1、 外文翻译 原文 RETHINKING OFFICE AUTOMATION Material Source: New York University Author: Margrethe H. Olson， Jon A. Turner The debate regarding the impact of technology on work organization and the quality of work life is gaining momentum as a result of office automation and its influence on large numbers
2、 of “office jobs. This paper argues that current approaches to implementation of office automation technology are based on faulty assumptions about both technology and work organization. The result has been systems which fail to live up to the claims of dramatic increases in productivity that typica
3、lly accompany their implementation. The paper compares information technology to production technology and reviews relevant research on impacts of technology on work organization and management control. An approach to the implementation of office automation systems is proposed, which is based on a n
4、ew concept of “offices“ and “office work“. In essence, technology is the facilitator of a wider range of choices in organization and control of office work than was previously possible.When these new choices are considered, the technology can be applied to both improve organizational productivity an
5、d effectiveness and to accommodate employee needs for flexibility and a high quality work ife. With office automation influencing large numbers of “office“jobs, the debate regarding technology and work is gaining momentum. The debate is particularly important as evidence begins to contradict the cla
6、ims for improvement in professional and managerial productivity. It appears that office work is changing, but not in the ways that were predicted. More important, it is now clear that simplistic notions of improving productivity by substituting machines for human labor in the office are hopelessly i
7、nadequate. In this paper we examine the impact of office information technology on productivity and work organization of offices. Our basic premise is the following:technology can be used to improve the way offices operate, but accomplishing this requires rethinking our concept of offices and how th
8、ey function. Three basic issues will be addressed:（ 1） The traditional view of technology and work is limited in scope; it assumes a simple division of labor between person and machine. For information technology the choices in division of labor, and the assumptions underlying those choices, are mor
9、e varied than permitted by previous technologies. Furthermore,choices in the use of information technology for the purposes of control are more varied.(2) The traditional conceptualization of offices and office work is rigidly defined. Generally, it consists of a strict hierarchical structure of pre
10、defined roles,where the clerical worker is a production system, the rofessional is a “staff support“ or information specialist, and the manager is a decision maker.Furthermore, all this work takes place within fixed well-defined boundaries in space and time.(3) The potential impact of information te
11、chnology is broad, having both direct and indirect components. It encompasses individual quality of work life, horizontal and vertical division of labor, organizational structure and responsiveness to change, and interorganizational interdependence. The impacts, moreover,are evolutionary, representi
12、ng a cumulative shift in organizational culture rather than discrete changes. This paper discusses these issues, presents available evidence from recent research, and makes some cautious predictions about the future of office work. office automation can provide significant organizational opportuniti
