How Technology Changes Affect Labor-Management Relations
In the current global climate, technology is rapidly changing how businesses are capturing and creating value, how and where people work, and their communication modes. The rise in technology is not only helping the population perform their tasks better and faster, but also fosters profound changes in the work process and production. Aside from communication-oriented advances, some of the current technologies that have transformed the industrial sector include cloud and mobile computing, machine learning, advanced robotics, sensors, and intelligent manufacturing (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016). These technological changes have disrupted labor-relations within organizations, both positively and negatively. An in-depth analysis of these implications can guide firms looking to implement technological advances in their operations.
Technology advancement is described as the overall process of inventing, innovating, and diffusing technology. It can be defined in terms of civilization’s progress, the evolution of the labor market, and quality production initiatives. With increased digitization and automation, the corporate industry has gradually evolved its technological infrastructures. During the agricultural era, individuals focused mainly on how natural elements like wind and water could promote their businesses. Simultaneously, firms in the industrial epoch concentrated on applying industrial power, procuring traditional physical resources, and integrating mass production (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016). In this digital era, firms aspire to generate and trade products and services through digitalized information and practices.
Through these three periods, technology advancement has foreseen the labor market’s shift from analog to digital platforms. Traditionally, individuals were accustomed to setting up physical locations for their businesses. Conversely, in this new climate, technology has fostered numerous online and social media platforms for business. These platforms have demeaned the need for physical structures, as the business can be conducted virtually. This development also implies that workers can work from anywhere in the world, even in the comfort of their homes. In terms of logistics, technology advancement has altered how firms transport their products or deliver their services across different supply chain levels. In prior years, the circulation of commodities, unfinished goods, and raw materials was conducted through outmoded means, from one production unit to the next and finally to the customer. Technology advances like shipping and tracking systems and collaborative technology that runs across the supply chains have transformed the sector. Workers can now perform logistical services in a more efficient, timely, and cost-effective manner.
Technology changes have also introduced quality improvement initiatives that have affected the nature of work and production. It is indisputable that technology innovations mainly deal with computing and communication. However, there are several productivity tools used by firms that still fall under this umbrella. Examples of such devices include the industrial internet of things, which determines the design of certain service products, and cloud computing that allows firms to stay abreast of information from geographically dispersed locations. Businesses have incorporated and adopted various technologies with the sole purpose of reducing production costs and improving the workforce’s efficiency.
Case in point, advances like social networking sites, emails, video conferences, and others have heightened the level of communication within the organization and other stakeholders. With these changes, businesses can keep in touch with their pertinent consumers and monitor the supply chain processes. Furthermore, firms have taken to applying productivity software that helps the managers track the production’s progress and identify areas that require immediate reinforcement or improvement. Most importantly, with the increasing automation rate, businesses have included advancements that will lower their production costs. Advances like big data analytics have helped firms integrate different tasks and avoid unnecessary use of resources or human enforcement.
Although technology has a significant impact on the businesses’ operations, the employees are often on the receiving end of these changes. Technology has disrupted their lives, both positively and negatively, in terms of job creation and destruction. Most companies’ chief objective is to increase their production while reducing subsequent costs. They can only achieve this by replacing some of the human abilities with technical modes to perform similar tasks. This occurrence has cost the majority of the population their job positions, rendering them unemployed. Additionally, these technological advances have led to the automation of routine-oriented tasks, contributing to the long-term decrease in employment opportunities.
As much as technology, in this case, is posed as problematic, its job creation efforts counterbalance its effects. Notably, with these technological advances, workers get an opportunity to enhance their existing skills and procure new ones that are on high demand in the market. Businesses are also propelled through technology to develop new products that will meet previously unfulfilled consumers’ needs, generating more employment opportunities. It might seem that technology has emerged to replace tasks formerly performed by humans – but of note, it has increased production rapidly, and more businesses need human abilities to monitor and operate the implemented technologies.
Labour unions seem to be heavily impacted by these technological advancements. Unions act as intermediaries between the businesses and the employees to ensure that they are presented with favorable working conditions. With more firms integrating technologies for their production processes, these unions continue to lose their place in the industry since they have no one to represent. Furthermore, it seems that the union memberships have heightened considerably as more workers want an assurance that their jobs are secure. Aside from job security, these unions receive complaints about wage inequalities. Since handling and operating these technologies requires specific skills and competencies, businesses tend to pay unqualified individuals lower than usual to accommodate skilled workers in this area. These unions have set standards and protections that ensure employees are not unjustly or unnecessarily dismissed. They achieve this through collection bargaining, where the unions and relative organizations negotiate on the workers’ wages and conditions. Collective bargaining is currently constrained because most managers have taken on the attitude that the employees have no say in introducing technology changes. This aspect has further weakened the unions’ position in the workers’ protection.
Conclusively, technology advancement has had significant implications on the role of employees in the corporate world. The global community has witnessed the industry evolved through different historical periods and the labor market shift from analog to digital. In addition to conducting their operations virtually, businesses now have implemented productive technologies to coordinate the supply chains’ processes, from logistics to production. Firms have especially integrated quality improvement innovations to foster productivity while lowering subsequent costs. The destructive effects of technology have been neutralized by their ability to create additional job opportunities for the population. Labor unions are also heavily impacted by this development as their role in society continues to demean gradually. Nonetheless, with this information, organizations can understand how to manage their workforces better while still implementing technology into their processes.
Reference
Cascio, W. F., & Montealegre, R. (2016). How technology is changing work and organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3, 349-375.