The New Industrial Estate

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The Imperatives of Technology

It takes far longer to complete any task,

There is a large increase in the amount of capital required, beyond that needed for increased production — increased time means increased inventory, increased knowledge is required, more specialised equipment is used at each stage of manufacture,

The process becomes ever more inflexible, designs must be known long in advance and not changed,

Specialised manpower is required, with deep knowledge of a tightly limited area (not necessarily manpower with more aptitude or skill),

The need for organisation increases as a function of specialisation, and organisation becomes a specialised role in itself,

Planning becomes much more important as a consequence of the increased investment of time and money, the inflexibility of the commitment, the need for complex organisation and the intolerance of the market for defective products.

The General Theory of Motivation

1. Compulsion: the stick. Bad consequences if the individual does not pursue the organisation's goals,
2. Compensation: the carrot. The individual receives money for serving the organisation's purposes,
3. Identification: the individual is convinced that the organisation's goals and/or methods are superior to his own, that working for the organisation is a more effective means of achieving his ends than working alone, and
4. Adaptation: the individual sees working for the organisation as an effective means of altering the organisation's goals to more accurately reflect his own.

The Nature of Employment and Unemployment

Reduce blue-collar workers, replace with technology

Need for skilled and unskilled blue-collars dwindling, replaced by educated people in the technostructure

The Industrial System and Union

1. The shift in power from the entrepreneur to the technostructure, as previously mentioned, means that those deciding whether to accept wage demands are no longer those who will pay the bill. The urgency of undermining or destroying the union felt by the entrepreneur is not felt by the technostructure — the union poses a threat to planning through the risk of striking rather than a threat to pecuniary reward through seizing their profits. Thus it is in the interests of the technostructure to pursue more docile relations and assent to more generous wage agreements. Moreover, increased costs can be passed on to consumers, especially when wage agreements are industry-wide, signalling equal price increases for all firms simultaneously.
2. Technological advance reduces the number of workers within reach of the union, shifting employees in large number into white collar positions who tend to identify more with management than with unions.²⁶⁾
3. The regulation of markets and aggregate demand as well as comparative affluence have reduced the dependence of the worker on the union. Where previously the worker had been unable to find another job because of high level of unemployment, management of aggregate demand has made this much easier. Consequently, where the union was previously the only mechanism by which he could solicit for better working conditions, and the only organisation that could protect him from the extreme privation of unemployment, now he is less dependent. He is much more able to find another job if he is dissatisfied and thus the problem of recruitment motivates firms to voluntarily improve conditions.²⁷⁾
4. The imperatives of price and wage regulation place wage negotiation firmly within the remit of the state, and are ultimately likely to demand that wage increases progress in line with industry average improvements in productivity.