SOCIOL 2V06 Study Guide - Deskilling, Scientific Management
9 Apr 2013
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Braverman"s rebuttal reviewing taylor"s work, braverman makes these points: worker"s abilities: laborers knew best how to perform jobs; they also were sufficiently intelligent to develop superior work methods but lacked the time and money to do so. Workers actually knew about work methods that were better than those being used; however, they refused to implement them, realizing that implementation could lead to de-skilling, the loss of power, etc. Braverman stated that it wasn"t the issue of lack of time and money. If workers started to find ways of improving jobs, managers would take those ideas to exploit workers and further bureaucratize the workplace. Workers understood that managers were de-skilling them, it was taking away their dignity and pride. This issue isn"t about the impersonal coordination of production. It"s about the deskilling of workers, about taking away the power and control of potentially troublesome workers, etc. Leidner focused on service industries, whereas taylor and braverman focused on manufacturing industries.
