Calculus of IT - Season 2 Episode 6.2 - Digitalization of Work and Heteronomy

So much research went into preparing for Season 2 and there was no practical way to really call out all of the best articles and papers we read.  There are a few that really stand out however, and we wanted to highlight one of those tonight in a special Calculus of IT Jort. 

In this Jort, Mike and I took some time to discuss an article by Adrian Mengay (from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany).  The article is entitled: "Digitalization of Work and Heteronomy".  From the abstract:

Digitalization has two very different effects on work. On the one hand, it leads to a re-Taylorization of work, de-qualification and a loss of workers autonomy. On the other hand, digitalization of work leads to new forms of indirect control and algorithmic control that can be used to manage and instrumentalize the supposed autonomy of workers to actually enable an unequal and exploitative labour process. This article discusses the questions of heteronomy related to the digitalization of work, presents central aspects of new forms of control (direct, indirect, and algorithmic) and explains why formalization, data centred decision making and flexible structures are used to control the labour process and improve
heteronomy of work.

If interested, you can download a copy here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0309816820904032.  Otherwise, we hope you enjoy the Jort!!

Transcript

Jort 2 - Final - Audio Only

Theme: [00:00:00] In a world where signals bloom, we compute our dreams in rooms, data streams and bite balloons, algorithms make us swoon. The calculus of I. T. Without you, autonomy. The calculus of I. T. We value what's on the way. Through the code we weave our fate. In the data seas we escape. Zeroes, ones that can't abate.

We control it. It's innate. How are you? Good, good to see you again. Looking good as ever. You as well. 

Mike Crispin: Do you like my ceilings?[00:01:00] 

I love it. I love it. 

Nate McBride: Yeah, you keep improving the ceiling effect. I like it. It's like, uh, it's like you're in a basement. 

Mike Crispin: Yeah, this is, uh, this is very rustic. It's a very rustic look tonight. 

Nate McBride: Right? I mean, what you've done to like, there used to be all the marble walls and stuff in the mansion, but now you've sort of added in this like studio.

Mike Crispin: Yeah. 

Nate McBride: You know, effect. I like it. 

Mike Crispin: See up here. This is where I hide, uh, all my like, My, my secret, uh, 

Nate McBride: contraband, 

Mike Crispin: secret software. I don't know what I had up there. Actually, I think it was just a bunch of dust and maybe some animals or something, 

Nate McBride: dust and animals. Well, you should probably look, cause it could be something valuable out there you just forgot about.

Mike Crispin: There's tape right here. See this scotch, this tape. Yeah. 

Nate McBride: Yeah. So 

Mike Crispin: basically you're doing like, 

Nate McBride: you're hiding the crown jewels in there and you're making it look like nobody would hide crown jewels in [00:02:00] there, which is so intelligent. It's basically security through a sort of obscurity. 

Mike Crispin: It isn't by telling every large audience here, it's a huge decoy.

Nate McBride: It is a decoy. No one would ever think to look there. They think that's only dust up there. Brilliant. Genius. Well, speaking of genius, uh, I have two articles that have been sort of rattling around in all of our episode scripts for the last few long time, actually, and I finally wanted to sort of get around to talking about them because I have a lot of other things I want to talk about in addition to the show's theme, but these relate to the theme of autonomy.

These two articles very, very carefully sort of pick apart some of the human elements of the loss of autonomy. One of them is by Uh, this gentleman named Lamb, Lambert Royekers, and he's from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, and it's called the new digital wave of rationalization.

Now we talked about this in our other short episode. So if you haven't heard that one yet, go listen to that one first. [00:03:00] Um, and this is from the international journal of technical ethics, uh, the January to June, 2020 issue. And, and that year is important to understand, um, because the other article we're talking about.

Which is by Adrian Menge, um, from the Jena in Germany. Uh, this is from the Capital and Class magazine, uh, and this is from, um, 2020 as well, uh, edition 1 through 13. This article is called the Digitalization of Work and Heteronomy. And I want to talk about this one tonight, because we talked about the other one, and, and the, the two articles are very related, but this one takes a different spin.

