Computer Development from 1970-1990

Alienation. Com specifyerization. Employment. Mass- proceeds. These ar all(prenominal) of the discussions associated with the foundation garment of calculators into the get environs, in the first blank beginning on a outsized outdo basis in 1970 and continuing on to the enclose day and beyond. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the plump environment was squeeze signifi squeeze outtly. This initial reading of computing machines for drug ab function in effort and commerce played an important map in the development of aires. New jobs arrive at been ca apply to disseminate with ready reck integrityrs.Mundane, repetitive jobs have been taken everyplace by calculators. The data processor has even been introduced to the caution aim of verge of workes to answer in decision do. All around the location, computing machines have become commonplaceplace (Spencer 107). But what were these industries like forward electronic ready reckoners came to their hangan ce? Obviously, commerce functi sensationd prior to the approach of calculating machines. However, employees were ask to urinate out me really tasks that automation ultimately do easier.These tasks have predominantly consisted of clerical transactions, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as burst carry outing, compriseroll, muniment misrepresent, bookkeeping, etc. However, automation lso include former(a) tasks at the industrial and forethought level such as tune cooking, marketing reports and gross revenue reports. Most of these tasks were acted development pencil and paper, or in round cases, the qualitywriter, and every record or other document was stored by style of some register method such as filing cabinets or book shelves.Other tasks, such as those involving the usage of machinery were d wiz by hand. If a machine had to be assembled, it was assembled victimisation somely-human assembly lines. Machines were non around to promote in intervention substanc es substance manipulation and ata receipt from chemicals was too dealt with by hand ( tooshie and Stern 238). In essence, umpteen tasks that were dealt with by hand were either repetitive, dangerous, or two. As one might speculate, problems then arose from the methods of use these tasks.Every task was subject to some sheath of human error, whether it was a mistake in adding, a misspelling of a lean or organization, the un sniply filing of a received document, etc. At times, employees were simply non able to subprogram the rule book of learning coming into their workplaces. This ca employ companies to get coffin nail in their operations nd records, which in turn yielded a loss in revenue. Many companies fell behind in this instruction because of the manual clays in competency to obligate for the growth of the industry.In turn, this abnormal the get a itineraryment departments of line of merchandisees, which relied upon up-to-date study from their employees in hostelry for them to make decisions on time (239). Also, workers accidentally hurt themselves in some of the dangerous work environments involving machinery and vapourisable chemicals, because many of the employees were required to work very get on to machinery or toxic chemicals, and were ot given much security stride from the hazards created by the noxious vapors rising from chemicals or malfunctions in machinery.An answer to these problems contr modus operandied to be peradventure that answer lied in data processors. They letd the solutions assembly linees and industries mandatory to ac apostrophize repetitive and dangerous jobs. Computers were able to assist clerks in their operations. Injuries could be trim that were cause by accidents with chemicals or machinery (237). These solutions impacted the employment aspect of industry by making jobs become safer and less repetitive. Employees began to be hired to erform different tasks as a prove of the change in the ta sks to be arrangeed (de Ferranti 70).Employees began to become tortuous with calculators in backing in swan to satisfy several objectives. Systems were installed for employees to assist in the reduction of record-keeping by automating most of the functions performed by the clerks. Files were automatically inserted in their proper collection, and could be get from the computers warehovictimization and reviewed almost instantaneously. Also, inputting the cultivation into the computer and offering it to perform certain operations such as adding and sorting esulted in the reduction of errors in record-keeping operations.Computers too support the management of a social club by providing coachs or executives with up-to-date breeding utilize for decision making (Stern and Stern 237). Computers provided employees with a way to to a greater extent than apace and accupacely process freeger pecks of business information, thus organism beneficial to the gild as a whole b y allowing them to go to a greater extent than The slips of business info that many of these employees had to process include all the information received by a play along.When these selective information are processed, their information s outputted, and is conveyed by the managers of the business. The managers, using these entropy, then establish, appreciate, and find the goals of the business, develop plans and standards and initiate the actions studyed to accomplish them, and measure the actual performance of the caller-out and take enchant action when it is required to improve the come withs performance. All of these tasks are native to the function of any business, and the business data from them was processed using a be of steps (Dorf 135-136).First, the data inseparable be separated into their appropriate classification. Second, the data must be sorted into a pre-arranged sequence objectiveated by the manager or some other employee knotted in the sorting process. Third, any mathematical operations that must be performed on the data are carried out. Finally, the data is summarized for use in reports. After the data has been summarized, it is stored for hereafter use or retrieved. Sometimes the data need to be duplicated for documents or communicated to an employee (136).These employees needed to process many different types of these data. Some of these types included account reception, which come to the affect of records nvolving the reception money owed to the company by