Complete Answer Guide for Performance Management 3rd Edition Aguinis Solutions Manual

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Chapter 6—Gathering Performance Information
Learning Objectives
6.1 Understand why each of several basic components is included in the appraisal form.
6.2 Design effective appraisal forms.
6.3 Compute an overall employee performance score based on information found on the
appraisal form.
6.4 Select an appropriate time period to document performance as part of a performance
review.
6.5 Determine how many formal meetings are needed between the subordinate and the
supervisor to discuss performance issues.
6.6 Understand advantages and disadvantages of using supervisors, peers, subordinates, self,
and customers as sources of performance information.
6.7 Know how to deal with potential disagreements involved with different sources
evaluating the performance of the same employee.
6.8 Understand the psychological mechanisms leading to the inflation and deflation of
performance ratings.
6.9 Understand that the implementation of training programs can address intentional and
unintentional rating distortion.

Chapter Outline
Gathering Performance Information
Overview
1. Appraisal Forms
2. Characteristics of Appraisal Forms
3. Determining Overall Rating
4. Appraisal Period and Number of Meetings
5. Who Should Provide Performance Information
6. A Model of Rater Motivation
7. Preventing Rating Distortion Through Rater Training Programs
1. Appraisal Forms
• Major Components of Appraisal Forms (1)
o Basic employee information
o Accountabilities, objectives, and standards
o Competencies and indicators
o Major achievements and contributions
o Stakeholder input
o Employee comments
o Signatures
• Major Components of Appraisal Forms (2)
(These could be included in a separate form)
o Developmental achievements
o Developmental
• Needs
• Plans
• Goals
 Why do some companies such as Sun Microsystems separate these components into two
separate forms?
 Consider the forms in Figures 6.1 and 6.2. How complete are they? What components
might be missing?
2. Characteristics of Appraisal Forms
• Desirable Features of All Appraisal Forms
o Simplicity
o Relevancy

o Descriptiveness
o Adaptability
o Comprehensiveness
o Definitional clarity
o Communication
o Time orientation
 Consider the forms in Figures 6.1 and 6.2. How do they measure up?
3. Determining Overall Rating
• Judgmental strategy
o Consider every aspect of performance
o Arrive at defensible summary
• Mechanical strategy
o Consider scores assigned to each section
o Add weighted scores to obtain overall score
 Consider the form in Figure 6.3. Which kind of rating strategy would an employee prefer?
Why? Which would the supervisor prefer? Why?
• Comments section
o Challenges
• Difficult to systematically categorize and analyze
• Quality, length, and content vary
o Tools to overcome challenges
• Computer-aided text analysis (CATA) software
• Establish goals of the information provided
• Training in systematic and standardized rating skills
4. Appraisal Period and Number of Meetings
• Appraisal period
o Meetings
▪ Annual
• May not provide sufficient opportunity for supervisor/employee discussion
▪ Semi-annual
 What is the benefit to Hamilton Standard Commercial Aircraft in performing semi-annual
reviews?
▪ Quarterly
 Why does Synygy, Inc. perform quarterly reviews?
• Review to be completed
o Anniversary date

▪ The supervisor does not have to fill out forms at the same time
▪ Cannot tie rewards to fiscal year
o Fiscal year
▪ Rewards tied to fiscal year
▪ Goals tied to corporate goals
▪ May be a burden to the supervisor, depending on the implementation
• Six Types of Formal Meetings (can be combined)
o System inauguration
o Self-appraisal
o Classical performance review
o Merit/salary review
o Development plan
o Objective setting
 How does Johnsonville Foods handle these meetings?
 How might a Web-based system such as the one at Central Florida Healthcare Federal
Credit Union be used to enhance the usefulness of these meetings?
5. Who Should Provide Performance Information?
Employees should be involved in selecting
• Which sources evaluate
• Which performance dimensions
When employees are actively involved
• Higher acceptance of results
• Perception that the system is fair
Firsthand knowledge of employee performance
• Supervisors
• Peers
• Subordinates
• Self
• Customers
o Supervisors
• Advantages
▪ Best position to evaluate performance vs. strategic goals
▪ Make decisions about rewards
▪ Able to differentiate among performance dimensions
▪ Viewed as the exclusive source in some cultural contexts

