Essay Sample on Deskilling: Impact on Modern Industries

Introduction

From the twentieth century, the basic trend in the job design and market has been one of the simplifications or what is termed as "deskilling." The design of simplified or narrow jobs with tasks that would be closely described was influenced by factors such as the move from craft industries to factories with mass production emerging and the division of labor. This paper discusses deskilling and its relevance in today's industries.

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Deskilling is the process in which the skill level of a job is reduced through a process of detailed division of labor and implementation of new and modern technology to improve the control in management over the work processes in the industry (Helsig, 2009). Adam Smith and Karl Marx described deskilling as a form of a technical change while other authors such as Charles Babbage observed the effect of technological change affects the labor force. Skill-based technical can be defined as a move in production that is favoring the skilled labor over unskilled labor.

Classical Economists on Deskilling

According to Smith, deskilling was an unintended consequence of the increase in the division of labor which in turn caused more simplification in the workers' tasks (Brugger & Gehrke, 2018). Marx, however, regarded technical change that was not biased to unskilled labor as a weapon which impaired the bargaining positions of the workers in the class struggle. In the 18th and 19th centuries, industrialization led to a polarized labor force, where one part of the workforce was largely deskilled while the demand of the other fewer higher-skilled workers increased. The classical literature works from the eighteenth and nineteenth century on the technological change that enhances skills and is deskilling suggest that technical change was seen to be heavily deskilling. Some of the main classical economists such as Karl Marx and Adam Smith appear to advocate for the proposition of technical change as deskilling tasks (Brugger & Gehrke, 2018). They made arguments that due to mechanization and industrialization, there was a prominent deskilling tendency with the duties previously done by a craftsman being reduced to simplified and recurrent tasks, which allowed the skilled working in these positions being replaced by other unskilled laborers. Contributors to the classic economics follow the analysis of these scholars and are also convinced to suggest that in the period before the 20th century, technical change was observed to have a deskilling nature.

Braverman on Deskilling

Braverman scholars widely assessed the idea of deskilling and skilling with cut readings of the economist, Marx, underpinning the theory of the labor process. Braverman's work was a development and expansion of the Marxist theory n the capitalistic system of economy and some of the already existing work (Spencer, 2000). His completed "deskilling thesis" and the work on Taylorism are interrelated. In this, the labor was turning to be more and more deskilled as the capitalism-based and the emerging classes in management. Labor deskilling was regarded as a result of the monopoly in the capital and the control that was forced on the workers by the means of production processes that were implemented and the maximization of mechanization.

Harry Braverman also argues that the labor process is a critical area that would explain social control and conflict. As he describes, it is in the labor process where goods would be made and even developed with the combination of raw materials and human labor. In the 19th century, laborers would combine broad ranges of skills with knowledge to make sure their levels of autonomy and control were sufficiently high. However, in the 20th century, Braverman claims that there would be a rapid degradation process of labor, where the labor force would experience deskilling. Management in those advanced capitalist societies would develop systems of complete control over the process of labor to lower the production costs and in turn increase, the profits made, compelled by the pressure due to the accumulation of capital.

The deskilling process has three aspects. In the first one, it can be described as capitals necessity to realize the potential of bought labor power by changing it to labor which it can control, which could form a base for isolation of the labor force. The second one relates to the origin of management which they describe as laying in the struggle to formulate a most effective means to impose the control to employers in a capitalist production relation which varies from the kind and the scope of production. The third aspect is the growth inside the capitalist production model of a labor division which provides the argument for the consequent split of general skills of the craft. Due to these, Braverman takes the automation process as a plan that aims to increase the control of the management over all the processes of labor. He sees managerial control as the problem that faces most capitalists seeking to maximize the degree of effort while receiving the least amount of payment. The problem would be solved by the development of and practice of the "Scientific management" theories which had their basis on the ideas proposed by Frederick Taylor.

"Taylorism", as explained by Braverman, advocates for the search of efficiency in industrial processes by the parting of conceptualizing from execution to accomplish tasks (Lakomy, 1995). Taylorism had two objectives, to deskill the job content where the work is done is disintegrated into tasks that would require a small amount of mental ability with physical energy to do them. Originally, the division of labor that Taylorism advocated for depended on mechanisms involving discipline and organization. With the development and increase of automation in the 20th century, the production levels increased, offering the management a more effective way of controlling the labor process. According to Braverman, technological advancement helped the gradual removal of workers' control functions, being used as a way of substituting laborers as the management became the workers, thereby displacing knowledge and skill. Braverman argues that the automation process puts the process of production to be controlled by the engineers and management which removes the need for the workers' knowledge or their training.

