Introduction
Intelligent devices, automated applications, and wireless solutions are creating an environment in which organizations and businesses can transact anywhere, and anytime. In the general sense, computer and communications technology such as the internet, mobile phones, and emails among other things enhance productivity rather than decrease it. Today, computer and communications technology handle many processes with unerring skill. You simply type, click, or utter what you want to be done, and a program takes care of it. A touch of a button can do many things. A single call could formalize a deal. A simple click on a keyboard could send a letter thousands of miles away.
One could really say that the world has in a way become smaller and individuals can do more things at a shorter time. Indeed, for sheer convenience advancing technology has given many workers an advantage. Some companies who were once slow-paced and conservative industries undergo tremendous changes at the turn of the millennium, sparked largely by the rapid changes in its environment. This is largely attributed to the increasing use of technology.
However, the debate as to whether technology aids or distracts worker productivity still abounds. Numerous studies have already been done on this subject. There is also the issue of employee safety with the advent of technology use in organizations and businesses. These issues will be the topic of this paper.
Context
Just like many aspects of today’s corporate world, safety and well-being at work are everyone’s responsibility. And being safe is not limited to the basics, like lifting, avoiding slips, trips, and falls, especially now that technology has changed many ways in the workplace. Safety is about overall increased awareness; it’s about helping employees focus on the task at hand so that they are working at 100 percent maximum efficiency; it’s about providing a work culture that helps employees become relaxed, focused, comfortable and injury free. Only when workers are not distracted from pain, discomfort, and even technologies can true efficiency and productivity begin (Pater, 2001). Safety and productivity are indeed bound together.
Some experts say technologies such as computers have made great strides in almost every nation and economy’s productivity by automating menial tasks, letting people communicate more easily with e-mail and putting mountains of information within a mouse click of the desktop personal computer (Fernandez, 1997). Technology is now focusing on pure productivity outcomes, helping organizations work smarter, so that ultimately everyone can all work less yet produce more (Baker, 2003). However, there are still many questions that abound at present if technologies such as computers and other communication tools really do aid in worker productivity or just simply distract them.
Statistics show that computers play an essential role in boosting productivity. For instance, all industries that use computers most intensively experienced dramatic increases in labor productivity between 1973 and 1991. Even the computer industry had substantial productivity gains in the 1980s, accounting for one-third of total factor productivity for the entire economy. In contrast, productivity growth in sectors that have not invested heavily in computers has been sluggish (Stiroh, 1998).
However, technology can also affect employee’s safety. Every firm uses technology, people and the work site to generate a product or service. These factors interact when a process is undertaken. The problem happens when technology suffers wear and tear, and the physical environment becomes unstable or untidy, and infrastructure corrodes. Each time a process is carried out, deviations may occur that have the potential to introduce additional hazards. Workers also experience degradation in the form of fatigue, variable vigilance/concentration or loss of physical capacity (Mol, 2002).
If the firm’s processes were standardized, its technology, infrastructure and processes have low levels of residual risk and low tendencies toward degradation in the short term. If, however, its work force is inexperienced, there is potential for suboptimal interaction between workers and other system factors. This can lead to deviations from standardized tasks, inefficient operation of technology and poor housekeeping, posing safety risks to the workers.
On the organization level, technology is now an embedded part of virtually every business and increasing affordability, driven by standardization (Baker, 2003). The introduction of increased processing power of hardware, along with complementary software and telecommunications infrastructure, facilitated the enhanced ability to store, retrieve, analyze, and communicate data and information within organizations, between organizations and their partners and suppliers, and, finally, to the ultimate consumer (Diwan et al, 2002).
Computer systems do assist organizations and companies in many ways, and one major benefit is increased productivity. However, this is easier said than done. Everyone in the company has the responsibility of doing their share. Managers on their part must understand the system themselves to be able to adequately supervise their employees. They should not only educate the employees how to use the equipment but also show them how it affects the overall work process. Understanding of the whole process of automation brought about by technology is essential.
Although this is automation, there is still a need for standards to integrate technology, a need to decide who is responsible for governance of customer information that is part of enterprise data, and a need for “resiliency” in a company’s operations and systems (Trembly, 2003). Such integration will help drive productivity.
The challenge for business owners is to identify the technologies that will drive costs down, increase sales and productivity, and help them to stay ahead of the competition. The trick is to understand which ones are right for their time; which ones are ahead of their time ; and which over-hyped technologies may never have their time (Baker, 2003). Organizations and businesses cannot just utilize any technology, they have to select that which will be beneficial for them.
