| This study develops a method for critical analysis of design that can be useful in workplace transformation. The empirical component of the project focuses on industrial automation systems implemented during the 1990s in the United States. Drawing on organizational and technological changes undertaken by managers, engineers, workers and labor representatives, the prescriptive component of the study works to identify how some dominant approaches to work and technology design might be changed to encourage more participatory design practices and more democratic design outcomes. The concept of "design style" is introduced to draw together the empirical and prescriptive components of the project and to enable critical analysis of design.;By conceiving of design as an activity that extends beyond the engineering laboratory and into the worlds of symbolic, social, and material resources, the study reveals and encourages shifts in management strategy, labor representation, and engineering practice. The prevailing patterns of mobilizing these three resources through design methods, conventions, assumptions, and objectives constitute "styles" of design. Managers, engineers, labor representatives, and front-line workers both embody and shape dominant design styles. The dissertation project analyzes design styles of industrial automation systems implemented in industrial bakeries and other manufacturing firms. Participant observation, interviews, case studies, and archival analysis of relevant trade journals and other documents are used to support interpretive analysis of design concepts and meanings as well as structural analysis of design institutions. The dissertation explores how workers and others traditionally underrepresented in workplace technology design struggle to take advantage of new participatory organizational forms, to increase their control over work, and to enhance their work content and organization. Ultimately, these struggles are design struggles, where high stakes are found in mundane negotiations over workplace tools, techniques, and machines. |