13、es for improved performance and effectiveness if it is utilized as an opportunity to re-design the content of jobs.That is, new information technology permits relaxing constraints on what tasks workers perform, the location where they are performed, and the control systems to ensure their performanc
14、e.Consequently new work arrangements can be created that greatly reduce cost, improve the quality and timeliness of a product, and increase organizational flexibility. Consider the following example. The foreign division of one, large, commercial bank put loan proposals together by drawing the agree
15、ment in the field, telex it back to the home office for modification, telex it back to the field for approval, and so on. Intermediaries, called Customer Service Officers (CSO), handled much of the communication from the field,acting on behalf of the fie ld officer to obtain up port of the various o
16、perating departments. Loans took as long as 15 days to initiate and sales were being lost to competitors who could close a deal more quickly. An integrated office system with electronic mail, word processing, filing, and access to the banks application systems permitted loan initiation to be reduced
17、 to three days. Moreover, CSOs became less involved. People in the field used the system to communicate directly with the operations department, reducing the number of intermediate steps and documents produced in order to execute a transaction, It was the reallocation of tasks among workers that res
18、ulted in productivity and quality improvements, rather than the technology itself. Had the same tasks as before been performed with the new technology, the improvements would probably have been much less substantial. The approach starts with a business goal; for example,putting together creative loa
19、n packages in the field for potential clients.Then, one considers what is necessary to accomplish this goal. In this case, information about the potential clients financial condition, past performance in meeting credit obligations, economic and industry forecasts, and the institutions current commit
20、ment to loans of this type are needed to assess benefits and risks. In order to configure a specific package, boiler-plates for similar loans and the appropriate paragraphs describing the particular arrangement must be included. The draft must be reviewed by the legal department (to insure that it c
21、onforms to the institutions procedures) and by senior management. After the basic business goals have been established, the focus quickly shifts to the organizational tasks required and the effectiveness of various alternative on figuration of these tasks. This is a “systems“ approach which is not d
22、riven by technology; office automation simply assures new and potentially highly effective alternatives, In the example, focus shifts to the field representative; what will the content of this new job be, what skills will be required to perform it and how will performance in this position be determi
23、ned? Given this new job,how should the content of other jobs be shifted, particularly in those jobs providing direct support? What form of interdependence should exist among the new set of jobs? Only after this point does one begin to consider the form of a technical system to deliver this informati
