Review Article

Abstract

The images of technology abound — from i-gadgets, to office technology, to factory robots, and new architectural designs appearing in industrial and developing countries around the world. Its impact on organisations is reviewed in New Technology @ Work which covers a wide range of literature. The book primarily centres on the effects of computer-based technologies, or broadly ICTs, for organisations and work (p. xi) in several industries and countries. The authors discuss the organisational, political, and institutional features of changes in technology over the last couple of decades, rather than providing an analysis of the nature of technology/ies, or a more detailed examination of work. Indeed, the central theme is the contingent effects on technology in organisations of local and wider political contestation, institutional forms and state policy. The book’s main contribution lies in a broad review of a range of debates and in its assembling of what the writers term a ‘political materialist’ perspective, in examining technology at work. The book’s nine chapters fall into three general categories — theoretical approaches and frameworks (chs 1–2); studies of technologies in specific industries, covering manufacturing, call centres, white collar work, management, professions, and distributed work (chs 3–6); and an analysis of the institutional context and conclusion (chs 7–9). Accordingly, the theoretical framing of the book is located at two levels — the organisational, and the institutional. The first parts of the book primarily focus on organisational features and the latter part on the institutional context. However, the institutional context is never far from the discussion throughout. The authors initially review a sweeping array of literature on technology, spanning more than fifty years, and identify four broad types of theoretical approaches. Using a two dimensional matrix (based on the axes of ‘variables addressed’, and ‘theoretical focus’, see Fig 2.1, p. 15) they usefully cluster many theoretical perspectives into the resulting four types — viz., technological determinist; management of technology (MOT); political materialist, and; social constructivist. The authors seek to develop a ‘political materialist’ theoretical framework — built from its roots in labour process theory, and augmented by ‘recognising the importance of processes of social construction that shape the impact and experience of technology at the organizational level’ (p. 40). As noted, the organisation level is strongly complemented by the consideration of