• Disadvantages
▪ Supervisor may not be able to directly observe performance
▪ Evaluations may be biased
o Peers
• Advantages
▪ Assess teamwork
• Disadvantages
▪ Possible friendship bias
▪ May be less discriminating
▪ Context effects
o Subordinates
• Advantages
▪ Accurate when used for developmental purposes
▪ Good position to assess some competencies
• Disadvantages
▪ Inflated when used for administrative purposes
▪ May fear retaliation (confidentiality is key)
 How is “Tell Dell” used to improve the computer giant?
o Self
• Advantages
▪ Increased acceptance of decisions
▪ Decreased defensiveness during an appraisal interview
▪ Good position to track activities during review period
• Disadvantages
▪ May be more lenient and biased
• Suggestions to improve the quality of self-appraisals
▪ Use comparative as opposed to absolute measurement systems
▪ Allow employees to practice their self-rating skills
▪ Assure confidentiality
o Emphasize the futureCustomers (external and internal)
• Advantages
▪ Employees become more focused on meeting customer expectations
• Disadvantages
▪ Time
▪ Money
 What advantages could override the disadvantages of using customer evaluations?

Disagreement Across Sources
• Expect disagreements
• Ensure employee receives feedback by the sources
• Assign differential weights to scores by source, depending on importance
• Ensure that employees take active roles in selecting which sources will rate which
dimensions
6. A Model of Rater Motivation (see the textbook for model)
• Types of Rating Errors
o Intentional errors
• Rating inflation
• Rating deflation
o Unintentional errors
• Due to complexity of tasks
• Motivations for Rating Inflation
o Maximize merit raise/rewards
o Encourage employees
o Avoid creating written records
o Avoid confrontation with employees
o Promote undesired employees out of the unit
o Make the manager look good to his/her supervisor
• Motivations for Rating Deflation
o Shock employees
o Teach a rebellious employee a lesson
o Send a message to employee that he/she should consider leaving
o Build a strongly documented and written record of poor performance
• Recommendations for reducing intentional rating distortion
o Have raters justify their ratings
o Have raters justify their ratings in a face-to-face meeting
7. Preventing Rating Distortion Through Rater Training Programs
Rater training programs should cover:
• Information—how the system works
o Reasons for implementing the performance management system
o Information on the appraisal form and system mechanics
• Motivation—what’s in it for me?
o Benefits of providing accurate ratings
o Tools for providing accurate ratings

• Identifying, observing, recording, and evaluating performance
o How to identify and rank job activities
o How to observe, record, and measure performance
o How to minimize rating errors
• How to interact with employees when they receive performance information
o How to conduct an appraisal interview
o How to train, counsel, and coach
What aspects of a good rater training program are covered in the City of Aurora, CO training
program? How could the program be improved?
Gathering Performance Information: Summary
• Appraisal Forms
• Characteristics of Appraisal Forms
• Determining Overall Rating
• Appraisal Period and Number of Meetings
• Who Should Provide Performance Information?
• A Model of Rater Motivation
• Preventing Rating Distortion Through Rater Training Programs
Review Learning Objectives
Worked Solutions for End-of-Chapter Cases
Case Study 6.1: Evaluating an Appraisal Form Used in Higher Education
Major Components of Appraisal
Forms Comments
X
Basic Employee Information
No changes are needed because more than a
sufficient amount of information is included.
Accountabilities, Objectives,
and Standards
These need to be linked to the department and
organizational mission. If they do not do this, the
employees may not realize how their contribution
fits into the organization as a whole. To
accomplish this linkage, the form should at least
provide a brief outline of the goals of the
organization or department.
X
Competencies and Indicators
No changes are needed. There are ten essential
core competencies (each includes specific
descriptions) and room for additional essential
competencies are provided for rating. Further, set
indicators are provided along with clear guidelines
that guide the evaluator in making evaluations that
are uniform across employees.