So, Uh, let me just summarize this for you, and then I want to hear your thoughts on this, but, but Adrian Menge basically argues that digitalization, and let me back up, when we talk about digitalization and digitization, for the IT crowd out there who, who may [00:04:00] not necessarily totally understand this or anybody else, digitization is when you're taking like, um, uh, some of the more older technology, things that might be more brick and mortar, physical, and you're bringing those into more of a workflow based or cloud based.

You're basically taking the servers and putting them in the cloud, to give you the best example. That's digitalization. Digitalization is when you go ahead and try to apply the idea of getting value out of those transformations. Like you're trying to, I've put the server in the cloud, and now I'm going to make it so that it brings value to the business.

That's the digitalization effect. So, so Adrian Menge argues that digitalization leads to a loss of autonomy for workers due to three main effects. One, formalization. Digitalization enables the formalization of work processes to a high degree. Work is split into smaller [00:05:00] quantifiable tasks and digital technologies are used to track, measure, and control those activities.

This formalization leaves less room for worker autonomy as their actions are closely monitored and assessed based on efficiency criteria. Then that efficiency criteria is what you need to prove the value of digitalization. So it's kind of like a circle. Digital vision, digital visualization of work processes creates standardized procedures.

standardized procedures that workers must adhere to, limiting their flexibility and discretion. You're, you're, you're taking out of the decision loop and you become a worker rubber stamper loop. Even informal practices and communication are subjected to scrutiny and optimization, while digitalization can introduce flexibility in some areas.

This flexibility often serves the interests of management. Requiring workers to adapt to changing demands and instructions. So that's, that's the first main effect. The second is data centered, data centered decision making. Again, this is 2020. Digitalization [00:06:00] facilitates extensive data collection about workers and their performance.

This data can be analyzed to control and optimize work process, leading to increased pressure for efficiency and a shift towards work as performance. Because digitalization equals value. Big data analytics and the use of algorithms allow for detailed performance comparisons between the workers, potentially leading to work intensification and a sense of surveillance.

Data collection can also extend to areas beyond work tasks, such as employee emotions, health status, and stress levels. Further blurring the boundaries between work and personal life. Lastly, flexible structures. While digitalization often promotes flexible work structures, by virtue of the fact that you now can work on those things from anywhere, Menge argues that this flexibility often benefits employers more than workers.

Instead of using flexibility to enhance worker autonomy, it can be used to impose flexible instructions on workers regarding time, location, and type of work. [00:07:00] Flexible work packages can be distributed based on data analysis and algorithms, reducing individual and team autonomy. Menge highlights extreme cases like crowd working and dependent self employment, where labor is treated as a resource to be allocated based on demand.

Menge sees digitalization as a continuation of Taylorist principles. Which is basically using technology to enhance management control over the labor process. He argues that while digitalization is often presented as empowering, it can actually lead to workload compression, performance intensification, and a loss of autonomy even for the most skilled workers.

It leads to alienation, potentially affecting both personal and political autonomy, as workers become more subject to market imperatives and algorithmic control. So, There's a conclusory summary statement here that I actually got from Generative AI, which says Menge presents a critical [00:08:00] perspective on the impact of digitalization of worker autonomy, arguing that it can, it can exacerbate existing power imbalances, contribute to the alienation and control of labor.

Now, uh, I'll let you go first. What do you think about, what do you think about what, what Menge is trying to say here? 

Mike Crispin: Well, I think in terms of work business processes, if there are repeatable processes, there's, there's, there's a real value in kind of digitization of, of some of, some of these things that are more repetitive.

But in the future, it sounds like more and more of these. Processes that people do could be done by non human people, which takes a lot of their capability to work away, which is even a bigger deal than the decision making component. So I'm really concerned about that. But I think overall, um.[00:09:00] 

This is a tough one for me because I, I think that businesses have been able to move faster and be more compliant and produce safer products because there are good digital business processes that have been put in place that reduce human error and mistakes. I don't think they were initially designed to remove people's ability to make decisions, um, but to augment their decision making process in a lot of cases.

