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Organisational Change Resulting From Advances in Technology

Labour-Management Studies Program at Macquarie University

Australian society is currently experiencing one of the most turbulent periods in its history. In common with many other advanced industrial societies Australia is confronted by major economic problems, social upheaval and political uncertainty. Increasing concern has been experienced about the decline in Australia's relative standing in the world economy. In 1970, for example, Australia was the tenth wealthiest country in the OECD group, with income levels 15 per cent above the average. By 1983, it had fallen to thirteenth with income levels only 5 per cent above the OECD average. The reasons for economic decline are complex, but one important contributing factor has been the failure to develop adequate skills within the Australian labour force to cope with an increasingly complex technological environment. By contrast, many of the newer industrial countries to Australia's north have achieved spectacular growth during the past decade by taking advantage of new technology, both as users and manufacturers. Australia is now importing a great deal of new technology from Japan and elsewhere but little attention is being paid to the implications of technological change for many of the traditional concepts of skills development, work and organisation which still dominate Australia. (Ford, 1984).

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