Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
mation has not yet led to widespread unemployment in the countries where automation
is used the most. In fact, the total number of manufacturing jobs worldwide continues
to increase.
Thanks to automation, productivity has more than doubled since World War II.
However, the length of the workweek in the most highly industrialized nations has not
decreased by half. Instead, productivity has been used to increase the standard of living.
This choice is understandable, since our society defines success in terms of wealth and
material possessions. However, not all cultures have the same values. People in some
“primitive” cultures choose to work much shorter hours.
Intelligent robots have been a fixture of science fiction novels for more than 60
years. In the past decade, however, faster microprocessors have enabled AI researchers
to create systems capable of amazing feats. A few ethicists have suggested that we temper
our efforts to create ever more intelligent computers with some reflection about how
highly intelligent computers would affect society.
Information technology has transformed the way businesses organize themselves.
Rapid and inexpensive communications allow many more information channels to open
up within organizations, which can speed processes and eliminate middlemen. Evidence
of more flexible organizational structures include the rise of telework and multinational
teams. Improvements in information technology have also given management unprece-
dented access to the moment-by-moment activities of employees. Workplace monitor-
ing has become the rule rather than the exception in large corporations.
As modern information technology has spread around the world, corporations
form tightly connected networks and sell their products and services in many markets.
This process is called globalization. Advocates of globalization claim it creates jobs for
people in poorer countries and increases competition, resulting in lower prices and a
higher standard of living for everyone. Critics of globalization say it forces workers in
highly developed countries to compete with people willing to work for a fraction of
the pay.
The notion that only manufacturing jobs could be lost to overseas competition has
been disproved by recent events. While the dot-com bust has put hundreds of thousands
of IT professionals out of work in the United States, American companies shipped hun-
dreds of thousands of jobs to India and other countries where well-educated people work
for a fraction of what an American earns. Unemployed American high-tech workers have
criticized companies for hiring large numbers of foreigners to work in the United States
under H-1B or L-1 visas. Companies respond that reducing labor costs is a necessity in
a competitive marketplace. In order to survive and thrive, companies must keep prices
down and profits up.
The “digital divide” is a way of dividing people into two groups: those who have ac-
cess to information technology and those who do not. The term is based on the premise
that access to information technology is a prerequisite for success in the Information
Age. Some also assume that simply giving people access to the technology solves the
problem. Pippa Norris points out that there are several fundamentally different dimen-
sions to the digital divide. One dimension separates the more industrialized nations
from the less industrialized nations. Another dimension separates rich and poor within