Um, so, so that, so that, sorry, just to interrupt though, but 

Nate McBride: that's what he's talking about, formalization and the breaking up of, um, bigger tasks into smaller quantifiable tasks. What, what he's arguing is that, yes, I mean, everything you just said is true, but what he's arguing is that, uh, And, and I think this is still relevant today in 2025, even though it's written in 2020 is that if I have a process that I can automate or improve, [00:10:00] um, through technology, you know, I can break into smaller processes, then the humans that are involved have themselves only to do the smaller things and therefore they become more measurable by the fact that they only have to do smaller things and to the extent that they become more measurable, they also become more, Okay.

Um, 

Mike Crispin: what's the word I'm looking for? 

Nate McBride: Dispensable. 

Mike Crispin: Right. They're, they're, they're, they're not creating as much value. They're just doing a repetitive action. They're not. 

Nate McBride: Exactly. Even though they are, even though they are by virtue of the fact that you've gone digital creating value, it's just a default definition of going digital.

They themselves by virtue of existing are actually ruining your value proposition. I mean, that heteronomy effect that he uses in that title. Um, Like we've, we're talking about autonomy, uh, heteronomy is just one step further, which is, um, [00:11:00] you're directly being controlled and losing autonomy to an outside force, whereas with just general loss of autonomy, it's just like happening around you.

It's not so like Mike's taking away Nate's autonomy. Um, and, and, and so with that, and within perspective, the one that the one primary main effect that he was talking about here in terms of that formalization, that's the one that hit home for me the most. Which was, yes, we were in such a race to go to the cloud and then in such a race to do this thing and that thing.

And now I'm ready to do AI. We're not stepping back to wonder a, if we've actually gained any value from going this digital, but also how many, how small of a subtask can we give a human being and still consider them to be valuable? Like, do I need you to hold the ball so I can kick it? Or can I just put the ball on a tee and kick it myself?

You know, that's probably a bad analogy. I don't really know sports very well, but. My point is [00:12:00] like, do you need all the people to do the thing now, or can you do it half and then still be able to measure them like that measuring effect too, by the way, I mean, think about it when I, every year I give this presentation at the GXP summit thing in November and every year it's the same topic is, you know, going, going digital.

And every year it's, you know, I, I improve it every year, but basically the general theme is that if, unless you're just proving value, you're not digital, you're on your way to digital, but you got to start showing value. And it's true, but unfortunately how people decide to show that value is where things get weird.

Mike Crispin: I think, I think this is business perspective. There's been a real hunt in a lot of companies. How do we operate better? And, uh, 

Nate McBride: I have a friend and actually he's a friend of yours too. And his whole [00:13:00] company right now is going through a, um, the entire company, top to bottom is going through a, uh, business risk is business process assessment where every single process in the company.

And then it's like, is it a company that's strapped for cash? Mind you, this is a company that's doing pretty well, but they want to find more ways to achieve efficiency. 

Mike Crispin: Absolutely. Like operational excellence or some operational excellence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Nate McBride: And they're doing it, they're doing it while they're also going digital.

It's interesting. Um, paradox for them. 

Mike Crispin: That's a, I mean, that's a reason to, to prepare to go digital is you can't go digital without processes, right? I mean, you need to have those pretty well ironed out. And I mean, having good processes helps in so many areas. It de risks, it creates value, but it's also. It can, it can be repetitive.

It can [00:14:00] be, um, not. Fun or not, not rewarding, I guess, for people who are doing the processes. Right. That's where the culture of a company becomes so important is okay. I realized that we're, we created this, this work process. Um, but how are we helping you with your career? How are we helping develop you? And.

