Managing Technology and Middle- and Low-Skilled Employees explores the rapidly changing use of digital and systems innovations in the management of specific sectors of the workforce in the modern workplace across different industrial contexts.

Stephen R. Barley reflects on over three decades of research to explore both the history of technological change and the approaches used to investigate how technologies, including intelligent technologies such as machine learning and robotics, are shaping our work and organizations.

Workers, Managers, and Technological Change: Emerging Patterns of Labor Relations contributes significantly to an important subject. Technological change is one of the most powerful forces transforming the American industrial relations In fact, the synergistic relationships between technology and indus system. trial relations are so complex that they are not well or completely understood. We know that the impact of technology, while not independent of social forces, already has been profound: it has transformed occupations, creating new skills and destroying others; altered the power relationships between workers and managers; and changed the way workers learn and work. Tech nology also has made it possible to decentralize some economic activities out of large metropolitan areas and into small towns, rural areas, and other coun tries. Most important, information technology makes it possible for interna tional corporations to operate on a global basis. Indeed, some international corporations, especially those based in the United States, are losing their national identities, detaching the welfare of corporations from that of particu lar workers and communities. Internationalization, facilitated by information technology, has trans formed industrial relations systems. A major objective of the traditional American industrial relations system was to take labor out of competition.

This book examines how new workplace technology can improve performance - and how it can have the opposite effect when it is not properly planned and introduced with the participation of key stakeholders. It provides an overview and explanation of the steps involved in technology planning, acquisition, development, implementation, and assessment.

Businesses operate amid a digital age, and unsurprisingly, technology has engendered tools that now predominate all corners of the workplace. The ascendancy of new hardware and software poses new challenges for professionals in the field of management and human resources as corporations and companies routinely implement and incorporate digital software for goals such as improving worker productivity and tasks such as screening highly qualified candidates for vacancies. In the face of rapid change, professionals must investigate how the use of digital technology affects the culture of hiring processes, employee morale, company management, and corporate image. This book aims to promote research related to these new trends and open a new field within the areas of management and engineering. Through the course of nine chapters, contributors to Management and Technological Challenges in the Digital Age grapple with the theoretical and practical implications that technological usage carries across the range of small and large organizations in the world of business. Focuses on the latest research findings that are occurring in this field in different countries Shows how companies around the world are facing today's technological challenges Shares knowledge and insights on an international scale Keeps the readers and researchers informed about the latest developments in the field and forthcoming international studies Explains how the use of technology allows management to take a more strategic role in organizations This book affords a thorough engagement with the progresses and setbacks made through the enlistment of technological equipment and computerized procedures in the field of human resources and management while interrogating the future challenges of technology’s role.

Quick introduction of new technology is essential to America's competitiveness. But the success of new systems depends on their acceptance by the people who will use them. This new volume presents practical information for managers trying to meld the best in human and technological resources. The volume identifies factors that are critical to successful technology introduction and examines why America lags behind many other countries in this effort. Case studies document successful transitions to new systems and procedures in manufacturing, medical technology, and office automationâ€"ranging from the Boeing Company's program to involve employees in decision making and process design, to the introduction of alternative work schedules for Mayo Clinic nurses. This volume will be a practical resource for managers, researchers, faculty, and students in the fields of industry, engineering design, human resources, labor relations, sociology, and organizational behavior.