The Social Design of Office Automation

The Social Design of Office Automation: Marco Diani (Pages 67 – 76)

The essence of this article is exploring the effects of how the office workplace has changed with the increasing adaptations of computer-based technologies. The main term given for this is ‘office automation’ and is related to being the ‘office of the future’. The definition for office integration can be referred to as the use of combining computer and communication systems to aid with manual administration functions; structuring and integrating tasks such as word processing, emailing and digital filing with the use of technology makes tasks like these quicker and more efficient. (Margrete H. Olson 1982)

With the modernisation of industrial practices manual labour tasks have been gradually integrated with and in some cases replaced by new technology. Heading into the future practices are constantly being revised and changed, Diani implies these effects as having a:

‘Profound effect on society as a whole, the economy, organizations, the nature of work, and the lives of individuals’. (1989, p.67)

Daini (p.68) mentions that the early technological elements of an office were based around the use of paper, pens, pencils and desks throughout the nineteenth century making a link to their social structure being based on a ‘bureaucratic hierarchy’ with workplace roles being classed by status and seniority. The introduction of innovations such as the telephone and typewriter boosted the ‘mechanization’ of office practices thus begun the integration of doing work with machinery. The improved speed and efficiency that integrated mechanized office tasks created the size of offices and quantity responsibilities preformed increased, roles became further defined, as did t...

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... role in the future of development in offices that are integrated with technology as a solution to create a unified environment that addresses the demands of its purpose as well as its intended users.

Bibliography

Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Modernity. 1st. Malden: Polity Press, 2000.

Buisness Interiors. Think Differently with this Inspiring Office Design at Google HQ. 2011. http://www.businessinteriors.co.uk/inspiring-office-design-google-h/ (accessed 04 25, 2014).

Diani, Marco. "The Social Design of Office Automation." In Design Discourse: History.Theory.Criticism, edited by Victor Margolin, 67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,76. Chicargo: The University of Chicargo Press, 1989.

Margrete H. Olson, Henry C. Lucas Jr. "The Impact of Office Automation on the Organization: Some Implications for Research and Practice." Social Impacts of Computing 25, no. 11 (1982): 838.