The Internet, Organizational Change and Labor: The Challenge of Virtualization

by Jacobs,David C. D.

• ISBN13: 9780415269995
• ISBN10: 0415269997
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-09-29
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The focus ofThe Internet, Social Intelligence & Laboris the impact of the Internet on human resources and the balance of power between labor and management. The Internet has contributed to the organization and mobilization of workers facing multinational corporations; it has permitted instantaneous contact across borders; it also facilitates communication among managers and permits the coordination of dispersed workplaces. Managers may more easily control an international network of production sites on-line. The Internet provides opportunities for managers and workers to pursue their overlapping and conflicting goals.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	viii
Introduction	1	(8)
Economizing, sociologizing, and praxis	3	(2)
Information processing	5	(1)
Industrial relations systems	6	(1)
History of technology	6	(2)
References	8	(1)
PART I The emerging virtual economy	9	(118)
1 Between utopia and dystopia	11	(9)
Virtual organizations	11	(8)
References	19	(1)
2 One, two, many industrial revolutions	20	(31)
A new industrial revolution?	21	(5)
The first industrial revolutions	26	(2)
End of the craft paradigm	28	(2)
Taylorism and organizational change	30	(1)
Airplanes, autos, and Fordisen	31	(4)
Electricity and automation	35	(6)
The digital revolution	41	(4)
Digital networks	45	(2)
References	47	(4)
3 The Wizard of Oz and the jobs dilemma	51	(28)
ICT and economic trends	55	(8)
Lean production	63	(4)
Lean and mean	67	(3)
The jobs dilemma	70	(6)
References	76	(3)
4 E-business and the virtual organization	79	(24)
The Internet advantage	81	(4)
E-commerce models	85	(4)
Lean and virtual	89	(11)
References	100	(3)
5 Jobs in the virtual economy	103	(24)
Employment impacts	104	(6)
Virtual jobs	110	(5)
Unions in a virtual world	115	(8)
References	123	(4)
PART II The Internet, social intelligence, and labor	127	(39)
6 Labor problems	129	(12)
"Free markets"	133	(2)
Unionism and free association	135	(1)
Benefits of unionization	136	(1)
Many forms of labor organization	137	(1)
Region, nation, and globe	138	(1)
References	139	(2)
7 Social intelligence, open source, and craft	141	(11)
Open source software	144	(3)
Craft production	147	(2)
Action	149	(1)
Knowledge management	149	(1)
Total information awareness	150	(1)
References	150	(2)
8 Internet unionism and labor-friendly enterprise	152	(14)
Distributivism	159	(3)
Conclusions about Internet unionism and labor friendly enterprise	162	(1)
Toward social movement informatics	163	(1)
References	164	(2)
Notes	166	(6)
Index	172