From Gutenberg to Gates: a study of socio-technical change in the Edinburgh printing industry
Maureen Parnell
A doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Napier University, Edinburgh, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy
October 2006
Abstract
Printing has a long and illustrious history as a craft industry. This study explores the effects of technological change on skilled workers in the Edinburgh general printing industry. Three, initially distinct, areas of sociological theory concerning technological change shaped the research questions. These were, firstly, to establish the nature of recent technological change, and what drives it; secondly, to explore managers’ decision-making in relation to such changes; and thirdly, to understand how workers’ experiences of work, and their relationships at work, have changed with these changes in technology.
My findings are based on three waves of investigations carried out over fifteen years, using responses from both managerial and shop-floor staff in five selected companies. This was done initially through questionnaires and later through semi-structured interviews. At Wave One (1991-92), most companies had made initial changes towards sophisticated computerisation, which had become embedded by Wave Two (1996-97). By Wave Three (2005-06) there was an ongoing programme of continual updating of these established systems constrained by the need to maintain compatibility with the computer systems used by customers due to the global hegemony of computer manufacturers. However, the effects upon workers were unexpected. Computerised typesetting programs inevitably brought deskilling, but original skills, learnt and used by workers over many years of rapidly changing technology, did remain relevant, and the acquisition of new skills associated with computerisation was regarded favourably. The most significant change for workers was the increased pressure resulting from a close relationship with customers, with vastly reduced time allowed for each job, and some erosion of workers’ capacity (and managers’) to produce work which satisfied their own standards of quality.
The three, originally separate, themes converged to show that the particular nature of computerised technology used in this sector of the printing industry has led to a change in the traditional capitalist production relationship. These workers were not alienated, their skills had not been entirely lost, as neo-Marxist labour process theory would suggest. Rather, relationships between managers and these skilled shop-floor workers were characterised by mutual respect and understanding of the need for collaboration, not conflict, in the face of external hostile pressures.
Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my father,
Brian K. Parnell
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge, with gratitude, theguidance, support and encouragement I have received from my supervisors:
Professor Diana Woodward,
Director of Graduate School, Napier University
Dr Anne Munro,
Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Transfer in Napier University Business School
Professor Alistair McCleery,
Scottish Centre for the Book
List of
CHAPTER ONE - Introduction......
1.1Introduction......
1.2Outline and aims of this research......
1.3Research questions......
1.4Structure of the thesis......
1.5Autobiographical note......
2CHAPTER TWO – Social and Technological Change in the Printing Industry......
2.1Introduction......
2.2Early development of the printing industry......
2.2.1History of the compositor’s work......
2.2.2The history of printing in Edinburgh......
2.3The first wave of technical change......
2.4Recent technological changes......
2.4.1Report by the Printing Industries Research Association (PIRA)......
2.5The printing trades unions......
2.5.1Early craft guilds......
2.5.2Recent history of the trades unions......
2.6Training......
2.7Statistics......
2.7.1Number and size of companies......
2.7.2Investment and profitability......
2.7.3Wages......
2.8Conclusion......
3CHAPTER THREE – Theorising Technological Change......
3.1Introduction......
3.2Understanding Technological Change in Society......
3.2.1The relationship between social forces and technological change......
3.2.2Summary......
3.3Power relations between workers and management in the workplace during a period of change
3.3.1The decision-making process: management motivation for the introduction of technological change
3.3.2The implementation process: management systems for implementation of technological change and relationships with workers
3.3.3Effects of technological change: approaches to industrial relations and reduction in conflict
3.3.4Summary......
3.4The experience of technical change for workers: control and agency......
3.4.1Technology and skill......
3.4.2Satisfaction and alienation......
3.4.3The labour process debate......
3.4.4Summary......
3.5Conclusion......
4CHAPTER FOUR – Methodology and Methods......
4.1Introduction......
4.2Research questions......
4.3Methodology......
4.4Research methods......
4.4.1Advantages and disadvantages of different methods......
4.4.2Ethical considerations in research......
4.4.3Selection of research sites......
4.4.4Negotiating access......
4.5First Wave of research......
