New technology,work organizations and industrial relations

This paper argues that the effects of the new microprocessor technology such as FMS, CAD/CAM, CNC systems and so on, on industrial relations are relatively indeterminate, given that new production-systems may permit a range of organizational and manpower solutions. Examples are cited from a number of cross-national empirical studies, relating to selected countries in Western Europe. The first deals with the impact of technology on industrial democracy; the second, with the effect on skill-polarization and hence on employee-involvement. The problems of assessing causal relations are then discussed and the paper concludes that whatever the impact of technology on industrial behaviour, the impact of formal participative norms appears to be greater.