The ‘transfer of skill’ and the ‘transfer of human relations’ to machine systems

Abstract

The necessity and opportunity for face-to-face contact with other colleagues is being increasingly reduced as a result of factory automation (FA) or office automation (OA). This means that human functions which are a result of human contact and relationships are substituted for by the function of machine systems. This “transfer of relations” from the human “system” to the machine system causes isolation of the individual in the process of work. This chapter considers some reasons for “isolation” with particular reference to the computerisation of production systems. The paper addresses the serious consequences for the environmental situation in Japan and the fabric of Japanese society.