Major Components of Appraisal
Forms Comments
Major Achievements and
Contributions
Employees like to be recognized for their hard
work, so having a section that reminds the
manager to focus on the positives would be
helpful. This is included in the evaluation form to
the extent that the employee is evaluated on
whether or not last period’s goals were met. It
would be beneficial to also include an area where
the evaluator could include other major
achievements or contributions other than met
goals.
Developmental Achievements
This section is not present. In the absence of this
section, the negative consequence is that the rated
employees may feel that their efforts to improve
their skills are going unnoticed. This may lead to
reduced motivation.
X
Developmental Needs, Plans,
and Goals Presen`
X
Stakeholder Input
A section for supervisor’s comments is attached.
However, nothing comparable exists in the form
for other stakeholders (e.g., peers, customers).
X
Employee Comments
There is no are available for the employee.
Without this the employee does not have the
opportunity to participate in the evaluation
process, which may cause the employee to
perceive that the evaluation system is not fair,
X Approvals Present and no changes are needed.
(Suggested points: 5, [6.1])
Case Study 6.2: Judgmental and Mechanical Methods of Assigning Overall Performance
Score at The Daily Planet
There are several ways to compute the overall score using the judgmental method based on the
relative importance that raters give to each of the performance dimensions rated. But, assuming a
rater gives the same weight to each of the dimensions, the overall score would be: (2 + 4 + 5 +
2)/4 = 4.25.
Using the assigned weights, the overall performance score is 2(.25) + 4(.40) + 5(.15) + 2(.20) =
3.25. Therefore, using a mechanical method resulted in a score that is 1 point higher than using a
judgmental method. This is a very large difference considering that scores can range from 0 to 5.
As shown by the difference in scores, there is a large difference in the two ratings. This could
have implications for how bonuses are allocated, promotions are rewarded, and goals are set.
Using the judgmental method, the overall score was much lower; this means that the
organization possibly had to pay less bonuses. However, the impact on the individual could be

detrimental to his/her career if that person is being passed over for promotions or is setting goals
that are too easy to achieve. This could affect the supervisor who might begin to set
inappropriate goals for the employee.
Case Study 6.3: Minimizing Intentional and Unintentional Rating Errors
Note: “IE” and “UE” stand for intentional errors and unintentional errors, respectively.
IE UE Content Area Comments
X
Reasons for implementing the
performance management
system. This includes an
overview of the entire system,
its purpose, and benefits for all
employees.
This type of information will help raters realize
that their ratings are taken seriously so that they
should take them seriously. This includes
explaining what the ratings can be used for and
the importance of the accuracy of the ratings.
Thus, it should enhance raters’ motivation to
provide accurate ratings. However, this type of
information would not necessarily diminish
unintentional errors.
X
How to identify and rank job
activities. This includes
information on how to conduct
a job analysis and understand
the most important
accountabilities and
competencies.
This mainly helps prevent unintentional errors.
Raters gain a better understanding of the
important job activities and are therefore more
likely to evaluate behaviors and results
correctly.
X
How to observe, record, and
measure performance. This
may include observational
skills such as how to observe
the behaviors that really matter
and not be distracted by
behaviors unrelated to the
performance dimensions being
measured. It also includes
skills needed to fill out the
appraisal form.
This will help avoid unintentional errors
because it teaches one to record performance—
a habit that can decrease many of the cognitive
processing errors often present.
X X
Information on the appraisal
form and system mechanics.
This includes a detailed
description of the content of
the appraisal form and what
each section is intended to
measure. It also includes
information on a number of
This type of information is likely to decrease
both types of errors. First, intentional errors are
likely to be decreased because the manager will
become more comfortable with the process.
Second, it can also help decrease unintentional
errors because managers will gain a better
understanding of the different levels of
performance.

