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Viewpoint: death of the knowledge worker
Abstract
One of the many concerns in the information area in the early 1980s was how the implementation of technology would change the way we work. In the 1990s the feeling is will we work! This paper examines the current dilemma that technology has presented to the knowledge worker. The players in this scenario are the knowledge workers, unions, both public and private, and outsourcing. It is said that to try to restrict the flow of work in the name of saving jobs in the USA is futile. The author believes that perhaps this is an area that requires further study. In this discussion the author concludes that the fate of the knowledge worker is not in the hands of Divine Providence, but in the political arena.
... It can include data centers, wide area networks, applications development and maintenance functions, end user computing and business processing (Cardinali, 1998). ...
The aim of this paper is to determine the main reasons that lead to information systems outsourcing, the reservations that are initially present in front of this kind of contract and the factors considered necessary for the success of outsourcing in the case of Spanish public universities. With this aim, a survey has been made among information systems managers in those universities. The results show the possibility of establishing a typology of universities depending on the position they have adopted with respect to outsourcing.
... The provider obtains scale economies from mass-producing its services and distributing its fixed costs among a great number of end-user clients [16] . Outsourcing IT can include data centers, wide area networks , applications development and maintenance functions, end-user computing and business pro- cessing [13]. The decision to adopt any information systems project is complex. ...
The use of Monte Carlo simulation for evaluation of financial risk of an information technology project selection decision is described. A major Thai bank considered the opportunity to expand credit card operations through information technology (IT). Alternatives considered were in-house development and outsourcing. There were many strategic reasons for the initiative. However, there were also many risks associated with the proposal. A Monte Carlo simulation spreadsheet model was used to model risk parameters, and to analyze key performance variables of financial performance. Key output variables were the number of cardholders expected, project net present value, net profit, and expected return on investment. The spreadsheet model made entry of model elements transparent, and Monte Carlo simulation provided clear visual display of the financial output variables. The bank used this information in its decision to outsource its credit card operations.
... Although the focus is on efficiency, the societal implications are similar to those of the private sector: citizens will be disadvantaged if they lack information handling and decision making skills. Considering this broad socio-economic picture, the role of IS education in universities can be considered at three distinct levels: (a) citizen/society (Vinten, 2000); knowledge worker (Cardinali, 1998); and IS/knowledge expert (Doke and Williams, 1999). Whilst university education in IS may rightly focus on the third level, it must address the wider context, including the role of IS experts in educating/training knowledge workers and citizens, in solving their problems and satisfying their information needs. ...
Governments and businesses are becoming ever more interested in the production and capitalisation of knowledge, so much so that the 'knowledge economy' is now regarded as the paradigm of economic progress. This has significant implications for teaching and research generally, and for the IS community in particular. This paper provides a brief analysis of general developments in higher education to provide a context for discussing the developments specific to IS. Stakeholder analysis is then used to identify the main responsibilities and pressures placed upon the IS academic community. Using the stakeholder analysis as a set of 'requirements' that the IS academic community must balance, several ways in which IS teaching and research can better contribute value to the various stakeholder groups are identified. Throughout the paper, several 'policy level' recommendations are made that could lead to the IS community being better able to manage the pressures exerted by different stakeholder groups and, consequently, being more able to address a broad range of commercial and social issues.
Knowledge Workers in the Information Society tells a compelling story about Finland, one of the most advanced information societies in the world. In addition to discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Finnish model of an information society, the authors offer a long-awaited critical perspective on knowledge work, a concept that has attracted economists and management theorists since the 1960s.
Although the discourse on knowledge work has resurfaced as a fashionable topic in recent years, several gaps still remain in the current literature. One of these is the lack of sociologically oriented analysis. The rise of knowledge work is not only an economic or managerial issue - it reflects a major social and cultural transformation comparable to, yet at the same time very different from, the Industrial Revolution.
The eight chapters of the book revolve around the following themes:
1. the birth of the Finnish information society
2. the growth of knowledge and skills as an asset
3. the importance of teamworking
4. the problems and possibilities of distributed work
5. the flattening of organizational hierarchies
6. the emergence of new labour market divisions
7. the commodification of intellectual capital
8. the strengths and weaknesses of the Finnish information society
Written with precision and with clarity, Knowledge Workers in the Information Society is an essential and original contribution to information society and organization studies and will be welcomed by readers interested in the social side of technological change.
Offshore outsourcing is not a new phenomenon in the U.S. Over the last two decades outsourcing in manufacturing industry destroyed 2 million blue color jobs in the U.S. but created 43 million white color jobs in other services areas. This has raised the output in manufacturing by raising the labor productivity by 3.5 percent annually and has increased the standard of living of the American people (Bailey and Farrell, 2004). The current problem is that those white color jobs (high tech IT jobs) once insulated from foreign competition are now vulnerable to offshore outsourcing because these jobs can be performed at a fraction of the cost in low wage countries such as India and China. Due to a revolution in digital technology and reduction in telecommunication costs, jobs related to functions such as software programming and design, call center operations, accounting and payroll operations, medical record transcription, paralegal services, and software research and testing etc., can be performed at a foreign location and transferred through the internet.
As IT jobs move offshore to destinations such as India, a forceful and impassioned debate is taking place in public forums in nations around the globe. While some stakeholders welcome IT offshoring as the latest manifestation of a new global economic order that promises prosperity for all, others regard the phenomenon with skepticism or even hostility. Even as recent events and the accompanying commentary in the world of practice point to complex tensions and contradictions in Western nations and in offshoring destinations, academic responses to this aspect of the phenomenon have not yet emerged. Academic research to date has generally favoured a managerial and predominantly Western view of the phenomenon based on traditional economic or technological arguments, perhaps missing the opportunity to develop a more encompassing understanding of the situation that might usefully inform the current debate. Taking a dialectical approach that takes account of the 'other', we begin to explore the tensions at play in the realm of practice, attending both to the beneficial and detrimental consequences of IT offshoring in more and less economically prosperous nations. We draw on academic discourse from a variety of disciplines to draft a research agenda that attempts to provide a more balanced view while maintaining a close connection to the world of practice in the West and elsewhere.
The spectacular advance in Information Technologies, among others reasons, is promoting outsourcing as a way that businesses adopt, in order to manage their Information Systems. During the last years, the growth in outsourcing as a managerial phenomenon has come accompanied with a parallel increase in the literature about this area. For this reason, in this paper we analize such literature with the aim to know the main topics studied, the methodology research mainly adopted, as well as the authors and countries that have contributed more to this area.
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