- Email: [email protected]
Work = Research?
Copyright © IFAC Skill Based Automated Production. Vienna. Austria I YH9
WORK
RESEARCH?
=
J.
Gartner
Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten , Deutschmeisterplatz 2, A-JOJ3 Wien , Austria
Abstract; The need for automation grows as production becomes more flexible and investments rise. In this ongoing process of automation software plays an important role. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and develop software without practical experience. - Pratical work and the practical application of systems are essential to further research and development. Although nowadays only few workers are affected. the trend towards combining work and research is accelerating. Work and research have to go hand in hand. Current software-techniques can only partially solve this problem . The possible advantages to be gained from using the creative and scientific potential of workers and of technology to humanize work are not tapped. To achieve this democratization at company level is called for. A qualitative analysis of trends serves as a basis for discussion. Keywords: Software development, technological forecasting. software engineering. human factors. knowledge engineering. artificial intelligence. economics
Technological change mainly takes place in firms (partially in universities). So we start with on analysis of the environment of firms and their possible reaction. considering the overall development later on ..
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS CALLING FOR THE USE OF HIGH-TECH +
+
+
+
A possible strategy - taken by many firms - is technological specialisation that goes hand in hand with cooperation. Problems resulting from o overcapacities (with respect to the market). o competitors (that use state of the art technology). o vendors who want higher quality. flexible production etc. call for rationalisation with a view to reducing costs or improving one-s market position. Making reinvestments in old machines etc. only the use of state-of-the-art technology offers a chance to achieve a proper return on investment. The use of high-tech equipment offers the double advantage of improvement of flexibility and precision. By this o a reduction of costs (for e xample in stock). the creation of new tasks (to get new o vendors etc.).
+
+
When new technologies and organization models are used new potentials for rationalization emerge. The next step can then be taken . etc.
Each firm has to take these trends into consideration. Togehter these trends lead to 1 o o
an accelerating development of technology. a specilisation and more complex structures of cooperation between firms .
This growing complexity of work gives rise to changes in the organization of labor.
A possible explanation for the slowing down of economic growth in spite of growing budgets for R&D budgets and investments: an exploding complexity of technical problems o ca us cost to shoot up. o
overcapactities and vendors with insufficient funds
(thus the technical advantages don-t lead to higher selling volumes)
J. Ganner
140
THIS GROWING COMPLEXITY LEADS TO
a growth of: + time spent on on-the-job training, + time spent on continuos learning, + time spent on cooperation, communication,2 + time spent on the development and maintenance of software. In order to minimize costs, managment is seeking an optimum in terms of production output. It is not possible to reach an overall optimum by cutting each cost category as far as possible because there is a strong interception. 3
As mentioned earlier, software plays a central role
in the process of automation. Even though the
These basic reasons are more important than the influence of a specific organization of labor or a specific software techniques. Their influence will be discussed later . The provisional result concerning the development of the organization of labor is the following : + research work will have to be done within normal working hours to keep production going and to improve software within a short time. + research and development will be brought closer to production as a result of extremly high costs for simulation and experimentation.
THE 'SOFTWARE-GAP' WIDENS
SOFTWARE IS DEVELOPED SLOWLY
C o mparing the increasing environmental pressure on firms with the speed of software development the "software-gap" is widening. The gap between
Symptoms
o
current software does not satisfy users.
+ + + + +
Problems in developing larg-scale systems, delays, underestimated costs etc" high maintenance costs, a lack of highly skilled workers, a lack of good software-techniqes, etc.
structural reasons for the slow development
+ +
+
+
In order to build new computer-systems, a lot of experience has to be gathered . Considering the increasing specialisation of firms and areas of work , this experience is becoming ever more specific . Despite their important role in fundamental research, universities and research institutions are not capable of gathering this experience, as the costs for simulating work and for realistic experiments are exploding . The costs for down time in factories are exploding as a result of ever higher investme nts. The pressure to work "round the clock" is g rowing . There is only little time for experiments and classical research .
the theoretical possibilities and what people would liked to be done on one hand o and what is actually being done on the other hand is widening.