others account payment, which handled the processing of the money that the company owed to others payroll, which dealt with the records of employees to be paid, the pay rates of the employees, the hours that the employees worked, etc. inventory find, which encompassed the prop of records of goods on hand, the quantities of the items to be ordered by the company, and the records of the items that the company had currently fulfil out of in shoot and marketing a nd sales, which determined from sales statistics the outstrip compounding of products to sell or a maximum arrive at for the company. It was important that apiece of these types was properly processed, and the computer allowed employees to to a greater extent easily process this wide miscellanea of data that was generated (Stern and Stern 238).Because employees were to a greater extent than easily able to cook the business data they received, the automation of these processes in the office allowed for greater ability. Clerks were no longer obligated to commit documents using filing cabinets or shelves. Instead, they recorded and stored the information inside of the memory of a computer. Also, clerks could use word processing systems to minimize the need to retype erroneous pages, create standardized garner heads, and maintain letters in files containing text, providing a tremendous value over the use of the typewriter, which did not allow for any of these options.Sometime s letter heads did not even need to be printed archaic office e-mail developed in the 1970s allowed for the quicker transmission of information to branch offices without the apostrophize of postage or postal services and was similarly express. Sending information to companies through the postal system took days while the ransmission of data with e-mail took specified seconds or minutes. By giving branch offices information more quickly, businesses enabled themselves to add their production, because they did not need to clutch to receive information or reports from other offices or departments that was universe sent through the mail (251-253).This affix in production that giveed from the computer allowed for a big step in the direction of maximum qualification for a businesses. The great efficiency potential of computers shone the brightest when their quick f number was used to perform repetitious tasks handling these full-gr hold totals of data (Dorf 137). Handling lar ge amounts of data allowed companies to rectify interact with one another, because they allowed companies to get more recent information on the production and pecuniary considerably- cosmos of their competitors.The estimated increase in the amount of business proceeding between companies and people per year during the 1970s was 8 to 15 percent. The survey of data genic through lines was growing by a rate of 25 percent. Because the mass of data received by companies was growing, it was necessary to use computers to capitalize on part contri preciselying to the increase in data was the improvements do in the ediums in which data was transmitted.As well as needing accurate and up-to-date information, business managements needed information that was also easier to read and comprehend. In order for information to be reviewed more businesslikely and more comprehensively, graphics systems were developed to improve the readability of the information. The development of graphics in b usiness data began in the early 1970s with text- pull images of bar graphs and simple charts. The computer was expendd to create these graphs because it could prepare them quickly by immediately calling upon the data within its memory.Later, vivid input/output devices were developed to display and counterfeit this data directly to some type of screen. The graphical information display monitoring device was (and still remains) the most effective method of presenting information to exploiters. Clear and graspable information, as well as fast, accurate, and up-to-date information, is essential for the success of the management in The introduction of computers into the management environment naturally changed it as well.The managers of businesses altered their techniques in order to accommodate for the changes in industry and business brought on by the computer and apitalize on the well-beings. These techniques changed in several ways. For instance, executives were put into clos er contact with the activities that they controlled. This was because the computer enabled them to access facts from databases, immediately giving them information on the status of the department they oversaw. In some situations, the computer even allowed executives to give instructions more quickly directly to their subordinates.Also, management was stirred in separately of its 3 sublevels low, middle, and top. Low management was provided with all the facts essential to the activities of the usiness such as awareness of employee activities, the availability of materials, work flow, and dilate just about their field. Middle management was involved with the progress of the work under its control. Top management concerned itself with summarized reports and analyses that were free of the expatiate used by middle management.By being able to process data more quickly and accurately, the computer could be used to send the appropriate information to its agree level more quickly, sift ing through the facts and details in the business data, and discarding useless information for each level of By being able to manage data on each level more expeditiously, the life of the manager was made easier by computers. Computers aid the manager in several other processes also error reduction and data handling. The speed at which computers work helped managers deal with time management in business.In reducing the cost for an item so that more items go away be bought by the consumer, the production time should also be reduced and the efficiency of computers allowed for businesses to become cost-efficient. Besides being cost efficient where production is concerned, computers also reduce the eed for a clerical workforce. Clerical tasks, which unraveled to be more mundane, could be performed by computers. Clerical employee costs for the business could then be reduced, but this resulted in layoffs and insanity amongst employees.This rapid, low-cost, low-error business that com puters assisted managers in running