Implementing automation: a study of the shopfloor politics of technology change in the Canadian aerospace sector

Nicholson, Daniel 2023. Implementing automation: a study of the shopfloor politics of technology change in the Canadian aerospace sector. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This study examines how varying managerial and trade union strategies shape different social patterns of workplace technological change through a comparative study in the Canadian aerospace sector. Recent advances in technologies such as internet enabled devices, data storage, advanced robotics, and additive manufacturing, among others, have spurred a renewed interest in technology change in the workplace among social scientists. Previous research demonstrates that a key moment in workplace technological change occurs in the implementation and debugging phase, when workplace actors negotiate how a technology will be deployed on the shopfloor. Despite many studies in the labour process and industrial relations traditions examining the implementation of new technologies on the shopfloor, a theoretical framework for grasping the social patterns of debugging has remained lacking. This thesis develops such a framework through the comparative study of four technological changes at two factories operated by a Canadian aerospace firm and thus deepens our understanding of how workplace actors can shape the trajectories of technological change. I explain the observed variations in patterns of implementation through an examination of actor strategies. Here, managerial strategies are defined as a relationship between forcing and fostering while trade union strategies are categorised according to the presence or absence of a considered, timely, and organised union response. Cross classifying managerial and union strategies gives rise to the central theoretical contribution of this study: four social patterns of implementation and debugging each with implications for speed of rollout, efficiency improvements, and worker autonomy. First, a managerial forcing strategy and a developed union strategy produces a contested pattern of implementation characterised by a relatively slow rollout, limited efficiency gains, and limited but generalised worker upskilling. Second, a managerial forcing strategy in the absence of a developed union strategy results in a unilateral pattern of implementation associated with a rapid rollout, managerial satisficing on efficiency gains, and limited worker autonomy. Third, a co- ordinated pattern is the result of a developed union strategy in the context of managerial fostering and produces a steady rollout of the new technology with observable efficiency gains and high levels of worker autonomy. Finally, a co-opted pattern arises from managerial fostering in the absence of a developed union strategy with a rapid rollout, limited efficiency improvements, and isolated worker empowerment at managerial discretion.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	• Work • Technological change • Future of work • Labour process • Labour process theory • Employment relations • Industrial relations • Trade unions • Management
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	31 October 2023
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2024 02:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/163566

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