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Electronic monitoring and the redundancy of control systems: The role of the supervisor

Published:01 May 1988Publication History

ABSTRACT

Despite an increasing amount of research on the concerns of lower level computer workers who perform clerical work using Video Display Terminals, there has been virtually no attention paid to the concerns and behaviors of their supervisors. Consequently, little is known about actual supervisory methods in settings with computerized performance monitoring systems.

This paper reports on the results of a field study focusing on the supervisor's role in computerized and non-computerized data entry settings. Both supervisors and their employees comprised the research sample.

In general, the results of this study do not support prior research regarding the differences in perception of closeness in supervision between VDT and non-VDT workers. Furthermore, the results suggest that the supervisors are largely under-utilizing the monitoring capabilities of the system. Implications for systems design are discussed.

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            • Published in

              cover image ACM Conferences
              SIGCPR '88: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCPR conference on Management of information systems personnel
              May 1988
              216 pages
              ISBN:0897912624
              DOI:10.1145/57216
              • Chairman:
              • E. M. Awad

              Copyright © 1988 ACM

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              Publication History

              • Published: 1 May 1988

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