became the fuel for employees fears about computers (Dorf 136). These fears were one of the problems produced by computers. However, in addition to some of the problems it created, it also revealed refreshed solutions. One problem rattling results from the prompt rate at which computers process data. Because they process data faster, any mistakes made due to incorrect program will be much larger since more information will have been processed in decently. whatsoever manager must plan alternatives to their computerized methods just to accommodate for unexpected errors produced by unique data drift through the computer. At many times, bugs in programs whitethorn not be realized until a certain unique type of data is entered and processed, and because of the large mass of data processed by the computer in businesses on a daily basis, it is solo a matter of time until these hidden bugs are revealed. yet though their are some negative repercussi ons to using computers, businesses are made more flexible by computers because they are multi-functional and can be used to perform more than one task.Computers also allow for the presidential term of control over manufacturing by allowing the management to more directly observe the function of the business by reviewing the data the computer returns about the status of the business (155-156). These examples illustrate how the computers impact cannot plainly be validatory, but negative also. In order to capitalize on the positive aspects, an important calculate in effective anagement with computers is detailed planning. Proper planning can allow for the smarter choosing of workers, the right amount of materials, etc.Computers can help planners optimize schedules by choosing the best employees for a type of job from an index. Computerized information storehouse and retrieval systems are capable of storing vast amounts of data in a centralized data believe that can be accessed fr om miles away. This allows access to the data from anywhere, let business managements stationed in different branches of a company in different locations have access to the alike(p) data bank s the rest of the company.Because information does not have to physically be directred from one place to another, planning can take place faster and with greater In addition to being most effective with proper planning, computers are used most effectively within a business of any moderate size or larger, and are most successful in business data processing operations possessing one of the maintaining characteristics when the business receives a large volume of data generated from achievements on a regular basis, when an operation is repeat many times in order to make investments in ebugging, development, and improvement worth the financial use of goods and services to have software updated, when the business has a need for information quickly and when the business has a need for reliable a nd accurate results. However, the success of computers in a business is more dependent on the metier of the management rather than on the actual hardware capabilities.Computers can be a helpful woodpecker for managements to control and guide businesses, but they must be used properly and to their to the fullest capabilities to ensure the success of the business to make them worth the investment. This investment can only be capitalized on when computers are used to their full ability. The gap between computers capabilities and the actual use of those capabilities has been increase since computers became more prominent in businesses in the 1970s and the 1980s. Computers often were used for very simplistic tasks such as simple arithmetic, despite the fact that they feature the capabilities to perform more complex tasks such as controlling manufacturing operations, optimizing the transportation of products, and improving the quality of managerial decisions (144).In many cases, omp uters have not reduced the cost of operations in a company, but have rather simply provided better data processing and better service. Basically, a simple tenet can be seen in the use of the computer for business tasks if the functions of the computer are used poorly, the company may actually incur financial losses. However, if the functions of the computer are used to their full potential expeditiously and effectively, the financial return will definitely be positive. (145). Several general businesses have experienced positive financial return as a result of the utilization of computers. One of these businesses is banking.Between 1940 and 1970, the volume of check transactions in banks has increase 1100 percent, which is an unbelievably large mass of data to be processed. Normally, this would be the prototypal work of a bank clerk however, because of the introduction of the computer, this immense volume can be handled with congeneric ease by allowing banks to process checks faste r and more cost-efficiently because the computer is able to record, compute, and edit the balances of myriads of accounts in seconds by calling upon them in its memory (Spencer 107). When one went to the bank to process a check, his or her checks were utomatically processed then credited to or drawn against the individuals bank accounts in hours sooner of days or weeks.This made it possible for large banks to process millions of items per day. Now, the use of computers for the day-to-day processing of node accounts and checks has become routine (107). Another use for the processing power of computers was in the stock market, where an immense volume of merchandise occurs daily. This large mass of trading creates an as large mass of paperwork. In the 1970s, sometimes the trading needed to be halted to allow brokers to catch up with their aperwork. Every broker had to figure every transaction the day before they had to open again for business. Naturally, because they had to act qui ckly, brokers would also make errors.The introduction of the computer into their humans allowed brokers to process millions of accounts daily and remain in business. Also, bookkeeping errors are always avoided with the computer (provided that the data was inputted correctly by the user), and information was even posted faster (109). Without the assistance of computers, stock transactions would not be able to occur at the rates they do today. Payrolls in business ere also significantly unnatural by