4.5.1Postal questionnaires for workers......
4.5.2Interviews with managers......
4.6Second Wave of research......
4.6.1Interviews with managers......
4.6.2Interviews with workers......
4.7Third Wave of research: interviews with workers and managers......
4.8Reflections......
4.9Conclusions......
5CHAPTER FIVE – Findings: The Nature of Technological Change and What Drives it in the Printing Industry
5.1Introduction......
5.2Wave One......
5.2.1A picture of the five companies......
5.2.2The specific nature of technological changes......
5.2.3Feelings about the directions and speed of technological change......
5.2.4Outcome of technological change......
5.3Wave Two......
5.3.1The nature of the technology......
5.3.2Influences on choice of equipment......
5.3.3Opinions on future developments......
5.4Wave Three......
5.4.1The nature of technology and attitudes towards changes......
5.4.2Decision-making about investment......
5.5Conclusions......
6CHAPTER SIX – Findings: Managements Strategies for Introducing Technological Change
6.1Introduction......
6.2Wave One......
6.2.1Relationship with the market and external factors......
6.2.2Organisational and technical change......
6.2.3Involvement and negotiation in the change process......
6.2.4Industrial Relations......
6.2.5Training......
6.3Wave Two......
6.3.1Training......
6.3.2Technical and organisational change......
6.3.3Relationships with markets and external factors......
6.3.4Industrial relations......
6.4Wave Three......
6.4.1Technical and organisational change......
6.4.2Relationship with the market and other external factors......
6.4.3Training......
6.4.4Relationships between departments......
6.4.5Industrial relations and negotiations about technological change......
6.5Conclusions......
7CHAPTER SEVEN - Findings: Effects of Technological Change on Workers’ Experiences.
7.1Introduction......
7.2Wave One......
7.2.1Adapting to change......
7.2.2Changing levels of skill......
7.2.3Changing levels of satisfaction......
7.3Wave Two......
7.3.1Training and re-training for new skills......
7.3.2Changes in work content and skill......
7.3.3Involvement and satisfaction......
7.4Wave Three......
7.4.1Changing levels of skill......
7.4.2Work satisfaction and involvement......
7.5Conclusions......
8CHAPTER EIGHT – Discussion......
8.1Introduction......
8.2Issue One: The nature and drivers of technological change......
8.2.1Speed and direction of change......
8.2.2The role of development capital......
8.3Issue Two: power relationships between workers and management while introducing new technology
8.3.1Manager motivation in the decision-making process......
8.3.2Relationship between technical and organisational change......
8.3.3Production control and worker involvement in the implementation process......
8.3.4Industrial relations: conflict or co-operation......
8.4Issue Three: workers’ experiences of technological change: control and agency......
8.4.1Skill......
8.4.2Worker satisfaction......
8.4.3Labour Process Debate......
8.5Conclusions......
9CHAPTER NINE – Conclusions......
9.1Review......
9.2Reflections......
9.3Possible directions for further research......
10References......
11Appendix......
Tables and Figures
Table 51 – Summary of Companies Studied (with pseudonyms)......
Figure 21 Employment in Paper, Pulp, Printing, Publishing and Recording Media (ONS, formerly CSO)
Figure 22 Capital Expenditure (1980-89) (CSO)......
Figure 23 Net Output and Net Output per Head (1980-90) (CSO)......
Figure 24 Output Per Hour (1993-2000) (LMT)......
Figure 25 Index of Production (1990-2002) (BPIF)......
Figure 26 Sales, Value-added and Profitability (1994-2002) (BPIF)......
Figure 27 Employment (Operatives and Others, 1980-89) (CSO)......
Figure 28 Wages in Printing (1980-94) (CSO, formerly ONS)......
