Productivity paradox

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The so-called productivity paradox is the observation made in Computer Supported Cooperative Work and other business process analysis that, as new information technology is introduced, worker productivity may go down, not up. It was especially common in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A number of explanations of this have been advanced, including:

• The tendency - at least initially - of computer technology to be used for applications that have little impact on overall productivity, eg word processing.
• inefficiencies arising from running manual paper-based and computer-based processes in parallel, requiring two separate sets of activities and human effort to mediate between them - usually considered a technology alignment problem
• poor user interfaces that confuse users, prevent or slow access to time-saving facilities, are internally inconsistent both with each other and with terms used in work processes - a concern addressed in part by enterprise taxonomy
• extremely poor hardware and related boot image control standards that forced users into endless "fixes" as operating systems and applications clashed - addressed in part by single board computers and simpler more automated re-install procedures, and the rise of software specifically to solve this problem, e.g. Norton Ghost
• technology-driven change driven by companies such as Microsoft which profit directly from more rapid "upgrades"
• an emphasis on presentation technology and even persuasion technology such as PowerPoint, at the direct expense of core business processes and learning - addressed in some companies including IBM and Sun by creating a PowerPoint-Free Zone
• the blind assumption that introducing new technology must be good

By the late 1990s there were some signs that productivity in the workplace had improved, especially in the United States. Furthermore, Erik Brynjolfsson and his colleagues found a significant positive relationship between IT investments and productivity in a series of studies.¹

However, new problems had emerged, including:

• email spam
• malware on computer networks
• use of entertainment oriented web services or even porn at work

[edit] See also

• Solow computer paradox

[edit] References

• Note 1: See "Computing Productivity: Firm Level Evidence" by Erik Brynjolfsson and Lorin M. Hitt and the papers cited therein.

• Greenwood, Jeremy (1997) The Third Industrial Revolution: Technology, Productivity and Income Inequality AEI Press.

• Landauer, T.K. (1995). The trouble with computers: Usefulness, usability and productivity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press ISBN 0262621088