Technological Complexities and Alienation at the Workplace - Essay Example

Technological complexities and alienation at the workplace Introduction Alienation is considered as one the most frequently discussed concept in philosophical and political discourse due to the role it plays in the psychological development of being. Alienation has a number of impacts on the development of individuals and therefore their ability to deliver especially at the workplace. This makes the study of alienation and its social impacts on the society essential academic process that creates approaches for handling the repercussions. According to Max, alienation has four faces, which include the actual alienation of human beings from the surrounding or nature, the delineation of man from his personal productive activity, the separation from the characteristics of the human species and finally the separation of man from each other. These four aspects of alienation as highlighted by Max have been replicated in the workplace especially due to the introduction of technological means of production. However, sociologists have attributed the continued application of technology especially at the workplace to the currently witnessed alienation and loneliness that affects the input by employees and their overall output. The complexity of technology that is employed in different industries is thus considered as a prime cause of alienation in the workplace, an event that significantly affects people’s morale and motivation (Watson, 2012). Technology is considered as the application of different technical knowledge, information and processes to solve different process at home or at the workplace. The term technology has been applied to various spheres of life but one common denominator in all the areas it is used is the fact that it refers to new and more efficient approaches of accomplishing tasks. Industry is considered as a process of making or producing goods and services, which are essential in the growth, development and progress of a society. The process of construction, marketing, manufacture and other sectors of the economy are considered as part of industrial processes in an economy (Haralambos, Langley & Holborn, 2004). Social alienation is a process or the existence of low or lack of social integration that is manifested in the differing values of people and one that results into isolation. Alienation can occur between different groups of people, or within an individual level or can be witnessed in the lack of integration and understanding at the organizational level of businesses. Technology has been considered as one of the prime causes of alienation of individual within an organization, a problem that have been raised by a number of sociologists who have questioned its benefits in bringing individuals together at the workplace (Watson, 2012). Karl Max alienation labour hypothesis The incorporation of technology in various spheres of organization has created room for the development of impersonal and technology assisted relationship as opposed to the previously known personal relationships. Personal relationships are characterized by personal eye contact, use of different posture to highlight feelings and the use of body language to emphasise a point. This was the norm of communication within organizations before the introduction of technology, which has replaced almost all spheres of interaction in an organization (Haralambos, Langley & Holborn, 2004). In order to understand the impacts of technology in workplace communication, the use of Karl Marx ‘alienation of labour’ hypothesis will be critical as Marx emphasised how the capitalist industrialisation will create room for alienation in the workplace. Through the development of capitalist industrial systems, employees in an organization end up being isolated from four different spheres of the system including from the product itself, the production process and other fellow employees in the organization. The employee will also be isolated from the mass of humanity as the system forces every employee to focus on the process of production instead of the sociological benefits it offers (Bilton, 2002). Through the applications of technology, job specialization and the division of labour have been enhanced and this has given different employees the chance to have their input on the product before it is released to the employees. Though increasing efficiency in the production process in the current capitalist industrial world, where specialization using technology has resulted into the isolation of the employee from the products. A great product is considered because of the creative abilities of the employees and motivation can only be enhanced through attributing this success to the said employees. When positive reviews are made on the product, the capitalist industrial proprietor tasks all the credit for a product that he may have not contributed in its designing and the actual production (Fulcher & Scott, 2011). Bauner Hypothesis According to Robert Blauner’s report on the American workforces, the attitude established by employees illustrates the nature of their alienation from the realism of their jobs. He however disagrees with Max’s notion that employees in a capitalist society will be automatically alienated due to their objective economic position and culture that favours the employer. According to Blauner, there are four signs that indicate the level of isolation and social alienation of employees in the workplace. These include the level of control they have over the work they do, the level of sense of purpose they develop towards the work, their level of social integration with fellow employees and the extent to which they are involved in their jobs (Edgell, 2011). According to Melvin Seaman, technological alienation in the workplace occurs from six variations from the normal norms that characterize human behaviour and relationship with each other. In the process of seeking employment, human tends to search for a means of self-determination and a means of ensuring that he achieves a meaningful life through interacting with those who share similar ideals and achieving satisfaction through seeing the end-product of his hard work reach the market (Giddens, 2009). Evaluation of Blauner theories