Figure 29 Changes in Average Earnings (1996-2001) (ONS, formerly CSO)
Glossary of Printing Terms
Typesetting, composition, The arrangement of characters to form text ready for the next stage in the printing process
Hand settingThe original method, where single characters made of lead alloy were set in place in a form
Hot metalThe use of a keyboard to select characters to create moulds which were then filled with molten alloy
PhotocompositionEarly methods produced a roll of film which was then processed photographically to produce the text on paper, later done electronically
CromalinPrinting process for quick proof copy
Graphic Reproduction (‘repro’)The stage where text and illustrations were photographed to create the negative for a printing plate
Colour separationWhere coloured images are photographed through different coloured filters to break down the colours to be printed by different coloured inks
Direct-to-plateA process where printing plates are produced by the computer, bypassing the graphic reproduction stage
Pre-pressAll the stages of the printing process before the printing press
LetterpressThe oldest form of printing, printing from raised metal type
Lithography (planographic)‘Litho’ printing, on a flat plate made photographically
Gravure (intaglio)Printing from an engraved metal plate
DTPDesk-top Publishing
PCPersonal Computer
OCROptical Character Recognition
OPIOpen Pre-Press Interface (program linking all printing processes)
NATSOPANational Society of Operative Printers and Assistants
NGANational Graphical Association
SLADESociety of Lithographic Artists, Designers and Engravers
SOGATSociety of Graphical and Allied Trades
GPMUGraphical, Paper and Media Union
ChapelBranch of a printing trade union (formerly)
Father (or Mother) of the ChapelEquivalent to the shop steward
CSOCentral Statistical Office
CHAPTER ONE - Introduction
1.1Introduction
This introduction describes both the subject area of the research and my own motivation for embarking upon it. I provide an outline of the following chapters to indicate the shape of the thesis, and present the research questions.
Printing is qualitatively different from other industries in: its long history as a manufacturing industry; its structure which includes relationships between print workers, employers, customers and the state; the internal relationships as its trade unions developed with its social exclusiveness; and its external significance within society; and the overall fact that these features have all been developing for about five hundred years. The notion of ‘change’ within such an industry has a different significance from, for example, that happening in a modern industry such as microelectronics, which exists as a consequence of recent technical innovation and as the source of further changes in other industries. Although changes in printing technology, and associated organisational changes, have been documented since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the changes in the last two or three decades have been very much faster and more radical in their effects. Since the invention of printing in the fifteenth century by Gutenberg until the last few decades very little about the nature of the printing process had changed in principle, although major changes in technology had occurred. The significant development was the software designed by Bill Gates, starting in the nineteen-seventies, for what are now almost ubiquitous personal computers. These eventually spread throughout industry as well as in the home, and the printing industry itself was suddenly drawn into a new universe as they became the basis of printing technology.
For many years, the necessity for co-ordination between people with complementary skills was part of the special atmosphere of the trade. These skills were essential aspects of the labour process in printing, and my own observations, while working in printing, indicated that some elements of these had survived the introduction of new technology. But the design of this new machinery was most significant, since it required operating skills which superseded those which print workers had possessed and passed on for centuries, and upon which was based the power of their trades unions. All over the UK printing companies were introducing this new technology, some much earlier, some later, but attention was focussed upon the disputes arising from this while the responses of workers and management to the new technology seemed to differ widely in different sectors of the industry, and in different parts of the country. So, it became apparent to me through my own experience that it was possible that the industry in Scotland did not seem to exhibit the characteristics associated with it in the public consciousness through the adverse publicity given to these conflicts.
This led to my conviction that there was a need to document and try to understand the effects of the changes sweeping the industry, in particular upon the pre-press section with which I was familiar, in a detailed, rigorous, academic format. As far as I know, this has not been the subject of research elsewhere.
1.2Outline and aims of this research
The production processes are very similar in any branch of printing, even now when change is widespread and continuous, and really only differ in terms of scale, and in some of the details where there is specialisation. Therefore the skills, equipment and technical relationships required are very similar. By researching workers and management in a carefully defined section of the printing industry in Scotland, I will attempt to describe and explain the nature of the changes, the implementation of these changes, the effects upon the workers, managers and relationships in these companies, and the outcomes of these changes.
