Abstract
In recent years with the development of an information-oriented society, office automation has been progressing rapidly. This paper investigates the effects of the progress in office automation on white collar workers, especially in view of the variation in the status of these workers. It has been found while the progress in office automation functions and the importance of professional and technical workers has tended to increase, functions of line managers are being reduced. In other words, a fairly large part of such tasks as planning and decision-making and major duties of middle management, is being absorbed by specialists and technical employees. As a result, fewer middle management personnel will be promoted to participate in important decision making, while the majority of the remaining personnel will occupy positions involving routine work. Moreover, with the progress in office automation, the number of white collar workers is increasing and jobs for general office workers who perform simple, supplementary tasks involving computers are being created. Thus, a differentiation of social strata among white collar workers is being brought about.
