Letting the "Computer Boys" Take over: Technology and the Politics of Organizational Transformation

International Review of Social History

Volumn 48, Issue SUPPL. 11, 2003, Pages 153-180+i

  Ensmenger, Nathan L ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0344392800     PISSN: 00208590     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0020859003001305     Document Type: Review

References (102)

1. Kenneth Flamm, Creating the Computer Government, Industry, and High Technology (Washington DC, 1988), p. 135.
2. Bruce Gilchrist and Richard Weber (eds), The State of the Computer Industry in the United States (New York, 1972).
3. Gene Bylinsky, "Help Wanted: 50,000 Programmers", Fortune, 75 (March 1967), pp. 445-556, 141.
4. Bruce Webster, "The Real Software Crisis", Byte, 21 (1996), p. 218.
5. Although many of the earliest programmers were women, by the beginning of the 1960s programming was generally considered a male profession. Certainly the elite ranks of "systems men" were, quite literally, men. As Margaret Rossiter and others have suggested, masculinity was a cultural resource that aspiring professionals could draw upon in order to improve the standing of their discipline. For many in this period the very concept of a professional was synonymous with an all masculine and thus high-status occupation. A more thorough discussion of the systems men can be found in Thomas Haigh, "Inventing Information Systems: The Systems Men and the Computer, 1950-1968", Business History Review, 75 (2001), pp. 15-61.
6. Office of Technology Policy, United States Department of Commerce, "America's New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers", technical report (1997).
7. David Allan Grier, "The ENIAC, the Verb to Program and the Emergence of Digital Computers", Annals of the History of Computing, 18 (1996), pp. 51-55, 53.
8. Jennifer Light, "When Computers Were Women", Technology & Culture, 40 (1999), pp. 455-483.
9. Sperry Rand Univac, "Introduction to Programming", Programming for the UNIVAC, Part 1 (typewritten manuscript, 11 June 1949); Hagley Achives, Box 372, Accession 1825.
10. W. Barkley Fritz, "The Women of ENIAC", Annals of the History of Computing, 18 (1996), pp. 13-28, 10.
11. Joseph O'Shields, "Selection of EDP Personnel", Personnel Journal, 44 (1965), pp. 471-474, 472.
12. Hal Sackman, W.J. Erickson and E.E. Grant, "Exploratory Experimental Studies Comparing Online and Offline Programming Performance", Communications of the ACM, 11 (1968), pp. 3-11, 3.
13. Peter Naur, Brian Randall, and J.N. Buxton, Software Engineering: Proceedings of the NATO Conferences (New York, 1976), p. 33.
14. Grier, "The ENIAC, the Verb to Program", pp. 51-55, 53.
15. Willis Ware, "As I See It: A Guest Editorial", Datamation, 11 (1965), pp. 27-28, 27.
16. Ibid., p. 27.
17. B. Conway, J. Gibbons and D.E. Watts, Business Experience with Electronic Computers: A Synthesis of What Has Been Learned from Electronic Data Processing Installations (New York, 1959), p. 83.
18. I b i d.
19. Ibid., p. 90.
20. Bylinsky, "Help Wanted: 50,000 Programmers", pp. 445-556, 141; Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects (New York, 1967), p. 9.
21. Bylinsky, "Help Wanted: 50,000 Programmers", pp. 445-556, 141; Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects (New York, 1967), p. 9.
22. Robert Gordon, "Review of Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects", Datamation, 14 (1968), pp. 200-202, 200.
23. Robert Gordon, "Personnel Selection", in Fred Gruenberger and Stanley Naftaly (eds), Data Processing [...] Practically Speaking (Los Angeles, CA, 1967), p. 88.
24. Con-way et al., Business Experience with Electronic Computers, p. 81.
25. In 1955 IBM introduced its Programmer Aptitude Test (PAT), which correlated performance in training programs with subsequent performance ratings by project managers and served for many years as a de facto industry standard. The test was adapted from a psychological examination developed by the American Council on Education, and included questions about number series, figure analogies, and arithmetic reasoning. By 1962 an estimated 80 per cent of all businesses used some form of aptitude test when hiring programmers. Although the IBM PAT was used by almost 40 per cent of these businesses, numerous alternatives were developed, and the other 60 per cent used some combination of more than 60 different exams. Although aptitude tests were accused of being inaccurate, irrelevant, and susceptible to widespread cheating, many employers continued to use them well into the 1970s. No single test was widely accepted as being very accurate or definitive, however; they were simply one of the only tools available for dealing with the problem of programmer labor.
