Microcomputers in African Development: Critical Perspectives by Suzanne Grant Lewis

Author:Suzanne Grant Lewis [Lewis, Suzanne Grant]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, African Studies, African, Social Science, Political Science, World
ISBN: 9780429714351
Google: 59tJEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 59447426
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

Contractual Exchanges and New Social Forms in the Workplace

Contractual exchanges encompass interactions that occur between firms and outside agencies as well as within firms. These exchanges introduce computers into the workplace and constitute the springboard for the innovation of new social forms and new ways of relating human behavior to machines. Based upon my research in Ivory Coast and Kenya, I shall specify four types of exchange that occur in the adoption of computers.

The first type of exchange involves the government and firms. In this type, the government sets computer policies and controls access to computer hardware and software. This control operates through import regulations and both direct and indirect monitoring of computer vendors. While firms may sell all their equipment or expertise to the government, they are essentially the recipients of government policy, calls for bids, and other rules and agreements that regulate the distribution of computers.

In the second type of exchange, the firm interacts with a client. This client may be an individual or another agency or firm, or the government. Firms often use the term “contract” explicitly in their references to sales, maintenance, and service agreements.

The third type of exchange occurs within firms. In this type of exchange, the firm’s management interacts with its personnel by specifying the use of the computers and the organization of the activities that surround them. Problems with the computerization process within firms often emerge during this exchange.

TABLE 4.1 Typology of Exchanges for Computer Adoption Type Sender Exchange Recipient

1. Government Firm

2. Firm Client (including government)

3. Firm Management Computer Personnel

4. Computer Technology Firm

In the fourth type of exchange, the computer technology is the acting subject and the firm is the recipient of the messages. That is, the nature of the technology itself requires specific changes in organizational structure, work tasks, and job titles. Over time, the activities of the firm may in turn influence the technology.

Type 1 exchanges are characteristic of the interactions between computer vendors and the government. Since government regulations establish the conditions for computer sales, vendors are particularly concerned with the limitations imposed by these regulations. A crisis resulting from ambiguous or overly stringent regulations generates an outcry in the form of complaints from vendors and computer consulting firms. Type 2 exchanges emerge during the course of normal business transactions. These exchanges include negotiations of sales and service contracts as well as regulation of interactions between firms and their clients. Type 3 exchanges are byproducts of the firm’s internal operations. Those exchanges, however, are both frequent and important. Indeed, many of my discussions with enterprise managers in Kenya and Ivory Coast focused on Type 3 exchanges. Type 4 exchanges are direct products of the strengths and weaknesses of computer technology. Success and disaster stories describing the initial impact of computer adoption revolve around Type 4 exchanges. Broken contracts are generally explained and defended in the terms of Type 4 exchanges: the new equipment is rejected as inadequate or inappropriate for a particular context. Overall, Type 2 and Type 3 exchanges

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