Technology at Work

This document discusses the impact of technology on workplace learning, surveillance practices, and work-life balance. It explores the characteristics of information and communication technology and the challenges and opportunities for workers in the digital age.

Running head: TECHNOLOGY AT WORK
Technology at Work
Name of Student
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Table of Contents
Topic 1: Technology and Workplace Learning...................................................................2
Topic 2: Surveillance...........................................................................................................4
Topic 3: Leisure and Work..................................................................................................5
Topic 4: Brave New Worker................................................................................................7
Topic 5: Characteristics of Information and Communication Technology.........................8
References..........................................................................................................................11

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Topic 1: Technology and Workplace Learning
Innovative technologies have a large impact on the workplace learning. A number of
researches has been conducted in the field of technology and workplace learning over the years.
Technology has enabled a number of business organization to easily implement their own
programs on a smaller scale. Workplace learning is beneficial for the employees as well as the
employers and therefore, the employees expect development opportunities through workplace
learning from their employers. Oliver (2011), states that it is quite essential to understand the
relationship between technology and learning in order to understand its methodological
implications. It is quite integral to study about the educational technology so that it can be easily
implemented in workplace learning process.
Wang (2018), introduces the basis of the workplace learning that outlines the key features
and the theoretical fundamentals of same. Workplace learning refer to the training activities that
are undertaken in the workplace environment. Wang (2018), emphasizes on the striking
dissimilarity between workplace learning and school learning. It is expected that the increasing
cooperation between the workplace and the learning process has a number of advantages.
Learning process in a workplace is mainly featured by a self-directed lifelong learning
process. Wang (2018), establishes the fact that it is quite essential to facilitate the self-direction
and learner autonomy for the employees. Employees are needed to be provided with the expert
guidance from the management so as to provide a good learning environment. Leaning in
workplace serves and improves both individual and organizational goals.
Wang (2018), indicates that adult learning is quite different from the learning processes
of children. It is observed that the adults are more self-directed and reply less for help from

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others. Apart from that, adults generally have lifetime experiences that provides a rich source of
learning. The process of adult learning or learning in workplace is linked with the needs of an
individual. However, one of the basic needs of adult learning is motivation to learn that should
be provided by the organization to ensure employee satisfaction.
Nederveld and Berge (2015), talks about flipped learning in workplace learning. Flipped
learning is a pedagogical approach associated with direct instruction from a group learning space
to an individual learning space (Nederveld & Berge, 2015). Flipped learning can be beneficial
for workplace learning and indicates a significant use of technology in the learning process. The
figure below indicates the differences between traditional model and flipped model.
Figure 1: Representing the differences between traditional model and flipped Model
(Source: Nederveld & Berge, 2015)
The purpose of flipped learning is to transform a group learning space to an individual
learning space which is more dynamic and interactive. Thus, the flipped learning concept can be
well integrated with workplace learning to make the process more interactive and creative.
Kim and McLean (2014), indicates that differing culture affects the workplace learning
process and therefore, it becomes essentially important to integrate the same with technology.

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Kim and McLean (2014), discusses a number of ways through which even the informal learning
processes can be accelerated in the workplace (Kim & McLean, 2014). National Culture is found
to have a significant impact on the workplace learning process. It can significantly affect the
learning modules and process designed for workplace learning. Technology is an integral
characteristics of workplace learning and therefore it is quite essential for the business
organization to understand human efficiency. Technology has the capability of drastically
changing the workplace learning process for good and therefore, workplace learning should be
integrated with the use of modern technology.
Topic 2: Surveillance
Electronic Surveillance in workplace is quite common; however, the question arises
whether such practises are ethical or not. Surveillance at workplace indicates the use of
electronic technology for instantaneous and continuous collection and storage of data related to
the behaviour of the employee. West and Bowman (2016), state that the ethical issues related to
surveillance at workplace are needed to be evaluated as it is often observed in workplace
surveillance, ethics is overlooked in other decision-making criteria. Use of electronic technology
is workplace is quite common to carry out the communication process and for accessing the
other job related information. West and Bowman (2016), indicates that surveillance in
workplace is quite pervasive and is a critical part of the modern information system. It is
observed that the surveillance technology can take a number of forms that includes door swipes,
log-in to the computers, activity reports, printers and video recording of the staffs. Apart from
this, the other improved form of surveillance include fingerprint and iris scans, use of programs
to check the activities of the computers. For example, in call centres, call volumes and duration
of calls are recorded to access the quality of the call.

