Computers And Productivity

Beginning with an explanation of why considerable outlays for computing since 1973 have not resulted in comparable payoffs, the author proposes that emerging techniques for user-centred development can turn the situation around - through task analysis, ite

Highlighting the importance of innovations, firm-sponsored training, and recruitment of high-skilled workers, this book analyses why and to what extent firms differ in their capabilities to make ICT work productively. It also comprises a discussion of economic theory concerning ICT use and complementary firm strategies.

Personal Productivity with Information Technology was developed to fit the specifications for course IS97.2 of the Information Systems Curriculum Model developed as a joint effort by the ACM and AITP (formerly DPMA). The text is designed to help students learn to work more effectively using computers and information technology. It is geared towards use in a variety of college or university courses and should be useful to students majoring in diverse subjects. The text combines a discussion of concepts and methods with practical exercises.

In this paper, we make a first attempt to explore the relationship between computer use and productivity in French manufacturing and services industries. We match information on computer utilization in the work place collected at the employee level in the years 1987, 1991 and 1993, with information on firm productivity, capital intensity and average wage available at the firm level. Being based on the answers of very few interviewed employees (only one for 75% of the firms in our samples), our measure of firm computer use is subject to important sampling errors, and hence our estimates of computer impacts are largely affected by random errors in variables downward biases. Nonetheless we find coherent and persuasive evidence that the computer impacts on productivity are indeed positive and that the returns to the firm should at least be in the same range as the returns to the other types of capital. We also show that the sampling errors in measurement biases can be assessed, and we make the general point that econometric studies of the firm can be effectively and substantially enriched by using information collected from workers, even if very few of them are surveyed per firm.

Abstract: A reference text for organizational behavior managers contains 12 overview articles addressing various aspects of the effects of computer usage on human behavior, attitudes, and work productivity in different work environments. Topics include: a review of human factors affecting the successful implementation of computer-based office information systems; use of computers by physicians, manufacturing systems, community mental health centers, and hospitals; the computer "hardware-happy" employee; computer fears and addiction; and applications of computer technology in learning therapy. Several case studies are delineated and diagnosed. (wz).

This is a simple, concise approach to project management that provides enormous benefits to organizations building today's sophisticated business applications.