In order to be able to answer the question as to whether this "software-gap ' will widen in the long term several future trends will be relevant for the overall trend and their feedback will have to be d isc ussed. FUTURE TRENDS (REINFORCING AND WEAKENING THE SOFTWARE GAP) Gap - Reinforcement: +
+
+
+ 2
Neverthele ss the funds re quired for build ing the "factory of th e future " a re enormouse . Alt hough impressive re sults w ere attained . it w a s not p ossi b le to rea c h the a im. - The com p lexity of an entirely unmanned factory
3
w a s dramatically underestimated . One p ossi ble strat egy fo r companies consists in trying to keep costs fo r coo p erat io n et c. small b y lo oking for highly tra ined new empl oyees. This happe ns nowadays . (As a re sult of high unemployment, whic h. in turn , reinfo rces the demand for highly skill ed w orke rs).
+
Growing competition The speed of technological development is related to the degree of competetion . Specialisation Makes it more and more difficult to use experiences gained elsewhere. The comple xity of networked systems Cau ses rising costs for e xperimentation and simulation and slows down the speed of software development. Software development o Has effects on the environment of other firms, and o offers new potentials for further development. The lack of high ly skilled workers Causes problems in development (lack of knowledge and e xperience) and in using new systems.
Wo rk = Resea rch ?
All of these aforementioned trends give rise to a reinforcement. that accelerates as all trends (with the exeption of qualification , which depends on company-strategies) develop independently for economic and technical reasons. Gap- weakening trends: The follwing concepts and trends could weaken the trend towards a widening gap: o Similiar software problems in other companies, o technical experts who gather experience. Both trends lose importance with growing specialisation and competition + Intensified cooperation Opens up new areas of rationalization. + Software tools Software develepoment with tools is limited to areas in which experciences and knowledge have been accumulated. + Standardized software Has to be adapted to he specific needs of the company which cannot be met without specific experience in the area . + ,AJ Contributes to the acceleration of technological change (Sackmann 1989). But "only in practical work the difference between arbitrary and essential aspects of organisation, techniques etc . can be worked out" (Holzkamp 1985).
+
Even though AI systems improve the flow of information between similiar companies and similar problems and the managment of knowledge , the basic problem of gaining the experience is not solved by these systems. The qualificatio n of workers Leads to a faster development and better use of system s as experience is gathered fa ster and more efficiently. The basic problem has still not been solved .
Overall the trend tow ards deepening the gap is grow ing , as reinforcing trends get stronger than w ea kening trends.
14 1
SOFTWARE TECHNIQUES:
the classical big bang approach Delivery of software takes place without gaining practical experience through the use of the system soon enough to realize that something was wrong. (Gilb 88) This approach leads to software that does not work at the beginning and results in extremly high maintenace costs . few high skilled experts Even though such concepts can be successful. structural problems arise with the growing spec ialisation and speed of development. In the long term , the problems are similiar to the one-s arising with the big-bang approach . participation 'user are allowed to speak" Currently a lot of social techniques are used to gain the knowledge and the experiences of the workers a ffected . As they are reduced to information d elivery , these techniqu es normally w o rk in the short range. Two basic problems still re main: the evolutionary aspect of software o development is not considered , o The needs and requirements of the affected workers are not fully considered . - In the long t erm their support will flag. (compare Blume 1988)
is appliable only to very sp e cific cases and restricted to already gathered experience. Standardization - individualisation A broad field of university and labor research can and should be done in the field of standardization and basic research. The basic problem : a lot of spe c ific knowledge is ne cessary to standardize software and to adapt a standard software pac kage to the specific needs. Highly skilled workers knowing the specifics of the firm are necessary in order to do this. This problem is growing :
Beside the structural reasons for the software gap there ore other reasons that deepen the software gap even further :
o o
bad organization of labor, lock of partizipation . SoecialisOTion or software systems
Graph :
Growing complexity in the selection and adjustment process .
J. Canner
142
'evolutionary delivery', Prototyping etc.
