Managing J. Pierrepont Finch: Should he be given a PC?

An unprecedented phenomenon is transforming some of the fundamental relationships of our society: the wide distribution of cheap, general purpose information processing capacity in the form of microcomputers or personal computers. Although general purpose productive capacity has been a major factor in the past (e.g. through the use of railroads and automobiles), the new revolution is aimed directly at the heart of hierarchical organizations such as corporations. One aspect of the potentially revolutionary impact of PCs, the wide and rapid distribution of this general information processing capacity to end-users, can affect manager-employee and employee-employee relationships. A model of ‘office politics’ is presented which may partially explain both the rapid diffusion of personal computers to lower and middle management and the concurrent, and surprising decline in white collar productivity.