COMPUTERIZED SURVEILLANCE IN THE WORKPLACE - FORMS AND DISTRIBUTIONS

The use of computers to monitor job performance has attracted much comment, from social scientists and others. In this analysis of a representative sample of greater New York firms, we show that this use of computing is both widespread and applied to a wide variety of jobs. Contrary to some suggestions, it is does not occur exclusively in large firms with particularly high-tech computing applications. Instead, it appears in all kinds of firms, as an outgrowth of management efforts to control and rationalize work. Most cases of computerized job surveillance identified in this sample are part of one of three basic organizational processes: sales analysis, job tracking, or inventory control.