(Gilb 88) These techniques organize the collection and the use of experience and reduce failures. Yet, the concept does not aim at a ' participation' of users in the proper sense (including there interests, job requirements .. .) these techniques are relatively open to such a further development. (Wicke 88) (Compare Lanzara 1983) system development for, with and by the users
In order to do this it is necessary to democratise the process of development, maintenace, individualisation of software totally. This can not be done without democratisation of work. (Ehn 1988) Besides this it is necessary to enable the concerned persons to take part on the process actively.4
Summary of the chapter on software techniques
To begin with only only a limited number of persons were involved in the development and mantainance process. Nowadays they are partially involved , but still mostly called upon to deliver information . This results in unstable systems not fitting in the organisation and giving rise to a number of problems, e.g.discussed in terms of "Vulnerability of the Information Economy" (Brunnstein 1989)
SUMMARY: WORK
Currently these trends are fairly strong in blue collar areas (Volvo, GM, BMW etc.).6 - Together with the scientific organisation and planning of work these trends will get more and more important in white collar areas too. CONSEQUENCES FOR THE POLICY OF UNIONS
Considering that currently only few high tech firms and only a small group of employees is involved in this development, it is necessary for trade unions to develop programs for different groups and, above all, to reduce unemployment. In areas of low -skilled work a reduction of working time per week (35h) and a change of organization of work are necessary to + make these areas resistant to rationalization projects, + partially integrate aspects of skills , research and personal development into the work of the employees concerned . No differenciation should between experts and non-experts should take place in any area. Trade unions have to integrate all groups of employess to maintain their power and to be able to develop and suceed with alternative concepts of organization of labor. The experience and knowledge of workers is an important foundation to force through such concepts.
= RESEARCH
Tree developments move work and research more closely together: + software and its further development become more and more important for firms + software development and maintenance can not be done without practical work in the company, it is necessary to collect and process as much experience and knwoledge as possible. S + the experience collected by workers in this permanent process only penetrate the software development and maintenace process, if further development of the firm is organized democratically.
References ' Blume A. (1988) Betroffenenbeteiligung und Mitbestimmung bei Neuen Technologien: ein praktisches Modell. In L. KiBler (Ed .) Computer und Beteiligung. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen Brunnstein. K. (1989) The vulnerability of Information Economy. In D. Millin and B.H. Raab (Ed.) the SOCial implications of robotiCSand advanced industrial automation, IFIP TC 9, Elsevier Science Publisher B. V. (North-Holland). Amsterdam Caroll J.M. 1989 Taking artifacts seriously. In S.MaaB and H. Oberquelle (Ed. ) Software-Ergonomie 89. German Chapter of the ACM and Gesellschaft fur Informatik. Teubner. Stuttgart Ehn P. ( 1988) Work - Oriented Design of Computer Artifacts, ArbetSlivscent rum. Stockholm Gilb T. (1988) Principles of software engineering managment. Addison-Wesley. Wok ingham. England
4
A lot of basic instruction and form ing is necessary to achieve this . Free-time is necessary to consider the
Holzkamp K. (1985) Grundlegung der Psychologie. Campus Verlag . Frankfurt a . Main
problems and to have time and opportunity to communicate with other workers to exchange and reflect on shared experience. S
6
Blue co llar areas are nowadays much more planned
(A strongly related argument is presented by Caroll (89)
and structured - a sign on this is the amount of money
"Taking Artifacts seriously" - discussing the further
invested on a working place. even so the material costs
development presenting the: "task - artifact circle")
dominate in the blue collar areas.
Work Lanzara G.F. (1983) The design process: frames, metaphors and games. In U. Briefs, C. Ciborra, L. Schneider (Ed.) systems design for, with and by the users, IFIP, North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam . Sackmann, H. (1989) Salient intemational socio-economic impacts of artificial intelligence and robotics. In D, Millin and B.H. Raab (Ed.) the social implications of robotics and advanced Industrial automation, IFIP TC 9, Elsevier Science Publisher B. V. (NorthHolland), Amsterdam Wicke W. (1988) Methoden der Participation bel der Entwicklung computergestOtzer Arbeitssysteme. In L. KiBler (Ed.) Computer und Beteillgung, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen
= Research ?