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The increasing use of smart digital devices is increasing the risk of surveillance. The
digital devices such as fitness band is allowed to gather data related to critical health information
of an individual. The use of internet increases the data surveillance of an individual. The
increasing surveillance is enough to make a person paranoid about their increasing risk in data
privacy and security.
The increasing risk of data privacy and increasing surveillance of the individuals in the
digital age, it is quite essential to identify the tactics that can improve the data security and
privacy of an individual. Some of the identified tactics include protection of devices from the
malware and phishing attacks, protection of information from physical threats and to create and
maintain strong passwords for data protection in the digital world. In order to ensure digital
privacy, it is quite essential to keep the digital communication across the internet private.
Although the surveillance in digital world can be controlled, the surveillance in the
workplace is quite difficult to be controlled. Rosenblat and Kneese (2014), indicates that
workplace surveillance is directly linked with employee monitoring as it is mainly undertaken to
measure the productivity and effectiveness of an employee. However, the type of information
that are being monitored or shared give rise to major ethical issues and questions the validity of
the data surveillance. Rosenblat and Kneese (2014), state that the employees should be aware of
the data that are being collected so that they can behave accordingly. de Vries and van Gelder
(2015), have a similar view regarding the workplace ethics and indicates that employee
surveillance can further lead to violation of the employee norms.
Topic 3: Leisure and Work

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According to Nam (2014), work and life tends to increasingly intertwine in this
technology driven world. Information and communication technology has significantly
challenged the strong ideology of work-life segregation. However, it becomes quite integral to
conceptualize the work, life and the balance between work and life. A boundary segregating the
balance between work and life is needed to be maintained. Ciolfi and Lockley (2018), indicates
that boundaries between the work and life that are needed to be maintained. A number of
researches related to micro-boundaries
Indicate the digital tools that help in managing the boundaries between work and life. It is quite
essential to improve the quality of activities that an individual might undertake in their work and
for their leisure. Leisure is equally important for an employee particularly because a number of
task might require a lot of focus and energy for being productive. For example, while an
employee is working on a tough task, he/she might feel temporarily drained out of energy. A
short period of leisure can however; help an employee to solve a problem related to work more
easily.
Hallman, Ekman and Lyskov (2014), state that it is essential for an individual to find
balance between work and leisure. Monitoring and control of the energy levels indicate that it is
possible to ensure efficient working of the employees. Furthermore, it is observed that leisure
and exercise can help in refreshing the mind and body of an individual. Therefore, it is quite
essential to ensure that the employees are not continuously working and are taking gaps between
their works. Although, in this first-paced digital world, it is difficult to manage and strike a
balance between work and leisure, it is quite necessary to understand that this balance is
necessary to increase the productivity and balance.

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Cunningham (2016), indicate that there have been a drastic change in the working hours
allocated. Researches indicate that by the mid-twentieth century, married men could achieve a
work-leisure balance. Therefore, achieving a work-life balance is quite necessary in order to
ensure that effective work in workplace. Therefore, it is quite essential for the organizations to
ensure effective work life and leisure balance of their employees. Leisure in workplace indicates
has a number of benefits. It refreshes the mind of an employee and enables them to undertake
complex tasks. However, the leisure activities within the workplace should not be outshine the
work that are needed to be completed. The leisure activities should be balanced with the work
that is needed to be completed in order to ensure a smooth and effective working environment.
Topic 4: Brave New Worker
The recent advancement in the field of information and communication technology has
the capability of impacting future of work. In this context Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft,
(2014) predict the replacement of human workforce by robot. It is predicted that within the next
few years, people will be supplanted by robots. The IT enabled changed that in workplace and
work might have both positive and negative impact on computing industry. The authors talk
about the concept of crowdsourcing and crowd employment in this context. The particular term
“crowdsourcing” was coined in the year 2006, where a large pool of individuals are called over
the internet. According to Edwards and Ramirez (2016), it is quite necessary to identify the
reasons because of which workers should embrace or resit new technology. With the increasing
use and adoption of new technology, it becomes essential to understand the effects of
implementing new technology on workers. With the changing trends, it becomes essential for the
workers to identify and embrace the changes that are being proposed. However, with the
increasing use of technology, the issue related to unemployment arises. Spencer (2018),

