Technological Change

Clotilde Coron is an Associate Professor at the IAE Paris – Sorbonne Business School, France, where she co-directs the Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility Master's degree. Her research focuses on the use of figures and data in Human Resources.Patrick Gilbert is Emeritus Professor at the IAE Paris – Sorbonne Business School, Board Member of the AIPTLF (International Association of French Language Occupational Psychology) and the AGRH (French-speaking Association of the Management of Human Resources). His research focuses on the transformations of organizations.

• Introduction ixChapter 1. The Human and Social Sciences in the Face of Technological Change 11.1. Approaches to technological change 11.1.1. Technological determinism 21.1.2. Social constructivism 141.1.3. Joint structuring of technical and social aspects 191.1.4. Limitation of established distinctions 271.2. A brief history of technological change 271.2.1. How can we tell the story? 281.2.2. At the origins of the Industrial Revolution (from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance) 301.2.3. The First Industrial Revolution (end of the 18th Century) 321.2.4. The Second Industrial Revolution (late 19th Century to the 1910s) 341.2.5. The Computer Revolution (from the late 1960s to the 1990s) 361.2.6. The Digital Revolution (early 21st Century) 38Chapter 2. Technological Change and Society 432.1. Powers, institutions and technological change 442.1.1. Fundamentals of political analysis and technology 442.1.2. The role of the State 452.1.3. Technological change in the age of globalization 502.1.4. The dark side of technology 522.2. Ethics in the face of technology 572.2.1. Ethical evaluation of technology 572.2.2. Three ethical issues under discussion 602.3. Technological change and diversity 662.3.1. Inclusive technology/exclusive technology 672.3.2. Technologies that reflect their designers 752.4. Technological change and ecology 782.4.1. Technology, an answer to ecological challenges? 782.4.2. Technology as a source of ecological degradation? 82Chapter 3. Technological Change and Organization 873.1. Omnipresence of the technical object in work activities 873.1.1. The R&D function in the lead 883.1.2. Marketing challenged by digital transformation 893.1.3. Factory 4.0 903.1.4. e-HR 933.2. The interaction of technological and organizational systems 953.2.1. Technological change and organizational structure 953.2.2. Technological change, and financial and human resources for innovation 1003.3. Technology as a liberator and control agent 1043.3.1. Prescriptive and assistive technologies 1043.3.2. Technological ambivalence: the same technology for empowerment and control purposes 1113.4. Technological change as a social process 1133.4.1. Changes in the social entity and management methods 1143.4.2. Support for employees whose activities are threatened by technological change 1213.4.3. The actors of technological change in organizations 127Chapter 4. Technological Change and the Individual 1354.1. Activity and technical object 1364.1.1. The technical object in the activity system 1364.1.2. The technical object and its mediations 1384.2. The encounter between the individual and the technical object 1424.2.1. The individual in the design phase 1424.2.2. The individual in the adoption phase 1444.2.3. The individual in the use phase 1484.2.4. The individual between subject and object 1514.3. Beyond the content of activities, a transformation of working structures 1544.3.1. Variable effects depending on the technological equipment 1544.3.2. The emergence of new work characteristics 1554.3.3. The growth of telework 1564.4. Technological changes and individual skills 1584.4.1. Skills and their production 1584.4.2. Digital skills as frames of reference 1614.4.3. No digital skills outside the activity 163Chapter 5. Experiencing Technological Change 1655.1. Threats and opportunities associated with technological change in organizations 1665.1.1. Overview of threats and opportunities associated with technological change 1665.1.2. Threats and opportunities also concerning work organizations 1685.2. Reconciling technical and social issues 1715.2.1. Social or responsible innovations: definitions and examples 1725.2.2. Responsible technological innovations within organizations 1795.3. Managing responsible technological change 1835.3.1. Organizational change management 1835.3.2. The specificities of technological change 1895.3.3. An integrative scheme for the management of responsible technological change 200References 203Index 219