ComputerAided_Design_Engineering_amp_Manufactur.pdf

informal training; formal training may be conducted either internally or externally (using a vendor or
an outside consultant to conduct the training). The advantages and disadvantages of both internally and
externally conducted training programs in technology implementation are well documented in the
literature. 5,17,22,27,32,33
However, it is the issue of formal vs. informal training in CAD environments that
is the primary interest of the remainder of this chapter.
Finally, training issues must be balanced with the enhancement of the value added by design work. In
an attempt to cut labor costs associated with using CAD, managers have tried to use less skilled workers
to operate the new technology after its installation. With CAD, computer operators have been extensively
substituted in the place of professional designers and draftsmen. 27,33,39 It has been suggested that the
introduction of CAD systems causes a certain degree of de-skilling. The de-skilling process “results in
the reduction of skills requirements by those using the new technology. In PCB design, a de-skilling
process would involve a relative shift in work content, expanding routine tasks….” 39 Thus, this strategy
attempts to achieve cost savings through CAD by allowing the firm to hire cheaper labor to operate the
system. A similar strategy has been proposed by proponents of office automation for increasing the
productivity in the office setting while decreasing the salaries of white collar workers. 24,40
This de-skilling process has not, however, been successful in all applications within the CAD industry.
A study of the West German mechanical engineering CAD industry examined firms that attempted to
train a group of workers with no previous design experience to run the CAD system. 31 The study
concluded that the firm’s attempts to bypass the requisite design training and, instead, to emphasize
computer literacy limited the success of the de-skilling process to only clerical tasks. Salzman39
provides
two examples of unsuccessful de-skilling attempts in which companies, one in the aerospace industry
and the other in the electronics division of a large firm, attempted to assimilate workers trained only as
computer operators into the CAD group. The study concluded that, in both cases, the attempts failed
because the workers lacked the background knowledge to perform design work successfully. CAD, like
many new technologies, is more than the automation of routine tasks; it requires the operator to possess
a deep and thorough understanding for the design process to be successful. Attempts at de-skilling in
several industries have produced equivocal results with some arguing that rather than enhancing the jobs
of less skilled workers, de-skilling has actually degraded them. 4,8,9,44,46
The literature states that, for many firms, the gains from implementation of systems such as CAD
frequently come not only from savings in labor costs, but also from improvements in quality and speed
of the design process. 29 In the competitive arenas of the electronics and telecommunications industries,
cost, quality, and speed are no longer strategic tradeoffs in design work. Instead, a design group must
be competitive in all three dimensions. If de-skilling through CAD is to be successful, it must simultaneously
improve design performance in all three of these dimensions.
Organization Structure and Technology
Organizational issues constitute the third critical factor, after person and task, in the selection of a training
program. 21 The organizational structure, whether organic or mechanistic, can help determine the CAD
training strategy. 25,41 Burns and Stalker12
discuss the importance of organizational structure to successful
business ventures, showing that organic firms are more successful in innovative environments than
mechanistic organizations. Organic firms are characterized by worker autonomy, a team orientation, a
professional community, and decentralized decision making. Relationships between managers and workers
tend to be less formal. 12,15,28 Davis and Wilkof 17 define an organic system as a professional organization
which is bound together through formal and informal norms derived from a commonality of interest.
It is this common interest that keeps the organization together. The rules tend to be less rigid, and the
manager’s spans of control are smaller. In organic environments, task accomplishment and innovation
are moved to the most knowledgeable parties. 12
Mechanistic structures, in contrast, are more formal and structured. They are characterized by less
worker autonomy, centralized decision making, and more authoritative and hierarchical relationships
between manager and worker. 12