on alienation With the use of technology at the workplace, a routine like job for the workers is developed resulting into a situation where a worker attends to the same station and handles the same job assignment on a daily basis. With this kind of workstation and specialization, work from other employees reaches your station from where your personal input is expected before you pass it to the next employee in line. This gives no room for teamwork and working in groups, a situation that was common before the invention of the present technological means of production. Without the interaction at the team or group level, every employee is thus isolated and confined to the walls of his workstation without room for interacting with his colleagues (Fulcher & Scott, 2011). The use of technology thus portends man as a powerless individual despite the fact that man himself must control the process of production. During industrial production, sophisticated machines and equipment are used which are not controlled by man, but are designed for robotic control. This leaves man as an observer to the entire process, only allowed to determine the quality of each process as the machine has the ability to complete the whole task without requiring the input of the man once the process has been initiated. It is thus true that modern technology used in the workplace for communication, production and monitoring of a number of events within have overstepped the initial sphere of operation that it was intended for (Bilton, 2002). Technology has changed communication approaches at the workplace and this has even made it difficult for people to have a personal feel of each other while at work. Communication revolutionized from telephone calls, which were considered more socially integrating to the use of non-personal emails, social media sites and other internet-based approaches that leave no room for personal touch. Most employees work together in an organization and even sit next to each other in the cubicles but lack information about their colleagues as business-based communication is internet and non-personal based. This creates room for alienation and estrangement in an organization as employees work as machines that pass the product of their labour input to the next machine without necessarily communicating with each other at any level (Bilton, 2002). Some employees have their work restricted to road travels and vacations that they have no time to know their colleagues and build long lasting relationship with them. Sales representatives, adjusters and even supervisors are expected to travel from different places to meet their clients and this reduces the overall time they have to be at the workstation. As a result, most employees in these kinds of job assignments develop isolation and alienation from their colleagues at work. The development of the internet has also made it possible for a large number of employees to work from home without having to report to their workstations. Though economically viable, this reduces the interaction of employees and the ability of the organization to develop teams and groups for efficient work delivery. Work morale falls in several instances and this reduces the output of the employees due to isolation and alienation from the masses due to technological advancements (Edgell, 2011). Zuboff alienation hypothesis According to Zuboff, technology has been used to facilitating ‘informating’, a process where workers are given the abilities to perform their chores based on the skills and communicate with each other. The impacts of workplace alienation was captured by Shoshana Zuboff, with focuses on the capitalistic industrialisation but without giving focus to the current technology employed at the workplace. During Karl Max era, technological advancement took the form of machines that were being developed to replace human labour and create a market that is efficient, cost effective and faster. However, the philosopher saw this as an approach aimed at benefiting the capitalist industrialist but alienating the worker from the product and also from taking credit for the goods produced from his efforts. Though applied in several spheres in discussions on workplace alienation, the current sociological isolation witnessed has progressed to a level of computerized systems have been developed (Bilton, 2002). Therefore, employees are forced to interact not with their fellow employees but with the machines and use a communication approach that is not personal. Emails and other internet forms of communication have taken dominance and this has made it impossible for employees to pass physical files to each other as organizational files are created in soft copy, signed through the machine and transferred to the respective recipient without physically meeting each other (Edgell, 2011). Conclusion Karl Marx arguments on alienation resonate with the current workplace alienation that has been attributed to technological advancements and uses in the industries. The adoption of technological means of production is a capitalistic idea in the first place as it seeks to increase efficiency with the sole objective of increasing the profits gained. However, the owner of the business gains this efficiency as technology makes it possible for the employee to be separated from the product itself, the positive impacts of the customer and the actual value of the product. Marx’s opinion that alienation in the capitalistic industries results into the separation of man from fellow human beings is also true, as technology today has created a machine-machine kind of interaction with man acting only as the input device to send the actual algorithm to be implemented by the computers. References Bilton, T 2002, Introductory sociology, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan limited. Edgell, S 2011, The sociology of work: continuity and change in paid and unpaid work (2nd Ed), California: Sage. Fulcher, J. & Scott, J 2011, Sociology, Oxford: Oxford University press. Giddens, A 2009, Sociology: introductory readings, Cambridge: polity. Haralambos, M., Langley, P. & Holborn, M 2004, Haralambos and Holborn sociology: themes and perspectives, Collins educational. Watson, T 2012, Sociology, work and organization, Routledge Chapman & Hall. Read More