143
WORK
RESEARCH?
=
J.
Gartner
Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten , Deutschmeisterplatz 2, A-JOJ3 Wien , Austria
Abstract; The need for automation grows as production becomes more flexible and investments rise. In this ongoing process of automation software plays an important role. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and develop software without practical experience. - Pratical work and the practical application of systems are essential to further research and development. Although nowadays only few workers are affected. the trend towards combining work and research is accelerating. Work and research have to go hand in hand. Current software-techniques can only partially solve this problem . The possible advantages to be gained from using the creative and scientific potential of workers and of technology to humanize work are not tapped. To achieve this democratization at company level is called for. A qualitative analysis of trends serves as a basis for discussion. Keywords: Software development, technological forecasting. software engineering. human factors. knowledge engineering. artificial intelligence. economics
Technological change mainly takes place in firms (partially in universities). So we start with on analysis of the environment of firms and their possible reaction. considering the overall development later on ..
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS CALLING FOR THE USE OF HIGH-TECH +
+
+
+
A possible strategy - taken by many firms - is technological specialisation that goes hand in hand with cooperation. Problems resulting from o overcapacities (with respect to the market). o competitors (that use state of the art technology). o vendors who want higher quality. flexible production etc. call for rationalisation with a view to reducing costs or improving one-s market position. Making reinvestments in old machines etc. only the use of state-of-the-art technology offers a chance to achieve a proper return on investment. The use of high-tech equipment offers the double advantage of improvement of flexibility and precision. By this o a reduction of costs (for e xample in stock). the creation of new tasks (to get new o vendors etc.).
+
+
When new technologies and organization models are used new potentials for rationalization emerge. The next step can then be taken . etc.
Each firm has to take these trends into consideration. Togehter these trends lead to 1 o o
an accelerating development of technology. a specilisation and more complex structures of cooperation between firms .
This growing complexity of work gives rise to changes in the organization of labor.
A possible explanation for the slowing down of economic growth in spite of growing budgets for R&D budgets and investments: an exploding complexity of technical problems o ca us cost to shoot up. o
overcapactities and vendors with insufficient funds
(thus the technical advantages don-t lead to higher selling volumes)
J. Ganner
140
THIS GROWING COMPLEXITY LEADS TO
a growth of: + time spent on on-the-job training, + time spent on continuos learning, + time spent on cooperation, communication,2 + time spent on the development and maintenance of software. In order to minimize costs, managment is seeking an optimum in terms of production output. It is not possible to reach an overall optimum by cutting each cost category as far as possible because there is a strong interception. 3
As mentioned earlier, software plays a central role
in the process of automation. Even though the
These basic reasons are more important than the influence of a specific organization of labor or a specific software techniques. Their influence will be discussed later . The provisional result concerning the development of the organization of labor is the following : + research work will have to be done within normal working hours to keep production going and to improve software within a short time. + research and development will be brought closer to production as a result of extremly high costs for simulation and experimentation.
THE 'SOFTWARE-GAP' WIDENS
SOFTWARE IS DEVELOPED SLOWLY
C o mparing the increasing environmental pressure on firms with the speed of software development the "software-gap" is widening. The gap between
Symptoms
o
current software does not satisfy users.
+ + + + +
Problems in developing larg-scale systems, delays, underestimated costs etc" high maintenance costs, a lack of highly skilled workers, a lack of good software-techniqes, etc.
structural reasons for the slow development
+ +
+
+
In order to build new computer-systems, a lot of experience has to be gathered . Considering the increasing specialisation of firms and areas of work , this experience is becoming ever more specific . Despite their important role in fundamental research, universities and research institutions are not capable of gathering this experience, as the costs for simulating work and for realistic experiments are exploding . The costs for down time in factories are exploding as a result of ever higher investme nts. The pressure to work "round the clock" is g rowing . There is only little time for experiments and classical research .
the theoretical possibilities and what people would liked to be done on one hand o and what is actually being done on the other hand is widening.
