Strengths and Weaknesses of Labour Process Theory - Essay Example

 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 2 LABOUR PROCESS THEORY 2 LPT Evaluation 3 LPT Received Criticism 4 INCOMING OF ICT AND ITS ROLE IN THE WORKPLACE 5 LPT Explains Management of ICT 5 LPT CONCEPT WITH IMPACT OF ICT IN THE WORKPLACE 7 ​LABOUR PROCESS THEORY PROS AND CONS 8 Strength 8 Weaknesses 9 ICT Enhances the Empowerment of Workers 10 ICT Enhances the Up-Skilling of Workers 11 CONCLUSION 13 REFERENCES 15 INTRODUCTION Today, modern business is evaluating different processes through which it could enhance their industrial processes. Labour Process Theory is the organizational theory based on work under capitalism. This LPT emerged to analyse the industrial relationship on the workplace and the appointed managers controlling strategies. LPT plays a fundamental role in management. It effectively controls the environment and supports the capital accumulation[Bro05].Through this theory, it is going to analyse that what managers, owners are seeking for to maximize the profit and minimize the capital losses that extract the maximum labour or employees efforts. This LPT theory is introduced by the Marxist and criticized by different scientific management authors. This paper will evaluate and analyse that whether, the Labour process theory support the Information and communication technological concepts or not. This essay will focus on strengths and weaknesses of labour process in order to understand the impact of ICT in the workplace. LABOUR PROCESS THEORY The labour process theory is concerned about shifting the relationship between the organization and technology with the arguments that technologically develop new accounting system. In the ideal enterprises the technology needs resources and deploys it for capital accumulation. Although, technology is a capital weapon that is used in labours domination. The organizations today are looking forward for the crystallized outcomes of this ongoing battle. According to the Lixin Han [Han10] Labour Process is the dynamics of social and organizational change. Marx defined labour process in which nature and man both practices are noticed. The man on his own settlement usually starts changeable, controlling and consider the material re-action. It is the theory between man himself and the nature as the human himself opposes the nature through one of its own forces like settings of arms, legs, hand and head. In order to produce appropriate natural process it is required to adopt own wants. The major factor of labour process is the purposeful personal man’s activity and the understanding of work subject with the instruments handling. The labour process theory is about the controlling the power of labour that is the human ability to perform work. There are three dimensions of technological change like transformation of work, its changes and controlling. The replacement of human machine combination requires many dimensions over time. In order to improve the technology transformation, the innovative factors are focused on the point of production process that is based on limited factors. Like textile industry involves spinning and weaving process is simplified through technological evaluation. LPT Evaluation The labour process in the former aspects is to emphasis the purposeful labour activity that reconstructs the nature. On the other side the labour is the metabolic process that reconstructs the natural substance. The form is active and the matter is passive element. Although, everything in the world carries the blend of form cause and matter causes. This interpretation shows that in labour process human being is the form cause and the nature is the matter cause. The combinational process of humanistic form and natural substance is Labour. In this process, humans are the labour that carry special purpose, will or plan to contrast, natural substances with the objects and instruments[Tho10]. This human purpose is to realize the power to prove inbeing. The differentiation of inevitable ends and means is to lead the position between humanity and nature. The natural substance and material metabolism results in the endless master of own capabilities while the humanistic forms are unintentional or temporary. Labour process is based on antagonistic and heterogeneous. This concept can form ecological perspectives with two completely opposite observations. LPT Received Criticism Earlier, labour and their monopoly had become the conventional wisdom. The industrial sociology, structural and historical attention shifting has become adaptation that articulates the deskilling of capital production that continues labour division. The critique is to achieve the ways that could adopt functional reaction. It is the refocused attention that managed the imposed work process which increase productivity requirements. The Labour process theory is inspired to employ the core technologies to control the deskilling labours and to reduce the labour bargaining power as intelligent machines is the good replacement of labours and this could increase profits. The technology is the capitalist power that degrades the workers power[Zah06]. There are several areas for the dispute and there are several points that rise significant numbers of debates on labour process theory. The major criticism is on the skills conceptualization and the formulation of the present of skills in workplace. On the other hand, the management, their motivational activities and their processes are the major criticism concepts. On this end, the manager’s agency is circumscribed by the wealth depicting growth[Tho101]. INCOMING OF ICT AND ITS ROLE IN THE WORKPLACE In labour process, the consideration of skilled workers demands is successfully diffused by the ICT with making positive relationship in the workplace. The information and communication technology