computers. Computers could generate pay reports to handle the employees of a large corporation. Because payroll involves many functions repetitively, such as earning rates, tax withholdings, net pay, year to date quantities, pay deductions, union dues, etc. it becomes a task very suitable to a computers function it eliminates the time-consuming and tedious review of employee files and records (115).Factories and manufacturing industries did not put off the positive and negative influen ces of the computer either. It was predicted that computers would bring about a quiet revolution in industry. In 1970, it was estimated that 5 percent of the GNP was produced by some means of computing. Despite this figure, many companies did not alone opt for computer systems. Instead, they employed the assistance of agencies called bureaus, generally providing for managements who have opted out of computing (de Ferranti 65-66). Bureaus were companies that specialized in the management of business using the computer.Instead of actually purchasing a computer, the management of a company could employ the services of the bureaus, which would assist them in the anagement of their companies the use of the computers the bureau used. In this way, the companies would be indirectly using computers through the bureaus to manage themselves. It was thought that the bureaus would grow more quickly than the industries they supported as a result of the large profit they received for their ser vices. This was proven full-strength in England, where the amount of computers purchased by 1980 was only 6 times what it had been in 1965, while the bureaus grew by a rate of 30 times. However because bureaus were very lean in the unify States, the number of computers in ndustry grow partly as a result of them not having to invest in the services of the bureaus.Industries tended to invest in their own computer systems in order provide their management with direct control over the industrys employees and production (66). These industries bought several types of computers in the 1980s, useful for various tasks. One type of machine was the shtup System, which was a hardware and software package that was designed to perform one specific task. As the name implies, the user turns a key and the machine puzzle outs automatically. The receipts to this ystem is that it may be used without any computer expertise. The disadvantage, a rather obvious problem, is that the machine can be us ed to perform only one task, the task that it was written to do.The other type of computer was the special-purpose computer, which could be programmed to perform a variety of tasks. The advantage to using this system is that it is versatile and can perform different tasks. However, the drawback is that computer expertise is required to operate and change the tasks of the system (Stern and Stern 262). Another type of computer system was Computer Aided foundation ( hound). CAD onsisted of a system that was equipped with CAD software that could be used for the design, development, and testing of any type of equipment. It could also handle fine details in drawing, and makes use of the computers ability to measure to very small units.CAD allowed engineers of systems to do stress analyses, weight analyses, and structural analyses to be phony on a model construction that appeared on the computer monitor. In essence, engineers could test somethings design before it was built to determine design flaws and palliate on cost (263). With a small variety of computerized systems to use, manufacturing also mployed the computer in its operations. In the 1980s, 20 percent of all computers were being used for manufacturing purposes. Twenty-billion dollars were worn out(p) on computers for manufacturing. The ultimate goal of automating the pulverization was to, as always, maximize efficiency and minimize the need for means intervention (254). In fact, computers controlled several activities manufacturing.One such activity was called process control, which used computers to process the uninterrupted flow of materials in a system such as in the production of chemicals in a chemical plant or oil in a refinery. The omputers were involved in measuring and ordinance the flow of the fluid into the tank, the pressure in the tank, the temperature in the tank, etc. As the system monitored the tank, it would inform the user of problems and sometimes would attempt to fix the problems on its own (254). The reason computers were used in process control was because computers had the ability to operate and take data samples efficiently and for an infinite time period (until the machine eventually broke down years later). Also, while it was fabrication data, the computer could monitor the levels of material and its attributes all the time to maximize safety.Sometimes process control systems were controlled with feedback mechanisms, which allowed them to evaluate and correct their own efficiency by adjusting their operation to meet certain criteria of efficiency (255). Another type of activity performed by computers in manufacturing was production control, where computers monitored, controlled, and schedule assembly lines. In this situation, the computer was used to monitor the time washed-out on certain activities at given stations, specify the status of the products and tools needed for them, steer any faulty equipment, and alert supervisors of timing problems t hat tend to form ueues at each station.Because computers are non-living machines, they could be relied upon to supervise an assembly line indefinitely, which was one of the main advantages for using computers along the assembly lines. As well as having infinite patience, computers also could perform a repeated task identically, because the exact movements it was to follow were programmed into it, and unless another operator altered these instructions, it would not persuade from them. A good example of this uniformity resulting from computer use is in the use of it to monitor and control robots in car manufacturing Computers in manufacturing yielded many benefits to companies, both tangible, and intangible.The tangible benefits included faster processing, greater accuracy, flexibility in design modifications, independent machinery which could be run unchecked for some time, cost reduction, larger output, and an increased uniformity in the products produced because each was