Braverman's arguments on deskilling were debated on the state of work in societies considered capitalistic. Some criticized Braverman's over-emphasizing on Taylorism as one strategy of management, how the author regards the management application as without problems and his perceiving the deskilling tendency as unilateral. The deskilling thesis emphasizes that adopting technology in the industries is a portion of a managerial strategy to rise the control over the labor force which is achieved by the use of technology in a manner that the occupations are split and deskilled. The training of workers thus put their focus on the growth of particular skills which are required in particular jobs.

Deskilling and Jobs

In the contemporary world, deskilling may occur like the loss of skills by workers due to technological equipment available not engaging them and doing almost all the work for them. this occurs a lot in industries with computer-aided equipment, which perform most of the tasks that the workers would previously do. Due to lack of practice and utilizations, the skills that the workers had learned wane, leaving only fewer members of the workforce with the knowhow to perform these tasks. This poses a serious risk to the safety of these in the industry, in case of failure of the machine.

Other than the safety risk posed by deskilling, it has also led to the reduction of the skill by professionals in other fields. For instance, lawyers are found to delegate a lot of work to professionals, those in information technology progressively alternate capital for labor. Considering pilots, aircraft have become so much sophisticated and computer-aided that the only time that he pilots toke over the plane is in case of undesired behavior by systems and cases of failure. This may lead to the overreliance on computer assistance that the psychomotor and the cognitive skills of the pilot required for controlling a plane manually fade way. This may lead to such pilots struggling when called upon to control the plane which is now improperly functioning. The result is also a slippery slope as when the pilot realizes his or her skills are fading, they will rely more on the automated system leading to a high rate of skill degradation, which is referred to as deskilling. A catastrophic plane crash accident that happened on the outskirts of Cali in Colombia is suspected to have been due to the pilots over-reliance to the automation guides and displays, where the pilot showed a reduced ability to recognize the terrain proximity for determination of a waypoint.

The automation of industries always has an impact on workers as it could replace some of them, or even create job opportunities for some. Automation leads to the replacement of workers to give space to the machines. This leads to the elimination of some occupations and these skills by the replaced workers become no longer useful to the company. This is deskilling. According to a survey by Economic Modeling Specialist Intl., twenty-one percent of the companies that participated in the survey had deskilled workers where those that had carried out automation reported that they had to replace the workers, with new positions being added (Careerbuilder.com, 2019). In this survey, the most affected jobs were mainly those in the field o Information Technology at forty-two percent, followed by those in financial services and finally those in manufacturing. It was also found that around thirty-one percent of the employees in the companies had predicted that at some point, some of their jobs would be replaced by some form of technology to some extent (Careerbuilder.com, 2019). These occupations include customer accounting, assembly, service, distribution, and sales.

Even as some workers risk to lose jobs due to deskilling, there are also ways in which it can add to the number of higher-paying jobs. The operation and maintenance of these systems, for instance, are among the opportunities that these computer-operated systems provide. The installation of these systems is also another source of employment.

Conclusion

The deviations in technology and the development of new systems generates systems in the industry that needs an increase in the levels of skills required. However, it devalues the capability and potential of humans. The skills that were once important and useful are lost and no longer needed. The discussion of deskilling by Braverman and the other classical economists gives a hypothesis in which all this is based. The factors that impact the skilled trend are dependent on the sector, occupation, and workplace. Deskilling is the industry certainly has impacts on the labor force and hence the lives of many employees. This is because it can be a determining factor for the loss of occupations and the salaries that one is offered in an organization. It is still an important factor in the industry today. In the past, workers were oppressed under varying managements, being unable to speak out their grievances. However, in today's society, they have the opportunity to get involved in trade unions, join free-thinkers and put forward instances of oppression by the management. On the other hand, companies should regularly vet their employees to ensure they maintain good standards of skills to avoid accidents in the industries as a result of deskilling.

References

Brugger, F., & Gehrke, C. (2018). Skilling and deskilling: technological change in classical economic theory and its empirical evidence....