Organization Productivity: The Impact of Office Technology Change

摘要

Automation is a growth industry in government offices costing hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Supporters argue it dramatically increases productivity, while critics say productivity declines as costs skyrocket. There is little agreement among technical experts or among bureaucrats about whether office automation is cost-effective and is a sound investment for agencies. This report is based on a literature review and considerable reflection about office automation, productivity, organizations, and managers. The report attempts to give broad treatment to the subject and to take an interdisciplinary approach. Concepts and techniques from management science, economics, evaluation research, organization theory, and applied behavioral science are discussed in the essay. The literature review and analysis are structured around five definitions of productivity that are commonly used in office automation studies. They are: (1) keyboarding productivity: (2) secretarial/clerical productivity; (3) professional/managerial productivity; (4) office productivity; and (5) organizational productivity.