produced using the very(prenominal) abstract programmed into the computer which performed the task the alike(p) way every time (260-261).The intangible benefits included better quality control, more effective scheduling of shipments, simpler lanning requirements because the machines functioned the homogeneous way every time they were run, need for a reduced inventory, and increased job satisfaction, because the workers were free to work in less mundane positions. Workers with tedious or monotonous jobs often had little incentive to work and this therefore impacted production.However, when the computer was introduced, the workers could be put to use in more interesting tasks that did not always require repetitive work. However, some factory managements were striving for the ideal goal of manufacturing to create the automated factory where computers would handle every step in the manufacturing process (261-262) and would be maintenanced only occasionally by manufacturing supervisors. This goal would certainly increase revenue for the company, however, it would also increase unemployment and poverty throughout the country, so it would be a very unrealistic possibility that factories will ever become fully automated.The use of computers in business and industry increased dramatically over the period between 1970 and 1980, where it was estimated that every businessman was involved with computers and their techniques in one way or another. such(prenominal) businessmen were called New business community because they were involved with the new field of computers, and every new businessman needed at least a basic cognition of the computer for employment. In the mid 1970s, the total number of terminals installed in businesses and industry was estimated to be greater than 7000. The amount of terminals explicitly used for business exceeded 250,000 by 1980 (de Ferranti 70). The administration use of computers surpassed businesses use of computers however, and was operating 2 0,000 machines in 1970, which means they were using 3 times the machines that the people were using at that time (70-71).In 1974, the Wall route Journal conducted a survey on the computer use in businesses, surveying their subscribers. Two-thirds of the surveyed group say that their companies owned at least 1 computer. ninety percent of the large companies surveyed owned a computer, and 73 percent of companies employing less than 100 people owned a computer. The leading applications used by the companies were accounting, with 76 percent sales analysis, with 46 percent and inventory control, with 43 percent. Clearly the nations economy, as a result of the investment for computers and the use of them in industry, had been affected (Dorf 137). Even in 1970, businesses were connected to online systems that allowed them to transfer data to other companies.The ways of accessing online services were increase at that time, and allowed information to be inputted into one computer and sent to others in the area quickly (de Ferranti 67-68). line of descent unions were used to connect systems to local branch companies to allow for quick information transmission. By 1980, the connection speed of a computer was one-third of the time it used to take in the 1970s. This increase in connection speed led to the use of businesses spending more hours online ransmitting data. This was a big increase from the time users in plants used to spend on the phone with other companies 6 minutes. This also increased a companys expenditure on phone line connections.In house machines also enabled the New Businessmen to transmit work to terminals in their homes and back to see the information they need without having to physically transport it (70). However, no(prenominal) of these achievements in computers was without some cost by the United States and its population. In 1970, $25. 5 billion were spent to utilize computers for all purposes. In 1975, $51. billion were spent for the same purpose, which was a triple of what the expenditures were 10 years before. more or less $8. 3 billion of the $25. 5 billion spent in 1970 was spent on equipment. Managements often began purchasing computer power as if it were a inferior like natural gas or electricity. However, the revenues generated by the installations of these systems most likely offset the actual cost for the systems (Dorf 137).In essence, the machines paid for themselves by allowing the company to increase its efficiency and increase its overall revenue. And what about the common working man? Computers were generally a benefit o the working man or train employee because they provided better jobs . However, one-fourth of the computer jobs were left to computer specialists in the 1970s. Another effect of computers on workers in the 1980s was alienation. Alienation was a term used to describe those people who were directly affected by automation in jobs or in usual life. Computers created a feeling of displac ement and dissatisfaction in them, and snarl up that computers would take the place of human labor and activities.A survey in the 1980s revealed that almost 50 out of the 1513 people surveyed felt alienated. When omputers began to replace the jobs of some men, they lost pride in themselves. They felt that they were being told that their jobs were too menial and worthless after being told that computer would be performing them. Many workers were affected emotionally because they felt that they had become inferior to computers (Stern and Stern 266). Employers had to be take steps to quell the uneasiness felt by some workers over the introduction of the computer into their lives. And steps were taken to prevent alienation in the workplace. A famous experiment conducted by Elton mayo and Fritz J.Roethlisberger at the Western Electric Co. in Hawthorne, NJ, from 1927-1932 called the Hawthorne Experiment accidentally revealed a method of preventing alienation. Mayo and Roethlisberger w ere studying what balance of physical conditions, labor, and coffee breaks would maximize productivity. However, regardless of the ways they changed the physical conditions, the productivity rose. Upon canvas by interviewing the workers, they were told by the workers that they were flattered that anyone would take notice of them and compliments to do an experiment that would benefit them, so they felt as if they should work their best (267). Thus, they disco