Use of office automation by managers-How much, and to what purpose?

Published research on office automation’s impact, outside of clerical ranks, is limited either to people who are already committed to the technology or to a narrow range of potential users. Consequently, there is inadequate understanding of the overall impact of office automation within a broad range of people who have managerial responsibilities. This study presents data on 276 individuals who were likely to make personal use of office automation. It included 92 respondents as well as respondents’ observations on their immediate superior and a subordinate. We found that use decreases with ascending rank in an organization, but what use of office automation is made at all levels. Although absolute levels declines with rank in the hierarchy, the ratio of applications used is surprisingly similar at all levels. Forty nine percent of the respondents claimed to have observed organizational changes which were caused by the use of office automation. These changes were about equally distributed among the categories of: individual roles, organizational dynamics/structure, and productivity. The consequences of these findings for the marketing, implementation, and management of office automation are discussed.