is the transformation of career and service information or guidance that delivers in other kind of industry. ICT is concerned with the issues policy makers. It is based on the career guidance that is available on the technological equipment services that separate the system to limited interactive users[Mar13]. The rapid development of ICT is reshaped in the work place structure. It transforms the skills and tasks for workers. This ICT with new technologies on workers has gradually changed the labour-employer relationship too. According to the labour process theory the ICT increased total number of employees and shown growth in new jobs and service sector. While, in the manufacturing sector the losses are increased and needed help of technological change to increase demands of skilled workers and new skills development in the workplace. LPT Explains Management of ICT The management of ICT through different researchers about the Marxist Labour Process Theory is the clear distinction between the simple capital and labour in the formers tend. This activity reveals that the employees are often de-skilled or up-skilled whenever a new technology is introduced. Once technologies introduced by managers the keeners improves quality of product and service. These organizational managers, increase market share with the product innovations, and efficiently increase its controls over the labour process. In the sociological literature, the labour process theory outbreak proposing accounting the research evidences that are applied to investigate system controls and modes of its production. In accounting the leading initial proponents argued the major labour process that is being hold sway. There are verities of managerial strategies that are compatible for the production. These strategies should be acceptable by the workers. The final necessity for the society transformation is the open way to of reformation in so far. According to this reformatting LPT gained light change in the management strategy that intrinsically a better approach to worker. These lines of arguments critically manage the structures of unacceptability this process of general feeling and changing capitalist corporations appeals managers long term interest rather workers conduct the resolution against the managers. The evaluation of communication technologies have been experienced to decrease the autonomy and to increase the surveillance through the organizational management team. In the workplace the electronic communication programs improved the sources and supervisors control. There are many communication technologies including email, online instant messages, MSN messenger etc. that become a need in the workplace. Management could also exploit the new communication devices and put pressure on the workers and labour for controlling the production processes. According to the LPT this introduction of new technology make the labour dependent and supervisors becomes stronger to easily assign task and eliminate the distinction between works.[Liu06] LPT CONCEPT WITH IMPACT OF ICT IN THE WORKPLACE The labour process through the exercise of power could control the work. The employees in return rely on the capital investment of employers and maintain the income. This crossed conflict results in the breakdown of the traditional bureaucracies through the adaptation and emergence of new organizational form. In comparison of emerging networked society age, the organizational form has avoided many problems and enhanced the performance by adding values in the network structure. This network arrangement of labour process through new organizational form relies on the information and communication technology and it had linked many workplace functions[Han14]. The relationships between inherent contractual makers links various functions of LPT in and the impact of ICT on it in the autonomous relationship with the virtual reality and the non-traditional boundaries, structures and this network provide great opportunities to the labour management and controlling. This organizational form changed the relations of the management and traditionally controls the labour in workforce and in the new organizational world. The ICT system deals with the technology and organizational structures, it interconnect with the labour process and control the task in workplace. The labour deploy on the virtual workplace undertake the task and comprise with the contracted team of labour in the organization. This new division of labour becomes possible and successful in shifting the control in the contractual form through technological change in an organization. There was much dependability on labour before ICT involvement in Labour process theory as labour is dependent on the management self-organization and motivation. Labour movement used to lead the orientation towards the projects and goals of project and considered as cognitive. Whereas the labour technological division has developed ways to logically control labour competence and analyse the team based organizational consideration at workplace. The team management and the orientation of employees are focused on the ICT system design to gain the opportunities of easy controlling of labour process. It is the inclusion or exclusion of the labour process system that empower the team excluding management controlling[Con14]. ​LABOUR PROCESS THEORY PROS AND CONS The labour process theory in terms of introducing ICT has many advantages and disadvantages. This is the reason much criticism is received from different newspapers, articles, debates etc. here, strength and weaknesses of labour process theory is defined in context of the new technology entrance is going to discuss and listed to clear vision[Gar14]. Strength The Labour process theory has many advantages of ICT in the labour process and it could make the process easy handle and effectively