Computer Rationalization and the Transformation of Work: Lessons from the Insurance Industry
Author(s)
Appelbaum, Eileen; Albin, Peter
Abstract
Computer and information technologies are transforming the production of services as well as goods. One version of this transformation is “computer rationalization”-using computers to introduce or enhance Talyorist principles of work organization. An alternative possibility is to use these technologies to facilitate the integration of tasks and the decentralization of control and decision making. These alternative, and combinations thereof, are now being tried out in the insurance industry, which faces “a broader range of choices that is suggested by any dichotomy such as craft and flexible resources versus mass production and narrowly specialized resources.” This article uses four case studies to illustrate the varied implications of computerization.