IE UE Content Area Comments
meetings and the expectations
regarding each participant.
X
How to minimize rating errors.
This includes steps that can be
taken to minimize
unintentional errors due to the
cognitive demands associated
with the observation and
evaluation of performance.
This targets unintentional errors and should
help minimize them.
X X
How to conduct an appraisal
interview. This includes
listening skills, communication
skills, and how to provide
feedback during the appraisal
interview. It also includes
skills on how to help the
employee create a
developmental plan.
This addresses both types of errors. First, it
addresses intentional errors because the
manager has good skills regarding how to
manage the process. Second, it helps managers
verbalize the reasons for the rating they
provided, thereby helping ratings be more
accurate, because it is difficult to justify
inaccurate ratings.
X
How to train, counsel, and
coach. This includes skills that
the supervisor needs to help
employees improve their
performance on an ongoing
basis.
This mainly addresses intentional errors
because it gives managers skills on how to
manage the process well and can decrease the
motivation to introduce politics into the
process.
Case Study 6.4: Minimizing Biases in Performance Evaluation at Expert Engineering, Inc.
1. It is possible that Demetri may intentionally inflate the ratings he gives to his fellow alumni
because he doesn’t want to confront them about areas where performance improvement is
necessary. He may worry that giving an accurate rating could jeopardize his relationship with
the “gang” whom he likes and wishes to continue to be part of. At the same time, he may
unintentionally distort the ratings that he gives to various employees, because he, as a
principal, is responsible for supervision of many engineers. It is very difficult to remember
all of the behavior and results of one’s own performance, let alone such information about
many different people. Observing information about performance, storing this information in
memory, and then recalling it when it’s time to fill out the appraisal form is a complex
cognitive task that could lead to unintentional distortions of ratings.

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2. Different kinds of training could assist Demetri in providing more objective appraisals,
although none of the programs can guarantee perfect results. Appraisals are inherently
subjective. The training program should provide basic information on the appraisal form and
how the system works. In addition, the benefits of accurate appraisals (“what’s in it for me?”)
and tools for providing such ratings should be provided. Demetri will need training in the
following areas:
o How to identify and rank job activities
o How to observe, record, and measure performance
o How to minimize rating errors
Finally, he will need assistance in how to interact with the engineers he supervises,
particularly when they receive performance information. Demetri needs to learn how to
conduct an appraisal interview and how to train, counsel, and coach. Training should help him
provide the supervision and performance appraisal that all of his employees need, including
the members of his alma mater.
Additional Cases and Worked Solutions
Case Study: CRB, Inc.
The following performance appraisal form was adopted by CRB, Inc., a small car restoration
business. It was filled out by Al Brown, the owner of CRB, Inc., because he has been told he
should give all of his employees an appraisal of their performance. This particular form was
given to the foreman, Robert (Bob) Jared, to complete the employee comments; Al then filled in
the supervisor comments sections.
As you review the performance appraisal form, please respond to the following questions:
1. Provide a detailed evaluation of the form. What components are necessary? What is
missing and what should be added? Is anything optional? Provide a brief explanation of
your responses.
(Suggested points: 10, .7[6.1], .3[6.2])
2. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of having the supervisor and the subordinate
complete this form.
3. Based on the information provided, what is an appropriate overall success rating for this
employee? Why?
4. How often should this form be completed and why?