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discusses the increasing risk and fear of mass unemployment that can follow a mass automation.
The increasing use of technology create certain conditions that can eventually lead to job loss.
The increasing use of technology can considerably reduce human load, which will eventually
lead to job loss. This is particularly because technology confronted workers to be an alien and
hostile force that undermines the quality of life inside and outside the work. It is not far that
when machines will do majority of the work as opposed to humans. Embracement of machines in
place of human labour is expected to increase as machines can work 24 hours a day as opposed
to humans. In comparison to that, the human workers can work a maximum of 70 hours in a
week at an average. Therefore, the use of technology in reducing the human load is expected to
be embraced by a majority of business organizations in the next few years. However, reduction
in human labour will in turn imply mass unemployment. This gives rise to the question whether
the workers will be brave enough to embrace new technology.
Zeira and Nakamura (2018), identifies the issues related to automation and
unemployment. It is observed that within the next few years, it is possible for machines to
overtake the works that are performed by humans. Therefore, only the brave workers might be
able to embrace technology in workplace which can in turn result in mass unemployment in
future. However, embracement of technology in workplace although have both positive and
negative effects, embracement of the same becomes an essential in order to maintain a
competitive advantage in the market. Technological advancements is expected to affect the
employment of a country on a large scale. Automation of tasks although increases the
effectiveness of implementation of work and reduces human labour, it can be a significant reason
of mass unemployment.
Topic 5: Characteristics of Information and Communication Technology

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In order to understand the characteristics of the Information and communication
technology, it becomes essential to understand the process in which a technology works.
Technology is directly related to the use of internet. Information and communication technology
is an activity that is designed and constructed for maintaining a communication system.
According to Conole (2013), Information and communication technology has a number of
benefits such as learning in open world. With the increasing use of technology, it is possible to
fetch a firsthand access to rich content. The concept of learning design can be introduced in this
context.
The access to internet provides learning from an open source as a vast quantity of data
remain accessible to public over internet. In this context Hilbert (2015), bring the concept
technological Determinism and Social Constructivism. Technological determines believes that
the society is mainly shaped by technology. In this digital era the use of technology in
completion of major work is quite essential (Hilbert, 2015). On the other hand, social
constructionism shares that the society itself is a reason behind shaping the technology. This is a
significant subject of debate as both the theories indicates a completely different phenomenon.
Technological determinism is mainly associated with reductionist theory and it is being
assumed that technology is one of the significant reason behind the development of social
structure and the culture values. It is important to understand the concept of technological
determinism as it has a large impact on human action and their thought process (Hilbert, 2015).
On a contrary, the social determinism talks about a completely new aspect of technological
advancements. The society is mainly an autonomous force that shapes technology (Hilbert,
2015). Social determinism theory is associated with the strong belief that society is an
autonomous force that helps in shaping technology (Hilbert, 2015). It is a simple theory that is

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mainly based on the cause and effect of use of technology on society. On the other hand, the
social constructionism theory believes that technology is developed as a result of the social,
culture and economic factors associated with the society. Therefore, social constructionism is
considered to be completely different from technological determinism.
Digital technology plays a large role in managing the social change. Digital technology
therefore has a large impact in shaping the society (Dafoe, 2015). It is quite essential to
understand the need of incorporating technology in shaping the world as the use of technology
considerably increases the efficiency of the work processes. Since internet is an open source for
learning, it is expected that internet can be used as a learning tool and can also help in shaping
the society (Dafoe, 2015). The technological development in society is expected to increase
particularly because it reduces human labour and human errors. Therefore, technological
advancements in the society is expected to increase and changes can be seen in near future.
Internet can be significantly used as a learning tool that can help in shaping the society.

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References
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Ciolfi, L., & Lockley, E. (2018). From Work to Life and back again: Examining the digitally-
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Conole, G. (2013). Affordances. In Designing for Learning in an Open World (pp. 85-100).
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Cunningham, H. (2016). Time, work and leisure: Life changes in England since 1700.
Dafoe, A. (2015). On technological determinism: A typology, scope conditions, and a
mechanism. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 40(6), 1047-1076.
de Vries, R. E., & van Gelder, J. L. (2015). Explaining workplace delinquency: The role of
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Edwards, P., & Ramirez, P. (2016). When should workers embrace or resist new
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Hallman, D. M., Ekman, A. H., & Lyskov, E. (2014). Changes in physical activity and heart rate
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Hilbert, M. (2015) Technological Determinism vs. Social Constructivism. Part of the University
of California course:
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