| This thesis examines the influence of the global dispersion of computer technology in the media industry. It examines the extent to which relations in newspaper organizations and society mediate the relationship between the introduction of new technology and the reform of workplace practices and relations. It does so by analyzing relationships between developments in technology and the reorganization of workplace practices in the newspaper industries in three countries, Australia, Britain, and the United States, during the 1970s and 1980s, a time when printing practices were under intense scrutiny. In investigating these relations, I focus mainly on workplace reorganization at News Corporation Limited, a media company with global holdings.I consider the capacity of various theoretical approaches including technological determinism, labor process theory, and an institutional social choice model to explain events in the newspaper industry, arguing that none of these adequately explains workplace reorganization in this industry. I also develop an alternative theoretical model, which I label the relational model of workplace reorganization, to better do so. The data for the thesis are drawn from interviews with various actors within the newspaper industry, primary documents produced by these actors, as well as secondary sources.Analysis of events in the newspaper industry indicates that the global dispersion of technology has a direct influence on the technology used in local workplaces, but that the relationship between industry-wide reform and local workplace reorganization is mediated by management-worker relations in specific firms, and is influenced by the societal context in which those local firms operate. At the same time, events at the various newspapers within News Corporation Limited suggest there is a process of global integration occurring in regard to technological innovation and workplace reorganization in which practices at one firm within the corporation influence practices at other firms. The dissertation shows, therefore, the importance of analyzing the connections between events occurring locally, nationally, and globally if relationships between technological innovation and workplace reorganization are to be understood. |