24、on and provide the needed connectivity. In summary, we see the implementation of information technology being driven by a business goal, closely aligned to corporate strategy and the restructured content and configuration of work, rather than being driven by the characteristics of the technology. Th
25、is shifts the emphasis of implementation away from the parameters of equipment and the features of software to the information needed as well as the motivation, skills, control,and incentives of the people utilizing that information in their work. As Drucker observes, information technology often pe
26、rmits collapsing structure by the removal of intermediate levels of management whose primary function was reporting status and the coordination of activities. These structures rely more on self motivation and control of individual workers than the authority mechanisms of hierarchical organizations.
27、Skill level refers to the knowledge required by a worker in order to accomplish a job. It is composed of two components: the number of different tasks a worker performs and the knowledge or training required to perform each task. At one extreme, low skill levels, the work is subdivided into the smal
28、lest and most simple units with a different person performing each unit repetitively. The goals are to improve the efficiency of the entire process and to reduce the skill level of any individual employee, thus making workers more easily replaceable.At the other extreme, involving high levels of ski
29、ll, a single person performs many related tasks, in an integrated fashion,each one requiring considerable expertise . From the studies on word processing cited earlier (and other research), it is evident that workers desire and are motivated by the opportunity to acquire and use new skills. A major
30、issue for management then becomes how to provide the mechanism for people to acquire and retain these skills. Again, prior research suggests that as long as middle management perceives that workers have not developed new skills through their use of information technology, a serious conflict exists.
31、Rather than leading to improved worker performance, these false expectations, if they persist, may well lead to frustration and antagonism. Information technology to support a new concept of office work is feasible today, although not in common use. We feel that the significant drawback to utilizing
32、 the technology in ways that improve both organizational effectiveness and employee (work and nonwork) needs will not be the technology, but organizational culture. By this term we refer to traditional views of work, in which an employees skills and abilities are downgraded in value and external con
33、trol is deemed necessary, and of technology, in which tools are applied to replicate the same tasks and the worker is viewed as a simple component of a larger machine. The design principles we have sketched out can be used creatively where traditional assumptions of work and technology have been rep
34、laced by an “enlightened“ set of assumptions， workers have skills and abilities which can and should be used to their fullest extent, internal control is an effective mechanism for improving motivation and productivity, a system in which the worker controls the technology rather than vice versa is t
35、echnically feasible and cost-effective. Information technology will not cause changes in managerial assumptions about workers and technology; however, it does negate some of the major underlying premises of those assumptions。 Furthermore, it facilitates a greater number of alternatives that accommod
