Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
was concerned about the relative decline of managerial competence in
relation to computer expertise: “The supervisor . . . has been replaced as
the person with superior technical knowledge to whom the subordinates
can turn for help. This aspect of supervision has been transferred, at least
temporarily, to the EDP manager and programmers or systems designers
involved with the programming. . . . [U]nderneath, the forward planning
function of almost all department managers has transferred to the EDP
manager.”
74
Whisler was hardly alone in his assessment of the role of computing
personnel in organizational power shifts.
In 1962 the
Harvard Business Review
warned against “computer
people … attempting to assume the role of high priests to the [electronic
brain],” who would “ignore all the people with operating experience and
concern themselves with looking for a place to apply some new trick
technique.”
75
A 1964 article in
U.S. News and World Report
asked if
the computer was “running wild” within the corporation, and quoted
one expert as saying that the “computer craze” would end as a “night-
mare” for executives.
76
In 1965, Robert McFarland warned of an “elec-
tronic power grab” in which computer specialists were “stealing”
decision-making authority from top executives: “Control of data pro-
cessing activities can mean control of the fi rm—without the knowledge
of top management.”
77
A textbook for managers from 1969 complained
that “all too often management adopts an attitude of blind faith (or at
least hope) toward decisions of programmers.”
78
In her topic
How
Computers Affect Management
from 1971, Rosemary Stewart described
how computer specialists mobilized the mystery of their technology to
“impinge directly on a manager's job and be a threat to his security or
status.”
79
The adoption of computer technology threatened to bring
about a revolution in organizational structure that carried with it tangi-
ble implications for the authority of managers: “What has not been
predicted, to any large degree, is the extent to which political power
would be obtained by this EDP group. Top management has helped . . . by
not doing their job and controlling computer systems.”
80
The frequent
association of computer boys with external consultants only compounded
the resentment of regular employees.
There is no doubt that by the end of the decade, traditional corporate
managers were extremely aware of the potential threat to their occupa-
tional territory posed by the rise of computer professionals. Thomas
Alexander, in his
Fortune
article in 1969, noted a growing cultural clash
between programmers and managers: “Managers . . . are typically older
