A research paper by Steven Kahl, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and colleagues compared the effect of the arrival of computers in business on “systems men, who squeezed efficiencies out of firms through work-flow process improvements and controlling the dissemination of information, and production planners, whose domain was the material requirements for manufacturing.”
“Both professions had a similar reaction to computers: How can we use this new technology to expand and solidify our control over our work and improve our position in the firm? Forty years later, systems men were pretty much gone and production planners grew to become a 60,000-worker-strong professional group. What happened?”
Read more about their research here, but be warned: touchy-feely stuff made the difference.
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