26. Nick Metropolis, J. Howlett and Gian-Carlo Rota (eds), A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century: A Collection of Essays (New York, 1980), p. 126.
27. Nathan Ensmenger, "The 'Question of Professionalism' in the Computer Fields", IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 23 (2001), pp. 56-73.
28. Robert Patrick, "The Gap in Programming Support", Datamation, 7 (1961), p. 37.
29. Richard Tanaka, "Fee or Free Software", Datamation, 13 (1967), pp. 205-206, 206.
30. The Mariner I incident involved a software problem that resulted in the destruction of multimillion-dollar spacecraft. The IBM OS/360 project, delivered nine months late and riddled with errors, took an enormous toll on the company, in both personal and financial terms. Its failure was the subject of one of the most widely read books on software project management, Frederick Brook's The Mythical Man-Month (Reading, MA, 1975).
31. McKinsey & Company, "Unlocking the Computer's Profit Potential", Computers & Automation, 18 (1969), pp. 24-33, 33.
32. Ibid., p. 33.
33. Gordon, "Personnel Selection", p. 200.
34. C.I. Keelan, "Controlling Computer Programming", Journal of Systems Management, 20 (January 1969), pp. 30-33; D. Herz, New Power for Management (New York, 1969); Richard Canning, "Managing the Programming Effort", EDP Analyzer, 6 (1968), pp. 1-15; Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects (New York, 1967).
35. C.I. Keelan, "Controlling Computer Programming", Journal of Systems Management, 20 (January 1969), pp. 30-33; D. Herz, New Power for Management (New York, 1969); Richard Canning, "Managing the Programming Effort", EDP Analyzer, 6 (1968), pp. 1-15; Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects (New York, 1967).
36. C.I. Keelan, "Controlling Computer Programming", Journal of Systems Management, 20 (January 1969), pp. 30-33; D. Herz, New Power for Management (New York, 1969); Richard Canning, "Managing the Programming Effort", EDP Analyzer, 6 (1968), pp. 1-15; Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects (New York, 1967).
37. C.I. Keelan, "Controlling Computer Programming", Journal of Systems Management, 20 (January 1969), pp. 30-33; D. Herz, New Power for Management (New York, 1969); Richard Canning, "Managing the Programming Effort", EDP Analyzer, 6 (1968), pp. 1-15; Charles Lecht, The Management of Computer Programming Projects (New York, 1967).
38. Keelan, "Controlling Computer Programming", p. 30.
39. R.M. Graham, quoted in Naur et al., Software Engineering: Proceedings of the NATO conferences, p. 32.
40. Ibid., p. 4.
41. Ibid., p. 7.
42. Ensmenger, "The 'Question of Professionalism'".
43. Brad Cox, "There is a Silver Bullet", Byte, 15 (1990), p. 209.
44. Thomas Haigh, "Technology, Information and Power: Managerial Technicians in Corporate America: 1917-2000", (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2002).
45. JoAnne Yates, Control Through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management (Baltimore, 1989).
46. John Golda, "The Effects of Computer Technology on the Traditional Role of Management", (M.A. thesis, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1965), p. 34.
47. For example, see T. Alexander, "Computers Can't Solve Everything", Fortune (October 1969), p. 169, and Thomas Whisler, "The Impact of Information Technology on Organizational Control", in Charles Myers (ed.), The Impact of Computers on Management (Cambridge, MA, 1967), pp. 16-48, 44.
48. For example, see T. Alexander, "Computers Can't Solve Everything", Fortune (October 1969), p. 169, and Thomas Whisler, "The Impact of Information Technology on Organizational Control", in Charles Myers (ed.), The Impact of Computers on Management (Cambridge, MA, 1967), pp. 16-48, 44.
49. Ibid., p. 44.
50. Harold Leavitt and Thomas Whisler, "Management in the 1980s", Harvard Management Review, 36 (1958), pp. 41-48.
51. Whisler, "The Impact of Information Technology on Organizational Control", p. 44.
52. Ibid., p. 48.
53. Rosemary Stewart, How Computers Affect Management (Cambridge, MA, 1971), p. 196.
54. Alexander, "Computers Can't Solve Everything", p. 169.
55. Avner Porat and James Vaughan, "Computer Personnel: The New Theocracy - or Industrial Carpetbaggers", Personnel Journal, 48 (1968), pp. 540-543.
56. Michael Barnett, Computer Programming in English (New York, 1969), p. 3.
57. Porat and Vaughan, "Computer Personnel: The New Theocracy", p. 542.
58. Golda, "The Effects of Computer Technology", p. 34.
59. Haigh, "Inventing Information Systems".
60. Datamation editorial, "The Thoughtless Information Technologist", Datamation, 12 (1966), pp. 21-22, 21.
61. Barnett, Computer Programming in English, p. 5.
62. For example, see Dallis Perry and William Cannon, "Vocational Interests of Computer Programmers", Journal of Applied Psychology, 51 (1967), pp. 28-34.
