Baran, B. (1987). "The technological transformation of white-collar work: a case study of the insurance industry" in H. I. Hartman. Computer Chips and Paper Clips. Washington DC, National Academy Press.

In the insurance industry, office automation has eliminated many of the lower level clerical jobs but with an influx of technical personnel to handle the data-processing technology. Overall, insurance is employing fewer people, and the relative decline in employment is translating into absolute job loss. The weight has tilted toward higher skilled categories of labor -- managerial, professional, and sales.

Changes in the Nature of Work- View from the Shop Floor

Ironically, it was the pre-automated production system that more resemled the assembly line. The white collar assembly lines are not incorporated into the machines themselves. Multifunction jobs are replacing the narrow occupational categories of the past. Mental and manual labor are being reintegrated. And single activity units are being replaced by multi-activity teams.

Thus clerical work is eliminated, professional jobs are reduced in number whil enlarged in depth and scope of responsibility, and skilled clerks become the bulk of the work force. These occur in high volume standardized activities that still have some semiskilled functions that cannot be automated due to a need for interpersonal interaction. In cases where semi-skilled functions are entirely absorbed by the computer there results a cleavage into data entry clerks and a very small number of skilled professionals.

The nature of the product determines how technology affects the production of it.

With computerization work may demand more of the worker with little reward. Adler (1983) said that "If the abstraction of means increases training requirements and mental effort, the abstraction of ends leads to a very different result -- work is often experienced as boring. Work resident in the computer offers less socializing and demands more concentration.