I think in our industry, that that's more, more common, perhaps more than some of the others, but I think it's, well, if I, if I'm able 

Nate McBride: to reduce your role to simply entering data into a, into a database all day, 

Mike Crispin: you can be, we can, when it comes along to be automated, someone else, something else can do it then.

Nate McBride: Yeah. 

Mike Crispin: And that's why I think there's kind of that, that personal individual development. I think a lot of companies make the best, maybe not the best effort, but an effort to put through because their [00:15:00] prioritization of maybe that's not as high for some companies as others. But I think that's where, you know, thinking about all this autumn is, uh, um, automation and talking about autonomy is.

How can we train people and make people aware or give them opportunities knowing that these things are changing and where there's other values or apprenticeships or, you know, across the org, you know, trying to, but not everyone, obviously can't do that for everybody because it's, but it's definitely, these things need to get more, uh, common because, I think we're going to run into, you know, being these articles from 2020, I think today they do hold true, but even more so because, um, you know, I made the joke this week, like who's moving my mouse, you know, like it's, there's an element of that coming, um, and.

I mean, where do [00:16:00] we, where did we as humans add value and in some of these areas and it's going to be a question, 

Nate McBride: big question. That's a big question. That's a very big question, which is, I mean, I would, I would almost say that, listen, if your job is punching a key over and over and over again all day, you're most likely not going to have that job.

In the near future. If you don't, if you can look around and you yourself can answer the question of what value you bring to a company, it is likely that you do not bring value to the company. And so it's a chilling thought, right? And that's what Menge is arguing in 2020. But yes, even more so today, if we continue to reduce But on the path of digitalization, if we continue to reduce the things people can do to achieve a result, we, we have a certain responsibility and accountability towards how much autonomy we're actually taking away too.

But we are, but you and I are governed by, this doesn't absolve us, but we're governed by a [00:17:00] higher power to, um, achieve efficiency, move faster, do more with less, like that's our primary remit of our roles. And so. Yeah, it's not like our job is to make so much work that we 

Mike Crispin: have 

Nate McBride: to do. You 

Mike Crispin: created a 

Nate McBride: bot? I created a bot.

I created a digital twin that actually a lot of people are using and I'm getting a lot of feedback on. So it's interesting how that's evolved. I wish I had It's huge. I wish I had put it under git so I could get some like, uh, some code control and see what people are doing. Cause I'm like, yeah, send me what you got.

They're like, oh, I couldn't possibly do it, but it's awesome now. I'm like, all right, well, I guess that's the spirit of Of sharing, but anyway, well, listen, thanks for this 

Mike Crispin: back to privacy too, though. I mean, there's a big at work. There's a question I think of if you're doing work, then there's probably not, this is sort of a different discussion than in the public sphere.

But if you work certain level of privacy, you have to expect is [00:18:00] like. How well you're doing your job is sort of a something the business needs to know. Um, so it's a little different maybe perhaps in this discussion, but it's still, um, you know, an important thing to take into effect is the more things get automated, the more things that are monitored, um, the easier it will be to be held accountable.

And depending on what lens you look at that through, it's could be a good thing or bad thing. 

Nate McBride: Well, I appreciate your feedback on this. This one, this is a good article. I mean, the whole, the whole, this whole paper is fantastic. So if you have the chance to, uh, as a listener to download and read it and I have many, many others.

So if this is interesting, if researching, uh, the loss of autonomy is of interest to you, um, reach out to me or Mike, and we'll get you this research. Mike has access to the same research I have because we share it. So anyway, thanks Mike for coming on and chat with me about this. Uh, we'll, yeah, anytime we'll have more in the future, but this was good.

Theme: [00:19:00] Whisper

glow. So

soy, we value the.

Me

through the side paths. We glide in the circuits. We confide no restraints, no need to hide in the system. We reside[00:20:00] 

through the code. We leave our fate in the data.[00:21:00] 

We control it. Binary whispers in the night. Flashing screens that glow so bright. In the matrix we take flight. Holding truth within our sight. The calculus of I. T. Revalued only. The calculus of I. T. Yeah. Yeah.