THE EFFECTS OF

USING ICT
Chapter Five

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Objectives
■ In this chapter you will learn about
– The effects of ICT on employment

– The effects of ICT on working patterns

– Microprocessor-controlled devices in the home

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■ The four main areas where ICT has had an effect on employment include:
– Manufacturing  using robots to do a repetitive tasks have replaced human workers in
many areas such as manufacturing cars.
■ Robots can carry out some repetitive tasks in manufacturing cars such as:
– Spraying the bodies with paint using a spray gun.
– Assembling all the body parts using a welding gun.
– Assembling the engine and transmission
– Fitting the windscreen using vacuum or suction cups.

– Shop work  online shopping has reduced the need for physical shops and loss of staff.

– Banking  using ATMs and online banking.

– Office work  spreadsheets, word processors and databases have taken over many of the
tasks carried out by office staff.

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The effects on ICT on employment
■ Factory workers have had to retrain to gain the following new skills:
– Maintenance of the robots
– Quality control
– Design and development
– Marketing
– Training other workers
Advantages of robots over humans Disadvantages of robot over humans
• Higher productivity. • Robots are expensive to purchase and set up in the
first time.
• More consistent results. • They often need to be reprogrammed for every
new task they have to carry out, which can be
• They work non-stop without breaks, expensive and time-consuming.
holidays or time for shift handovers.
• They don’t get bored by repetitive tasks. • If an error occurs in the robot’s programming, or
if it develops a mechanical problem, a number of
• They don’t go on strike. production errors will occur.
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The effects of ICT on employment
■ Negative effects
– Office work
■ Work could be done by fewer
staff.
■ Work could be done in a much
shorter time scale
■ Positive effects
– Need for better-trained people.
– Need for trainers and the creation of
new ICT-related work.
– Large increase in job opportunities
in some areas such as:
■ Network managers and computer
technicians
■ Website designers
■ System analysts
■ Programmers
■ Computer engineers
■ Computer programmers
■ Delivery drivers to deliver goods to
customers
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Three types of software have had the
most impact on offices:
Word •
•
Modify and update documents.
Documents can be stored on HDD or on SSD devices.

Processing •
•
Documents only need to be printed out when required.
Documents can easily be transferred anywhere.

• No need to do the calculations manually.

Spreadsheet • Reduces the time taken to do calculations.

• Software can be set up to do the calculations on a particular
day automatically.

Database • Staff records can now easily be centralized

• Data can be transferred between sites electronically

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The effects of ICT on working patterns

■ The four main additional

types of work pattern are 

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The effects of ICT on working patterns
■ What are the main reasons for having these different work patterns?
– Leads to more contented staff, since they can work hours that suit them
– Allow them to avoid rush-hour commuting in the morning and evening
– Leads to more highly motivated staff.
■ Advantages of the work patterns as:
– A contented workforce is more likely to stay in the job, thus reducing the
company’s recruitment and training costs for new staff.
– Flexi-time allows them to remain open for longer hours.
– Job sharing ensures the company has more than one person with a particular skill
set.
– Compressed hours often lead staff to be more focused on their work.
– Varied work patterns give more flexibility during busy times and during staff
sickness.
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