36、ate enriched jobs, greater internal control, and employee needs for flexibility. It is the responsibility of both system implementors and managers to ensure that the tremendous power and flexibility of information technology be applied in ways that improve quality of work life as well as organizatio
37、nal effectiveness. 译文 办公自动化 的再 思 考 资料来源 :纽约 大学 作者： 玛格丽特 .H.奥尔森，乔恩 .A.特纳 随着办公自动化对大多数办公工作 带来了 巨大的影响， 加大 了关于科技对业务组织和工作生活质量所带来的影响 与 争论 。 本文认为，目前用来实施办公自动化技术的方法是建立在对技术和业务组织错误的 认识 上的 。 但是验证的 结果是，这 套 系统无法满足急剧增长的生产率 以及 所需要 的 能 够 配合其实现目的的要求 。 该文章比较了信息技术和生产技术，并回顾了一些具有重要作用的研究， 而 这些研究是关于技术对业务组织 、 管理控制所产生的影响这一方面的
38、 。基于对“办公室”和 “办公工作”有了新的解释，一种用来实施办公自动化的方法被提了出来 。 从本质上说，技术扮演着为组织和控制办公室工作提供广泛可能性的角色， 当这些新的可能性开始被考虑时，技术不仅可以适用于提高组织的生产率和有效性，同时也可满足雇员对灵活的 工作 、 高品质生活的需求。 随着办公自动化的 变化 开始 影响 “办公室”工作 以来 ， 关于技术和工作的争论也呈现出不断扩大的趋势 。 而 且 这种争论变得异常重要：它开始作为反对单纯提高个人和管理生产率的证据。 现实表明，办公 室 工作开始改变，但并不是按照预想的道路 改变的 ， 而是 过分简单地将人工替换为机械 运作，这种提高生
39、产效率的做法，看起来不会被接受。 在本文中，我们将检验办公信息技术对生产效率和 工作组织所产生的影响，我们的基本原则是：新的技术应该提高办公工作的操作方式，但在达到这个目的前，我们应该重新思考“办公室”这个概念和它是怎么运作的。 办公自动化的发展会使 三个基本问题将得到解决：（ 1） 关于技术的传统观念被限定在一定的范围之内 ， 它假定人与机器之间存在一种简单的劳动分工 。而对于信息技术而言，存在于劳动分工中的选择性和隐藏在这种可能性之下的假设，比那些事先设定好的选择性，显得更为多样 。 从 更深 层次的 意义来讲，在使用信息化技术以达到控制目的过程中所产生的可选择性，也更为多样 化 。（ 2
40、）办 传统的概念化办公和办公工作是有严格定义的，一般来说，它是一个由严格等级结构组成的，在这个结构中，最近 文职工作者 是生产系统，而专业人员可被称为员工支持者，或者是信息专业人员，管理人员则是仲裁者 ，所有的工作在被严格界定好的时间和空间中进行。 （ 3）信息技术的潜在影响是广泛的，有直接和间接的组成部分。它包括工作生活，水平 和垂直分工，组织结构变化和反应，个体素质和组织间的相互依存关系 的影响，而且，是渐进的 在组织文化的代表，而不是离散的变化累积的转变。本文讨论了这些问题，提出从最近的研究提供的证据，并提出对未来 办公室 工作的一些谨慎预测 。 办公自动化可以提供重要的 具有组织性的
41、提高性能和效力的机会， 但其前提是办公自动化被用来 为工作的内容重新设计 。 也就是说， 新的信息技术对于工人执行的任务，工作的地点以及控制他们工作的系统都有较为轻松的限定 。因此新的工作安排，可以大大降低制造成本，提高产品质量和及时性，并增加组织的灵活性。 一个外国大型商业银行的部门， 将通过绘制在该领域合作的协议贷款的建议，电传回家庭办公室进行修改， 电传回 审批领域，等等。中介机构 ，所谓的客户服务主任（ 简称 CSO）， 通过部门负责人的名义，获得各经营部门的端口，并通过这种做法来处理事务 。 贷款占长达 15 天的发起和销售 意味着就会输给那些能在更短时间内完成交易的竞争对手 。 一
42、个拥有电子邮件，文字处理，文字归档并获的银行应用系统的综合办公系统将使贷款申请过程减少 3 天 。 此外，客户服务主任 参与越来越少。 在这一行业中，人们通过使用这套系统直接与业务部门联系，减少了中间步骤和由此产生的文件，其目的是更好更快的完成交易。这是工人之间任务的重新分配，是由 提高生产效率和质量造成， 而不是技术本身。有同样的任务之前， 如果能 将 新技 术进行改善，可能这种提高会变的更为实质 。 这种做法始于一个商业目标 。 例如， 在一个部门中，将创意贷款套件打包在一起，为那些潜在顾客准备 。于是，有必要考虑 怎么去 实现这一目标。在这种情况下， 有关潜在客户的财务状况 信息，过去的
43、信贷 债务 的表现， 以及其 经济 和行业预测， 和该机构对这种贷款偿还的承诺，并通过这些，去评估收益和风险 。 为了制定具体的方案，程序化和合适的说明必须包括在内 以确保它符合该机构的程序 ， 必须通过法律部门和高级管理人员的审查 。 业务的基本目标确定以后 ，重点应该迅 速转移到 组织工作 的 需要和各种替代对这些任务成形的成效。这是一个 “ 系统 ” 的方法而不是由技术驱动的 ， 办公自动化 只是确保 高效的 ，潜在的 替代品 。 在这个例子中，焦点转移到 具有代表性的领域 ， 什么将这一新的工作内容是， 需要什么技巧 ， 并如何在确定好的职位上运行 ？ 鉴于这一新的工作，应如何 转换
44、其他工作内容 ，尤其是 那些 提供直接支持的 工作？ 在那些新设置的工作之间存在怎样的联系形式 ？ 只有在考虑这一点后，再去思考技术系统提供信息，提供所需连接所用的形式 。 总之，我们看到了信息技术的应用正由 一个与公司战略紧密配合的业务目标和改组后的工作 内容和配置所驱动 ，而不是由技术 的 特点 所驱使。 这种转变强调远离设备的参数，这种软件的特点是提供信息，技术 和 控制人们使用这些信息所获得的奖励 。 正如德鲁克指出，信息技术 常常解除一些组织，通过取消一些中间管理部门 。 这些部门的职能主要是报告情况和协调各部门之间的职能，这些部门主要依靠的是员工的自我控制和自我激发而不是权威的，具
45、有等级性的管理部门 。 技能水平是指一个工人需要，以完成工作的知识。它是由两部分组成： 工人完成不同任务的数量和 工人执行每个任务 所需的知识和培训 。在一个极端，技能水平低，工作细分到最小，最简单的执 行单位， 由不同的工人进行不断重复的工作。其 目标是提高整个过程的效率，并减少任何个别员工的技能水平 差别 ，从而使工人更容易更换。在另一个极端，涉及技术水平高，一个人完成许多相关于一体的综合时尚任务，每一个需要相当的专业知识。 从文字处理前面提到的研 究（和其他研究），这是显而易见的，工人的愿望，已获得 使用新技术的动机 和技术。因此 ， 管理的主要问题就变成如何为人们提供 获得和保留这些技
46、能 的机制。同样，以前的研究表明，只要中层管理人员长期没有觉察与工人通过 使用新的信息技术技能 进行的开发，存在严重的冲突。如果不去改善工作人 员的绩效，而是坚持他们那些虚假的期望， 很可能导致失望和对抗。 信息技术来支持办公室工作的 新概念 在今天是可行的 ，虽然不常用。 我们认为，使用这种科技存在的重要的缺陷是：同时提高组织运作有效性和满足雇员的需求（包括工作需求和非工作需求）这个问题不是技术性的，而是组织的文化 。 本学期当我们谈到传统的工作观念时，一个员工的技术和能力是被低估的，而对外控管被看做必需的；而当我们谈到技术性的工作观念时， 工具是用来大量复制同 样的工作，而员工则被看做是巨大机器的一个 零件 。 我们所勾勒出的设计原则，可被创造性的利用创造出“开明的 ”假设，以用来替换传统对工作和技术的假设 ， 有技能的工人 可 会 被安排 到 能充分发挥他们特长的地方 ，内部控制是 为提高积极性和生产率， 这套系统是由工人控制机器而不是反过来，这样做在技术上是可行的，并且会取得更好的效益。 信息技术将不会造成技术工人和管理有关假设的变动，但是，它否定了这些基本单位 。此外，它促进了对替代品容纳丰富的就业机会，更多更大的内部控制 水平 和 员工需求的灵活性。这是两个系统实现者和管理者，以确保巨大的力量和信息技术的灵活性的方式必须提高工作质量以及组织的有效性应用的责任。
