DESKILLING AND RESKILLING WITHIN THE LABOR PROCESS - THE CASE OF COMPUTER-INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING

The deskilling/reskilling controversy within the labour process debate is considered within the context of the implementation of Computer In tegrated Manufacturing (CIM). Effective implementation of CIM is shown to require an appreciation of the social and organizational issues as sociated with organizational change, As such the deskilling/reskilling issue is worthy of analysis within the CIM context and aspects of the labour process debate are examined. The effects of technological chan ge on the skills of shopfloor oerators and supervisors are examined by analysing two dimensions of skill, technical complexity and discretio n or autonomy. The paper concludes that the outcomes of technical chan ge are framed by managerial perceptions and consequent decisions on ho w technology should be implemented in terms of work organisation.