CS305 Topic Other Impacts Productivity and jobs Work environment - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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CS305 Topic Other Impacts Productivity and jobs Work environment - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

CS305 Topic Other Impacts Productivity and jobs Work environment Globalization Society Environmental Sources: Baase: A Gift of Fire and Quinn: Ethics for the Information Age Ethics Spring 2010 Other Impacts 1 Impact


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SLIDE 1

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 1

CS305 Topic – Other Impacts

  • Productivity and jobs
  • Work environment
  • Globalization
  • Society
  • Environmental

Sources: Baase: A Gift of Fire and Quinn: Ethics for the Information Age

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SLIDE 2

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 2

Impact on Productivity

Mostly positive impacts:

  • Automation
  • A human pharmacist fills <20 prescriptions per hour;

an online pharmacy uses robots to dispense 8,000 prescriptions per hour

  • Streamlining
  • Middle layers in some organizations become

unnecessary (e.g., creating and processing purchase orders)

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SLIDE 3

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 3

Productivity (cont.)

Productivity in the U.S. doubled between 1948 and 1990. Implications:

  • We could have maintained our 1948 standard of living

and gone to a four-hour work day!

...but, instead:

  • People in 1990 worked harder than those in 1948 –

They owned and consumed twice as much as in 1948.

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SLIDE 4

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 4

Impact on Jobs

Job Elimination –

Automation reduces or eliminates demands in certain job categories:

  • Telephone operators
  • Utility meter readers
  • Records processing staff
  • Secretaries and clerks
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SLIDE 5

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 5

Jobs (cont.)

Job Creation –

  • New products and new industries create new

jobs:

  • DVDs, iPods, …
  • Cellphone industry
  • Higher productivity lowers product prices;

lower prices increase demand, which in turn create more jobs

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SLIDE 6

Supply & Demand

CS305 F'09, J. Li Other Impacts 6

Price Quantity

Demand Supply

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SLIDE 7

Supply & Demand

CS305 F'09, J. Li Other Impacts 7

Price Quantity

Demand Supply

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SLIDE 8

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 8

Jobs (cont.)

What is the overall impact?

  • “The empirical evidence suggests overall that

computers have not replaced workers or destroyed jobs; if anything, they have created jobs” [Larry Hirschhorn]

  • “There will be plenty of jobs in the future, and

most of them will be high-paying jobs” [Martin Carnoy]

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SLIDE 9

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 9

Impact on Work Environment

  • Business organizational changes
  • Telecommuting
  • Temporary work
  • Employee monitoring
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SLIDE 10

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 10

Organizational Changes

  • Increase in smaller businesses and

independent consultants

  • Information entrepreneurs
  • “Mom and pop” shops on the Web
  • IT integration into firms
  • Automating back office functions (e.g., payroll)
  • Improving communication among business units

Results:

  • Flattened organizational structures
  • Eliminating transactional middlemen
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SLIDE 11

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 11

Telecommuting

  • Work away from traditional place of work:
  • Home office
  • Customer sites
  • Mobile office (e.g. salesmen)
  • About 20% of Americans do some

telecommuting

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SLIDE 12

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 12

Telecommuting (cont.)

Benefits:

  • Reduces overhead for employers
  • Reduces need for large offices
  • Employees are more productive and satisfied
  • Reduces traffic congestion, pollution, and stress
  • Reduces expenses for commuting and work clothes
  • Allows work to continue after blizzards, hurricanes, etc.
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SLIDE 13

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 13

Telecommuting (cont.)

