Computer Monitoring: The Hidden War Of Control

Abstract

Monitoring has become the battleground for control between labor and management.  A model is proposed which examines the dynamics of monitoring on labor through three functions.  The first is the use of computer monitoring to reduce the worker to simply another part of the whole machine.  The second function is to reduce workers to numbers arranged by their ability to meet mechanistic goals and objectives.  The third looks at the ability of monitoring to reduce costs beyond automation through its elimination of supervision and middle-management.  Implications are discussed.