63. Gordon, "Review of Charles Lecht", p. 85.
64. Harry Larson, "EDP - A 20-Year Ripoff!", Infosystems, 21 (1974), pp. 26-30, 28.
65. Datamation Editorial, "Trouble [...] I Say Trouble, Trouble in DP City", Datamation, 14 (1968), p. 21, 21.
66. Herz, New Power for Management, p. 169.
67. Robert Boguslaw and Warren Pelton, "Steps: A Management Game for Programming Supervisors", Datamation, 5 (1959), pp. 13-16.
68. W.R. Walker, "MIS Mysticism (Letter to Editor)", Business Automation, 16 (1969), p. 8.
69. Herz, New Power for Management, p. 169.
70. H.L. Morgan and J.V. Soden, "Understanding MIS Failures", Data Base, (Winter 1973), pp. 157-171, 159.
71. Herb Grosch, "Programmers: The Industry's Cosa Nostra", Datamation, 12 (1966), p. 202.
72. McKinsey & Company, "Unlocking the Computer's Profit Potential", p. 33.
73. J.L. Ogdin, "The Mongolian Hordes versus Superprogrammer", Infosystems, 20 (1973), pp. 20-13, 20.
74. Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York, 1996), p. 201.
75. Barry Boehm, "Software and its Impact: A Quantitative Assessment", Datamation, 19 (1973), pp. 48-59. See also Michael Mahoney, "Software: the Self-Programming Machine", in Atsushi Akera and Fred Nebeker (eds), From 0 to 1: An Authoritative History of Modern Computing (New York, 2001).
76. Barry Boehm, "Software and its Impact: A Quantitative Assessment", Datamation, 19 (1973), pp. 48-59. See also Michael Mahoney, "Software: the Self-Programming Machine", in Atsushi Akera and Fred Nebeker (eds), From 0 to 1: An Authoritative History of Modern Computing (New York, 2001).
77. Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (New York, 1973).
78. Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (New York, 1988).
79. Philip Kraft, Programmers and Managers: The Routinization of Computer Programming in the United States (New York, 1977), p. 32.
80. Joan Greenbaum, In the Name of Efficiency: Management Theory and Shopfloor Practice in Data-Processing Work (Philadelphia, PA, 1979).
81. Kraft, Programmers and Managers, p. 26.
82. Sharon Strom, Beyond the Typewriter: Gender, Class and the Origins of Modern American Office Work, 1900-1930 (Urbana, IL, 1992); Margery Davies, Woman's Place is at the Typewriter: Office Work and Office Workers, 1870-1930 (Philadelphia, PA, 1982).
83. Sharon Strom, Beyond the Typewriter: Gender, Class and the Origins of Modern American Office Work, 1900-1930 (Urbana, IL, 1992); Margery Davies, Woman's Place is at the Typewriter: Office Work and Office Workers, 1870-1930 (Philadelphia, PA, 1982).
84. Enid Mumford, Job Satisfaction: A Study of Computer Specialists (London, 1972).
85. Harold Wilensky, "The Professionalization of Everyone?", American Journal of Sociology, 70 (1964), pp. 137-158.
86. Ensmenger, "The 'Question of Professionalism'".
87. Magali Sarfatti Larson, The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis (Berkeley, CA, 1977).
88. Robert Zussman, Mechanics of the Middle Class: Work and Politics Among American Engineers (Berkeley, CA, 1985).
89. Personnel Journal Editorial, "Professionalism Termed Key to Computer Personnel Situation", Personnel Journal, 51 (February 1971), pp. 156-157.
90. Nathan Ensmenger, "From 'Black Art' to Industrial Disciple: The Software Crisis and the Management of Programmers", (unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2001).
91. Andrew Abbott, The Systems of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor (Chicago, IL, 1988).
92. Ensmenger, "The 'Question of Professionalism'".
93. Stephen Barley, "Technicians in the Workplace: Ethnographic Evidence for Bringing Work Into Organization Studies", Administrative Science Quarterly, 41 (1996), pp. 404-441.
94. Ibid., p. 412.
95. Stacia Zabusky and Stephen Barley, "Redefining Success: Ethnographic Observations on the Careers of Technicians", in Paul Osterman (ed.), Broken Ladders: White Collar Careers (Oxford, 1996), pp. 185-214.
96. Barley, "Technicians in the Workplace", p. 422.
97. Ibid., p. 430.
98. Ibid., p. 427.
99. William Goodman, "The Software and Engineering Industries: Threatened by Technological Change?", unpublished technical report (1996).
100. Peter Freeman and William Aspray, The Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United States (Washington DC, 1999).
101. From the 1960s onward, movements to unionize computer programmers emerge periodically, but none acquired any significant momentum. Like many aspiring professionals, programmers generally resisted unionization efforts, and the constantly expanding demand for new programmers discouraged any attempts to erect barriers of entry to the occupation.
102. W. Gibbs, "Software's Chronic Crisis", Scientific American, (September 1994), p. 86.