manageable. The labour process through new and diverse technologies has completely allowed management to control the production processes. These new technologies merely reduce the physical activities and thus demands for the unskilled or semi-skilled workers that are easy to manage. In Labour process theory, ICT came up with new technologies, demands fewer skills and less physical strength. The management requires supplementary labour power through any gender of employee. This benefits the managers as male workers could take more salary than an average worker. It is the fact that machine could work more accurately than labour. It could produce more products in reduced time. It could reduce many labours as well as their salary cost. Although, it time to time required little maintenance cost. In LPT, the ICT impact on labours re-skilling not de-skilling. The re-skilling process concept, separate the important role to execute of work. LPT points out how ICT leads to deskilling of employees in that the use of sophisticate machines that are operated by less skilled worker will be adopted. This shows that the ICT make most of the workers lose jobs. This happens following the introduction sophisticated machines, which replaces the work done by skilled workers and are operated by the unskilled workforce. This poses a weakness in that it leads to lose of jobs by various skilled workers. In this regard, the workers will lack an opportunity to develop and build on their talents. It is important to note that the adoption of LPT leads to the compromised output to the work done. The affinity of the machines to making mistakes is higher than that of human skills. LPT limits the aspects of innovation in that discoveries are hard to be deduced by the use of machines as opposed to the use of skilled work force. Weaknesses There are many advantages of labour process theory over ICT impact that strengthen the theory. On the other hand, there are many limitations that could make LPT weaker with the impact of ICT. The Labour process with the average level work force skills could lower the mastery of work and core knowledge of the industrial production. This capitalist production mode of workers skills become the mindless physical activities. In LPT, with the ICT introduction the job opportunities easily eliminate the wrongly skilled workers and replace them with the low skilled workers. This activity lower ended the low skilled workers rather than highly skilled optimist claims. However, this applies to LPT with a negative impact of ICT. In LPT, for introduction of new technology, it is required to do capital investments on workplace, while labours could be hired at low cost income. Due to the ICT introduction, new technologies do not need white-collar workers which eliminate demands of these true labour workers and they faces lower status from the conception stage of production. Apart from this, LPT overlooks and fails to explain how ICT enhances the empowerment of workers and how ICT enhances the up-skilling of workers. This has been further elaborated below. ICT Enhances the Empowerment of Workers The workers dramatically experience the changes in production processes. The introduction of information and communication technologies has emphasized the functions of empowerment on the white collar workers or highly skilled workers. On the other hand, there were many issues that impact negatively on the labour process theory and ICT received little attention at this end. The digital technology positively affects the labour perspective and working condition in different aspects of ICT impact. The empowerment is important as controlling that supports the personnel policy development to compete in the most valuable employees. It directs the long term goals and manages the striving organizational goals effectively to make important internal and external strategies to gain the importance. Organizational goal is to develop a self-driven approach that ICT integrates in business development process. It organizes the high level of leadership skills with developing the new culture. The organization reflects the empowerment, self-learning, and organizational network structure[Han14]. The managerial control achieves the great empowerment and innovation to warn the decentralized team behaviour. The management team directly control loses and controls the work by considering the Labour process theory. This control the input and output of the associated problems with the situations to measure the results of the crucial success factor and the empowerment of team members to get the crucial success. It is important to implement the new management with the ICT new technological impact to make organization work efficiently with the labour process theory. The organization does not specifically allow the worker or labour to traditionally control the instruments. This LPT cooperate the relationship to emerge the ICT in the workplace. Employee of the organization are involved in the empowerment process that is important for people to participate in the controlling activities of the task at the workplace. In economic, social and political context the labour had the full power previously. Although, today, the ICT has given empowerment and clear initiatives to support mechanism of managerial strategies within the workplace. This managing mechanism includes the re-engineering process to give high performance and empower the initiative to pervasive the organizational term. The management empowers the managerial inspired power is used to motivate and to make the power of workers.