There have recently been a great many technological changes in many industries which affect the way people do their jobs, and they often have been happening relatively fast - perhaps too fast for some aspects of the industrial structure to keep up with it (and rapid technical change is a feature of almost all other parts of people’s lives). Some of the most important effects of these changes have been on the skills associated with these jobs, since much of the new technology is designed to reduce human error and compensate for human limitations in the pursuit of ‘efficiency’. But this often reduces discretion and control, craftsmanship and training, power of workers in workplace relationships, and the interest and satisfaction gained from the job.
The research project has three consecutively dependent aims. Firstly it is necessary to discover the nature of the technological and organisational changes in the chosen companies, in relation to standard theoretical literature on the relationship between technology and society, or those groups within society associated with development, introduction and use of technologies.
Secondly, I investigate how these changes have been implemented in the companies I choose for research: which measures were employed by management to prepare workers for change; what the perceptions of the workers and management were as to the adequacy, efficacy, satisfactoriness of these measures; the outcomes of the changes in terms of the work being done, the product and worker management relationships. Again, these issues are studied in the light of existing literature.
The third part of the study builds on these previous two. From investigating the nature of the technology used in my chosen sites and the effects of methods used for implementing changes, I conclude by using the information gathered from the participants to demonstrate the processes by which workers and management in these specific companies have adapted to the experience of technological change. This assesses the level of satisfaction, changes in skills exercised by workers, levels of involvement in technological change at different levels of the company hierarchy in relation to other factors concomitant with technical change. It also identifies official or unofficial, formal or informal means by which workers and management arrive at agreement. There is a large body of literature on the subject of technological change in industry, including some studies which have already been carried out in other parts of the printing industry. These have focussed on the relevant elements of skill and satisfaction at work, the nature of the labour process and the employment relationships experienced by workers.
This work has been carried out over a period stretching, discontinuously, from 1991 till 2006, in three waves of research. After the second wave, in 1997, I was unable to complete the thesis due to my worsening epilepsy and the side-effects of medication. However, due to a change in my circumstances and to a change in institutional policy I was able to complete the research during a sabbatical year in 2005-06. Each wave of the investigation used slightly different methods, due to changing circumstances and my own learning process. However, the same sites, although not the same individuals, were investigated in each case.
1.3Research questions
Arising from my initial literature search, there appeared to be three major questions to be resolved by my research. Firstly:
what are the nature and drivers of technological change in the sector of the printing industry I have chosen to study?
Secondly:
what methods have managers used to implement technological change, and what are their reasons for their choices of methods?
and thirdly:
how have changes in the printing technology since about 1980 been experienced by skilled workers in the Edinburgh printing industry, in terms of their working practices, their status in the company and in their working relationships with management?
1.4Structure of the thesis
In the next chapter I provide, as context, an outline of the changes in printing technology, the changes in the social structures of the industry, and the resultant features which give the printing industry its significance for this study.
Chapter Three is the literature review to give a theoretical base for the study, covering the relationship between society and technology, studies of the effects of change management and aspects of the sociology of employment, including the debate on classical labour process theory.
Chapter Four explains the fundamental methodology upon which I have based my approach and methods I have chosen to carry out my study.
Chapters Five, Six and Seven present the findings in the three areas of research: the nature of technological change; management strategies for introducing technological change; the effects of technological change on workers’ experiences. Each of these chapters is further divided into sections to show results for each of the three waves of research.
Chapter Eight presents the discussion of these findings in relation to the existing literature on the subject, in order to show how my research confirms or challenges the previous state of sociological knowledge on this topic.
Chapter Nine is the overall conclusion to the thesis, where I reflect upon the process, methods and outcomes of my research and suggest possible avenues for future work.
Finally I include references and appendices.
1.5Autobiographical note
As a prime inspiration for the initial idea for this thesis, I should explain that I have worked in the printing industry myself as a compositor in the nineteen-eighties. At this time the technological changes which formed the basis of my report were being introduced in the department which offered me work, and in fact were the reason for my own employment. Before the advent of new, computerised typesetting equipment it was unusual for women to work in the printing industry (although there are notable exceptions, as I will show in the next chapter). Also it was unusual for someone to be employed from outside the industry, someone who had not served an apprenticeship with all the attendant induction processes. These included, almost universally, membership of the appropriate printing trade union and even then, I was expected to join this immediately.