Economists also agree that technology, and particularly information technology, is important in raising productivity growth an economy. The role of information technology in increasing the overall productivity of some nation’s economy is now being widely recognized (Duggal, 2003). The effect of technology on a larger scale always would start at the bottom. This increase in productivity at the top level would not have become if not for the individuals who also use technologies and are themselves productive.
On the individual level like the employee, to be aided or to be distracted by the internet is a choice which is of the worker’s own. If one has the willpower to do work in spite of the many things other than work that could be done on the internet, then the internet is a tool that can speed up a worker’s performance and increase his or her productivity. On the other hand, if the worker chooses to play an online game or chat over the internet instead of doing work, then the internet is a distraction to the worker and can decrease productivity. Greater levels of productivity will be achieved with seamless integration between the input/output device and the user’s chosen office application programmes.
However, the benefits brought about by computers and communication tools are not without drawbacks and problems. Even if the employee is bent on doing work, if there are safety and privacy problems regarding the technology used, then more likely the employee cannot get the work done. As already mentioned at the start of the paper, one pressing problem is the safety of employees. To solve this problem, programs have to be designed. Human resource managers can devise recruitment and selection, training and reward systems that develop worker competencies and promote a safety culture, thereby reducing risks within the human resources system factor. Environmental specialists should be involved in monitoring the physical site for residual risks such as the stability of a toxic waste tailings dam and prevention of entropy caused by such business processes (Mol, 2002).
This problem on safety and privacy could occur not only on physical locations, but also over the internet. One has already heard of instances where information over the internet is stolen or a computer which has shut down because of a virus. Destructive virus attacks either front within a network or from the Web are a serious problem that can lead to computer downtime and lost worker productivity, potentially costing a company thousands of dollars per episode (Feldman, 2004). This situation is an issue of safety of using the internet which could affect the overall productivity of a company.
One effective method of protecting a business virtual private network is to set up a multilayered system consisting of virus protection software on each computer that works locally and a perimeter system that protects the network (corporate or main office and remote offices) at the edges from all incoming attacks over the Internet or from an infected disk file that is uploaded on any networked computer (Feldman, 2004).
Sometimes, the use of software can also significantly help in increasing a company’s productivity. In business today most of the serious productivity gains are being realized through the deployment of new generation business software programs, many of which necessitate a change of mindset for business managers (Baker, 2003). Companies should therefore consider purchasing software in order to significantly enhance productivity rather than using freeware alternatives.
Some software provides the ability to fax and/or email work orders to any or all designated recipients within a company. During a project, users can call, create and fax or print out punch lists for a single worker, the whole project or all workers on all jobs and then follow up any punch list item with a work order. Because all data in the application is stored in a central location within the program, all technicians or other employees with access to a network computer can view schedules, work orders or contact information at any time, thus making work easier and faster for everyone in the company.
Additional software are also available to ensure safety of information. These can prevent attacks of virus or stealing of information from the company’s network of computers. Some of the software use the Internet and deploys multifaceted protection from viruses, worms and break-ins by providing firewall, URL filtering, virus screening, spare filtering and other technologies. It protects against complex viruses, also called blended threats, which package several standalone viruses into an extremely elusive attack vehicle.
With all the buzz about technology and automation, one must always remember that people are still needed. Computers and other technologies are not enough to compensate for the people who do the jobs. There are many companies and organizations would use technology to automate a certain function or to eliminate a certain job. But the most productive and highly valued companies do more than just take the hardware out of the box. They use information technology and keep their people to reinvent their business processes from top to bottom. Leaders and managers who just sit back and assume that improvement will come from technology alone are setting themselves and their organizations up for failure.
Conclusion
Computer and communications technology enhance productivity rather than decrease it, both on the individual and cumulatively in the organizational level. Technologies like computers and other communication devices have revolutionized the way of work, making employees better informed, more responsive, and plain more productive. However, technology also has safety issues which could be detrimental to the employee and even the entire organization. Technologies can pose safety hazards to employees. A file stolen from the organization’s computer database or a computer infected with a virus could significantly affect the organization’s productivity. This is, however, not without a solution. Managers could design programs that help employees avoid hazards brought about by the use of technology. Softwares are also available which could help prevent virus attacks and guard online privacy. It is essential to distinguish that these technology standards don’t produce volume. It is the people that produce volumes. The process is to supply people with information and technology. They will use it and produce more with the aid of technologies. Within an organization, computers and other technologies alone cannot drive an increase in productivity. People are still irreplaceable.
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