Very interesting. I like Zuboff. I have a new book that is about 1/2
finished -- The Heavy Manacles of Capitalism. Here is a brief mention
of her:
In a less dramatic example of the irrationality of absolutism in
managerial control, Shoshana Zuboff, a professor at the Harvard Business
School, reported on her experience as a consultant for a number of paper
factories at a time when computer controls were first being introduced
throughout the industry. In one factory, which she called Tiger Creek
Mill, the computer system was initially accessible by everybody,
including the workers on the production line. Workers could see the
same information on costs and prices as management. At first, the
workers used their new found information to make very profitable
modifications of the production process (Zuboff 1988, pp. 255 67).
Economic theory and business logic would have us expect that management
would reward these workers for contributing to the profitability of the
corporation. Instead, management, horrified by the possibility that
workers were going to make managerial control at least partially
irrelevant, quickly cut off the workers' access to the system. Control
turned out to have more allure than profits.