[Hol01] ICT Enhances the Up-Skilling of Workers In the labour process the deskilling, up-skilling or re-skilling is in the vigorous debate. ICT is identified as an important instrument that extends that surveillance of the employee and manages the electronic panoptic on. The emerging stance in labour process is the development of the of the large and responsive labour’s monopoly capital in which the industrial society usually disempower the deskilling workers. This is the management strategy and its various strategies are rejected in order to distress the employee’s up-skilling. In account of industrial society the deskilled and disempowered workers up-skills the employment and grow the employees’ flexibility with using new technology and workers labour process. It emphasis the job security and provide many workers on low wages[Saw13]. The social analysis of work and the empowerment implication is to study the social worker agencies experiences and propose a locum work that offer evidence of both up-skilling and de-skilling flexibility and inflexibility. The up skilling of workers in the labour process need identification of surreptitious deskilling to elaborate skills to learn quickly in training. These white collar workers in the labour market are considers as the experienced management agencies. In the social network the ICT has enhanced the up-skilling of workers. As the detrimental impact of the managers has been subordinately form the social services that criticize the evidences. The employee pro-letarianization evidence of both de-skilling and the Up-skilling presentation and discovered that wide deskilling among workers and labour reduced the impact of the gender, tendency and promote the deskilling occupation. The deskilling or up-skilling through ICT has given the new sense to the re-emerged relation in the flexible development theories of labour process. The mainstream of employment avoids the deskilling with the form of occupational up-skilling. The ICT technology is important to use by the managers and with the help of these technological devices increase the control of labour process[Car07]. Up-skilling in workplace is used for the transient workers and it provides the cultural and occupational role in management role of employees. It increases the knowledge and awareness of the workers for the new enhancement of technology with n the workplace. It uses the business skills to engage stakeholders and the ICT empowerment. In order to led the sense of up-skilling in the practices to convert deskilling engagement in series of the ultimate professional role and the exclude the training sessions provided in placement of the organization. The training process directly forms the employment agency to raise with the possibilities and fill out the gaps in the skills of the workers in order to get long-term skilful practices of the agency workers in particular practices. The up-skilling of the labour processes led the practices to convert in the deskilling process by the usage of ICT approach[Eze13]. In order to get the benefits of the flexibility, it is required to encourage the process of up-skilling and manage it according to the work culture. It permits the learning disparate method or technique to meet the professionals. The up-skilling inevitability is also the part of labour process that particularly changes the technological work. However, employees identified the resistance to deskilling process between the industries. The workers adaptation of general strategies attempts the fortune that increases the up-skilling experiences and gets the navigated outcomes from the agencies workers and labour force within the workplace. CONCLUSION After a deep consideration of Labour process theory and the impact of LPT on ICT, it has been analysed that the ICT establishment in the different interface between workers and the tasks makes the management connectivity with workers easy. Many issues in the labour process with the new technological ways could easily manage the relations with the necessary adaptation process. The organizational arrangement with the division of labour and the traditional managerial practices change the organizational work and manage the organizational implementations. The labour process extensively support the ICT impact as it gives many benefits to the managerial operations and controlling the workers and labours through this technological change. However, there are many raising issues too that de values the highly skilled workers but in terms of salary cost the low skilled workers could be hired in low salaries than the skilled workers. This advantage in other terms is the loss of skills in the working team. Although, through up-skilling the low skilled workers or labour this term could easily be overcome through proper training process for getting the long term advantage from the employed team and to make them a professional team on getting training as well experience[Bha13]. With the help of ICT in the labour process, the empowerment of the worker could be enhanced through the effective management of labour and task on the workplace. There are many benefits of ICT in the Labour process theory along with some limitations that must be considered and followed to overcome the management controlling and communication issues and it makes it easy to get worker self-motivation power to the assigned work. In labour process the new technology introduction found to be the beneficent element that could reduce time, effort and generate the accurate results. REFERENCES Bro05: , (Brown, Royer, Waterhouse, & Ridge, 2005), Han10: , (2010), Tho10: , (Thompson & Smith, Working life: renewing labour process analysis., 2010), Zah06: , (Hoque, 2006), Tho101: , (Thompson & Vincent, Labour process theory and critical realism., 2010), Mar13: , (Martinez & Iacono, 2013), Liu06: , (Liu, 2006), Han14: , (Hannifa, Coxb, & Almeidab, 2014), Con14: , (Connell, Gough, McDonnell, & Burgess, 2014), Gar14: , (García-Muñiz & Vicente, 2014), Hol01: , (Holden, 2001), Saw13: , (Sawchuk, 2013), Car07: , (Carey, 2007), Eze13: , (Ezeudu, Nkokelonye, & Ezeudu, 2013), Bha13: , (Bhardwaj, 2013), Read More