i need just a 300 words discussion based on the instructions below!CITE ONLY THE BOOK AND READ THE PAGE ATTACHED TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS!As technology has become more widely used in the workplace, particularly automated technology, some workers have come to resent its impact on their lives. This concept is know as technological alienation. Gary Benson suggests that it encompasses powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness and mindlessness (p.173).1. In your work experience, give examples where the use of technology has negatively impacted your work-related well-being. To approach this question, you have to provide the following informationYour job description and responsibilityWhat technology/automation was introducedHow did it impact on your work performance as well as well-being2. If you can give advice to your manager, to minimize the problems of automation in your organization, what would it be?Book: Goetsch, D. L. (2000). The Safety and Health Handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.173
Automation and Technology Taurus
Special emphasis should be placed on education and training as the best way to pre-
vent adverse effects from office automation.
conditions cannot be properly controlled or supervised under these circumstances. 18
VDT work should not be done part-time at home or contracted out since working
TECHNOLOGICAL ALIENATION IN THE AUTOMATED WORKPLACE
As technology has become more widely used in the workplace, particularly automated tech-
nology, some workers have come to resent its impact on their lives. This concept is known
as technological alienation. According to Gary Benson of the University of Wyoming, this
concept has several meanings, all of which encompass one or more of the following:
Powerlessness is the feeling that workers have when they are not able to control the
work environment. Powerless workers may feel that they are less important than the
technology with which they work and that they are expendable.
Meaninglessness is the feeling that workers get when their jobs become so special-
ized and so technology-dependent that they cannot see the meaning in their work as
it relates to the finished product or service.
Normlessness is the phenomenon in which people working in a highly automated
environment can become estranged from society. Normless people lose sight of soci-
eties, norms, rules, and mores.19
Benson investigated what he considers to be the most devastating form of techno-
logical alienation—mindlessness.20 Mindlessness is the result of the process of “dumbing
down” the workplace. This is a concept that accompanied automation. In the past,
machines have been used to do physical work previously done by human workers. With
the advent of computers, robots, and automation, machines began doing mental work.
According to Benson,
The net result is jobs and work environments where people do not have to use their minds or
think to do their work—an environment where computers, robots, and other forms of high
technology do the thinking.21
Mindlessness on the job should be of interest to safety and health professionals
because of the other problems it can create. According to Benson, these problems can
include an increase in alcoholism, drug abuse, employee theft, work-related accidents,
absenteeism, sick leave abuse, turnover rates, and employee personal problems. Mind-
lessness can also lead to a decrease in job performance, productivity, and work quality. 22
INCTUL PROBLEMS OF AUTOMATION
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