In order to be able to answer the question as to whether this "software-gap ' will widen in the long term several future trends will be relevant for the overall trend and their feedback will have to be d isc ussed. FUTURE TRENDS (REINFORCING AND WEAKENING THE SOFTWARE GAP) Gap - Reinforcement: +
+
+
+ 2
Neverthele ss the funds re quired for build ing the "factory of th e future " a re enormouse . Alt hough impressive re sults w ere attained . it w a s not p ossi b le to rea c h the a im. - The com p lexity of an entirely unmanned factory
3
w a s dramatically underestimated . One p ossi ble strat egy fo r companies consists in trying to keep costs fo r coo p erat io n et c. small b y lo oking for highly tra ined new empl oyees. This happe ns nowadays . (As a re sult of high unemployment, whic h. in turn , reinfo rces the demand for highly skill ed w orke rs).
+
Growing competition The speed of technological development is related to the degree of competetion . Specialisation Makes it more and more difficult to use experiences gained elsewhere. The comple xity of networked systems Cau ses rising costs for e xperimentation and simulation and slows down the speed of software development. Software development o Has effects on the environment of other firms, and o offers new potentials for further development. The lack of high ly skilled workers Causes problems in development (lack of knowledge and e xperience) and in using new systems.
Wo rk = Resea rch ?
All of these aforementioned trends give rise to a reinforcement. that accelerates as all trends (with the exeption of qualification , which depends on company-strategies) develop independently for economic and technical reasons. Gap- weakening trends: The follwing concepts and trends could weaken the trend towards a widening gap: o Similiar software problems in other companies, o technical experts who gather experience. Both trends lose importance with growing specialisation and competition + Intensified cooperation Opens up new areas of rationalization. + Software tools Software develepoment with tools is limited to areas in which experciences and knowledge have been accumulated. + Standardized software Has to be adapted to he specific needs of the company which cannot be met without specific experience in the area . + ,AJ Contributes to the acceleration of technological change (Sackmann 1989). But "only in practical work the difference between arbitrary and essential aspects of organisation, techniques etc . can be worked out" (Holzkamp 1985).
+
Even though AI systems improve the flow of information between similiar companies and similar problems and the managment of knowledge , the basic problem of gaining the experience is not solved by these systems. The qualificatio n of workers Leads to a faster development and better use of system s as experience is gathered fa ster and more efficiently. The basic problem has still not been solved .
Overall the trend tow ards deepening the gap is grow ing , as reinforcing trends get stronger than w ea kening trends.
14 1
SOFTWARE TECHNIQUES:
the classical big bang approach Delivery of software takes place without gaining practical experience through the use of the system soon enough to realize that something was wrong. (Gilb 88) This approach leads to software that does not work at the beginning and results in extremly high maintenace costs . few high skilled experts Even though such concepts can be successful. structural problems arise with the growing spec ialisation and speed of development. In the long term , the problems are similiar to the one-s arising with the big-bang approach . participation 'user are allowed to speak" Currently a lot of social techniques are used to gain the knowledge and the experiences of the workers a ffected . As they are reduced to information d elivery , these techniqu es normally w o rk in the short range. Two basic problems still re main: the evolutionary aspect of software o development is not considered , o The needs and requirements of the affected workers are not fully considered . - In the long t erm their support will flag. (compare Blume 1988)
is appliable only to very sp e cific cases and restricted to already gathered experience. Standardization - individualisation A broad field of university and labor research can and should be done in the field of standardization and basic research. The basic problem : a lot of spe c ific knowledge is ne cessary to standardize software and to adapt a standard software pac kage to the specific needs. Highly skilled workers knowing the specifics of the firm are necessary in order to do this. This problem is growing :
Beside the structural reasons for the software gap there ore other reasons that deepen the software gap even further :
o o
bad organization of labor, lock of partizipation . SoecialisOTion or software systems
Graph :
Growing complexity in the selection and adjustment process .
J. Canner
142
'evolutionary delivery', Prototyping etc.
