University of Maryland University College
MGMT 630- Homework #1
September 28, 2010
Post Industrial Society can be defined as the changes in work, organization, and employment relations that are attendant on the evolution from an economy based on manufacturing to one based on services (“Dictionary of Human Resource Management,” 2002).
Organizational shifts or changes are based on changes in society in all aspects. Just as Huber predicted in 1984, the major increase in post-industrial society's complexity will lead to increases in specialization and diversity (Huber, 1984). Specialization is a common trend in the current organizational environments. Today there are specialists in all industries and organizations. An example that can prove Huber’s theory is accurate is technology. Organizations have had to change their organizational structures based on technology as it has evolved. As computers became more prevalent in the work place more and more jobs were created to entertain this concept.
“The causal role of technology has been widely accepted in Western culture and the role of technology as an agent of change is common in the popular view of modem history where it is usually featured in simple, plausible narratives comparing an aspect of society before and after a technological innovation and inferring causation to the sudden appearance of the technical innovation” (Winter & Taylor, 1996, p. 7).
“Because the causal role of technology has been widely accepted in Western popular culture, it is not surprising to find that computers are often identified as powerful agents of social and economic change ushering in the new "post-industrial" form of organization” (Winter & Taylor, 1996, p. 12).
Huber stated that, “the following seemed clear: (1) the anticipatable large increases in knowledge will lead to large increases in technological, economic,