Problems:

  • Threatens managers’ control and authority
  • Makes face-to-face meetings (e.g. with clients)

impossible

  • Team meetings more difficult (e.g. different schedules)
  • Sensitive information less secure
  • Tele-workers less visible, and “out of the loop”
  • Tele-workers work longer hours for same pay
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SLIDE 14

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 14

Temporary Work

  • Companies less committed to employees
  • Lay-offs not taboo as they once were
  • Companies hiring more temporary employees
  • Saves money on benefits
  • Makes it easier to downsize
  • Long-term employment for one firm less

common

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SLIDE 15

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 15

Employee Monitoring

82% of companies monitor employees in some way. Main purpose:

  • Identify inappropriate use of company resources

Other uses:

  • Detect illegal activities
  • Gauge and improve productivity
  • Improve security
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SLIDE 16

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 16

Employee Crimes

  • Embezzlement – fraudulent appropriation of

company property

  • Trusted employees have stolen millions of

dollars

  • Logic bomb – software that destroys critical

files (payroll and inventory records) after employee leaves

  • Angry fired employees sabotage company

systems

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SLIDE 17

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 17

Monitoring Approaches

  • Old “Blue-Collar” Approaches:
  • Time-clocks and logs
  • Output counts at the end of the day
  • Bosses patrolled the aisles watching workers
  • Camera surveillance in workplace
  • Location Monitoring:
  • Electronic badge tracking
  • GPS tracking (e.g. in hospitals, long-haul trucks)
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SLIDE 18

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 18

Monitoring Approaches (cont.)

  • E-Mail, Voice Mail, and Web-Use Monitoring:
  • Roughly half of major companies in the U.S.

monitor or search employee e-mail, voice mail, or computer files

  • Some companies block specific web sites
  • Many employers have privacy policies regarding e-

mail and voice mail

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SLIDE 19

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 19

Law and Court Cases

  • Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)

prohibits interception of e-mail and reading stored e- mail without a court order, but makes an exception for business systems

  • Courts put heavy weight on the fact that computers,

mail, and phone systems are owned by the employer who provides them for business purposes

  • However, courts have ruled against monitoring done to

snoop on personal and union activities or to track down whistle blowers

  • The National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) sets rules

and decides cases about worker-employer relations

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SLIDE 20

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 20

Globalization

Refer to the process of creating a worldwide network of businesses and markets.

  • Reduce Trade Barriers:
  • WTO and NAFTA
  • Global Workforce:
  • Outsourcing
  • Offshoring
  • Foreign IT workers
  • Working for foreign companies (Insourcing?)
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SLIDE 21

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 21

Globalization (cont.)

Arguments For:

  • Increases competition; produces better products
  • Increases everyone’s standard of living
  • Global jobs reduce unrest and increase stability

Arguments Against:

  • Forces American workers to compete with foreigners

who do not get decent wages and benefits

  • Accelerates exporting of manufacturing and white-

collar jobs from United States

  • Hurts workers in foreign countries
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SLIDE 22

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 22

Impact on Society

The Digital Divide – Some people have access to

modern IT while others do not.

  • Global digital divide:
  • Access higher in wealthy countries
  • Access higher where IT infrastructure good
  • Access higher in English-speaking countries
  • Social digital divide:
  • Access higher for young people
  • Access higher for well-educated people
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SLIDE 23

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 23

Critiques of the Digital Divide

  • DD talk suggests the difference between

“haves” and “have nots” is simply about access; It implies lack of access leads to less advantaged social position Counter:

  • Social and culture change are more important
  • Internet is not the pinnacle of IT
  • DD talk puts everyone in two categories, but

reality is a continuum

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SLIDE 24

Environmental Impacts

  • Resource Consumption
  • Power and materials
  • Both in production and in operation
  • E-Waste

EPA Statistics (2006-2007):

Generated Disposed Recycled Recycle Rate

(mil of units) (mil of units) (mil of units) (by weight) Televisions 26.9 20.6 6.3 18% Computers 205.5 157.3 48.2 18% Cell Phones 140.3 126.3 14.0 10%

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 24

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SLIDE 25

Green(er) Computers?

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 25

The XO by One Laptop per Child (OLPC): Claims to be the most eco-green laptop.

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SLIDE 26

Ethics – Spring 2010 Other Impacts 26

Discussion Questions

  • What jobs that were once considered high-skill

jobs are now low-skill due to technology?

  • Would you want to telecommute? Why or why

not?

  • How much privacy is reasonable for an

employee to expect in the workplace?

  • Under what circumstances is it appropriate for

an employer to read an employee's e-mail?