappear in the future. Zuboff considers the following situation – the intelligent machine is implanted with intelligence at the price of the human ability for critical judgment (6). Hence, as more jobs are assigned, the sentient body’s importance as a source of information diminishes, culminating in acute confusion and loss of purpose. As the bulk of work in our offices and industries grows increasingly isolated, distant, repetitive, and procedural, people seek ways to escape through substances, indifference, or hostile strife (Zuboff 6). The same idea can be found in Neuromancer; the main hero became a drug addict. Case had observed her personality deteriorate, “calving like an iceberg, splinters drifting away, and finally, he’d seen the raw need, the hungry armature of addiction” (Gibson 12). The addition resulted from losing his job, depression, and hopelessness.
Flexibility skills play a vital role in surviving as a worker of the ‘future.’ Zuboff demonstrates another scenario; leaders in organizations realize the new types of skills and expertise required to fully leverage the promise of advanced technologies (Zuboff 6). They devote their resources to developing a workforce capable of exercising critical judgment while managing the surrounding technological systems. Work grows increasingly abstract as it becomes more dependent on interpreting and managing data (Zuboff 6). This knowledge signals the beginning of new types of mastery and gives a chance to provide employees a broader meaning.
Conclusion: To stay Human in the Information Era
To stay human in the age of informational knowledge work, comprehensive learning, including flexibility and networking, are fundamental skills. Humans live in a new economy distinguished by three key characteristics: informational, global, and networked (Castells 10). Senge acknowledges that real learning goes to the heart of being human; people re-create themselves via learning (14). Furthermore, individuals can achieve things they could never do before via learning. Humans may see the world and their relationship to it and expand their potential to create and participate in the creative process of life. Nevertheless, absorbing knowledge is only tangentially connected to authentic learning (Senge 14). To remain competitive, individuals should quickly achieve mastery of both information and relationships, or in other words, networks (Davidow and Malone 7). The dependence on networks as the significant aspect of social morphology is a fundamental component of social structure in the Information Era (Castells 5). People should be adaptive, versatile, and capable of working as part of a team and sharing acquired information through networks.
Works Cited
Boyett, Joseph H., and Henry P. Conn. Workplace 2000. Plume, 1992.
Castells, Manuel. “Materials for an Exploratory Theory of the Network Society.” The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 51, no. 1, 2000, pp. 5–24. doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2000.00005.x.
Davidow, William H., and Michael S. Malone. The Virtual Corporation. Harpercollins, 1992.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. Ace, 1984.
Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline. Currency, 1990.
Taylor, Frederick Winslow. Principles of Scientific Management. Harper & Brothers, 1911.
Zuboff, Shoshana. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. Basic Books, 1988.