(Gilb 88) These techniques organize the collection and the use of experience and reduce failures. Yet, the concept does not aim at a ' participation' of users in the proper sense (including there interests, job requirements .. .) these techniques are relatively open to such a further development. (Wicke 88) (Compare Lanzara 1983) system development for, with and by the users
In order to do this it is necessary to democratise the process of development, maintenace, individualisation of software totally. This can not be done without democratisation of work. (Ehn 1988) Besides this it is necessary to enable the concerned persons to take part on the process actively.4
Summary of the chapter on software techniques
To begin with only only a limited number of persons were involved in the development and mantainance process. Nowadays they are partially involved , but still mostly called upon to deliver information . This results in unstable systems not fitting in the organisation and giving rise to a number of problems, e.g.discussed in terms of "Vulnerability of the Information Economy" (Brunnstein 1989)
SUMMARY: WORK
Currently these trends are fairly strong in blue collar areas (Volvo, GM, BMW etc.).6 - Together with the scientific organisation and planning of work these trends will get more and more important in white collar areas too. CONSEQUENCES FOR THE POLICY OF UNIONS
Considering that currently only few high tech firms and only a small group of employees is involved in this development, it is necessary for trade unions to develop programs for different groups and, above all, to reduce unemployment. In areas of low -skilled work a reduction of working time per week (35h) and a change of organization of work are necessary to + make these areas resistant to rationalization projects, + partially integrate aspects of skills , research and personal development into the work of the employees concerned . No differenciation should between experts and non-experts should take place in any area. Trade unions have to integrate all groups of employess to maintain their power and to be able to develop and suceed with alternative concepts of organization of labor. The experience and knowledge of workers is an important foundation to force through such concepts.
= RESEARCH
Tree developments move work and research more closely together: + software and its further development become more and more important for firms + software development and maintenance can not be done without practical work in the company, it is necessary to collect and process as much experience and knwoledge as possible. S + the experience collected by workers in this permanent process only penetrate the software development and maintenace process, if further development of the firm is organized democratically.
References ' Blume A. (1988) Betroffenenbeteiligung und Mitbestimmung bei Neuen Technologien: ein praktisches Modell. In L. KiBler (Ed .) Computer und Beteiligung. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen Brunnstein. K. (1989) The vulnerability of Information Economy. In D. Millin and B.H. Raab (Ed.) the SOCial implications of robotiCSand advanced industrial automation, IFIP TC 9, Elsevier Science Publisher B. V. (North-Holland). Amsterdam Caroll J.M. 1989 Taking artifacts seriously. In S.MaaB and H. Oberquelle (Ed. ) Software-Ergonomie 89. German Chapter of the ACM and Gesellschaft fur Informatik. Teubner. Stuttgart Ehn P. ( 1988) Work - Oriented Design of Computer Artifacts, ArbetSlivscent rum. Stockholm Gilb T. (1988) Principles of software engineering managment. Addison-Wesley. Wok ingham. England
4
A lot of basic instruction and form ing is necessary to achieve this . Free-time is necessary to consider the
Holzkamp K. (1985) Grundlegung der Psychologie. Campus Verlag . Frankfurt a . Main
problems and to have time and opportunity to communicate with other workers to exchange and reflect on shared experience. S
6
Blue co llar areas are nowadays much more planned
(A strongly related argument is presented by Caroll (89)
and structured - a sign on this is the amount of money
"Taking Artifacts seriously" - discussing the further
invested on a working place. even so the material costs
development presenting the: "task - artifact circle")
dominate in the blue collar areas.
Work Lanzara G.F. (1983) The design process: frames, metaphors and games. In U. Briefs, C. Ciborra, L. Schneider (Ed.) systems design for, with and by the users, IFIP, North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam . Sackmann, H. (1989) Salient intemational socio-economic impacts of artificial intelligence and robotics. In D, Millin and B.H. Raab (Ed.) the social implications of robotics and advanced Industrial automation, IFIP TC 9, Elsevier Science Publisher B. V. (NorthHolland), Amsterdam Wicke W. (1988) Methoden der Participation bel der Entwicklung computergestOtzer Arbeitssysteme. In L. KiBler (Ed.) Computer und Beteillgung, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen
= Research ?
143