Performance Appraisal Form1
Employee Name: Position/Title: Department: Date:
Robert Jared Foreman Paint and Auto body 6/30/12
Performance Attribute
Supervisor
Comments
Score Employee
Comments
Score
Knowledge/Know-how:
Demonstrated knowledge or
technical skills required by
position. These may include
command of professional body of
knowledge; knowledge of
organizational structure, mission,
or goals.
Strong knowledge and
technical skill.
Instinctive knowledge
of how the company can
move forward in the
industry.
3
I’ve got 25 years
experience in paint
and body shop work.
I held this company
together over the past
year.
4
Communication Skills:
Demonstrated written, listening,
and interpersonal skills. These
may include diplomacy, conflict
resolution, or presentation skills.
Good verbal skills most
of the time. Occasional
difficulty in controlling
anger has exacerbated
existing problems.
Doesn’t always do
paperwork needed in
job.
1
Good enough for this
job. Frustrations
aren’t my fault. I do
my best.
2
Work Results:
Work is thorough, accurate,
completed on time and as
planned, and is considered a
quality job.
Excellent
4
Of course.
4
Work Style:
Demonstrated good work habits.
These may include being
dependable, consistent,
independent and self-starting, and
exhibiting flexible work behavior. Excellent
4
I’m always here
before my boss and
open to whatever he
suggests. I work
weekends and do
work for free. This
entire place is a lot
cleaner and more
organized since I got
here.
4
Service Orientation:
Demonstrated courteous,
responsive, respectful behavior
toward customers, staff, and
In general, Bob does a
good job managing
relationships with
customers and staff. As
1.5 I do the best I can in
difficult
circumstances.
3
1
Adapted from an appraisal form developed by Boston College, found at
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/hvp/c/apprais.html Accessed May 4, 2005.

Employee Name: Position/Title: Department: Date:
Robert Jared Foreman Paint and Auto body 6/30/12
Performance Attribute
Supervisor
Comments
Score Employee
Comments
Score
others. noted above, he needs
help managing anger
issues.
Additional Performance
Attributes:
Supervision
Contribution to overall
motivation and
performance of staff is
very good.
3
I’ve trained Dave and
brought the mechanic
and engine repair
shop into being on
my own time.
4
Overall Success Rating
Very good
2.5
Top notch
5
This performance appraisal is meant to summarize and evaluate an individual’s overall
performance for the year. Five generic performance attributes and definitions are provided for all
employees. These attributes address an individual’s knowledge, competence, and skills as
applied to one’s work. Performance attributes may be added as needed in order to customize the
form to the individual’s position. Both the supervisor and the employee should provide an
overall performance success rating using the scale below.
4—Performance far exceeds position requirements and indicates job mastery
3—Performance consistently exceeds position requirements
2—Performance meets position requirements
1—Performance does not meet position requirements
Did the employee have a work plan? Yes N
No
o
Did this employee show progress on a work plan? Yes No
Did the employee have a developmental plan? Yes N
No
o
Did this employee show progress on a developmental plan? Yes No
Supervisor Comments: (Describe the employee’s total performance for the year and substantiate
the overall success rating.)
Bob has really helped the shop get into a competitive stance. Both his own performance and his supervision have
helped us get cars out on schedule and keep good employees. He works hard while he’s here and he encourages
the rest of the staff to put in a good day’s work for a good day’s pay. He volunteers his own time and ideas to
enhance the shop. He suggested working with a radio station to refinish a car that they could give away in
exchange for providing advertising for the shop. His enthusiasm led the employees to volunteer their time on the

project. Everything is more organized since he got here. On the other hand, he really does need to learn how
to manage his anger. It doesn’t happen very often (maybe four times all year), but it’s frightening to watch
him lose his temper. So far there has been no violence (which would be a firing offense), but I can understand
why one customer brought in a police officer when he came back to pay his bill after Bob got angry when the
customer called him a liar. Bob’s loud angry verbal response was totally inappropriate for a business setting.
Paperwork is another area of weakness: Bob does as little as he can get away with, which leads to poor
documentation in the customer files and problems with employee pay sheets. He complained to one owner about how
the other owner didn’t purchase parts on time. That owner asked in writing for a list of parts needed to monitor
their purchase and the list still has not appeared.
Supervisor’s Signature: Alfred E. Brown Date:June 28, 2012
Employee Comments: (Describe your total performance and the two-way communication with
your supervisor throughout the year.)
I never had a work plan and don’t know what a developmental plan is. Al hired me to get this
shop back on its feet and I’ve done that. For the first time, he’s taking money home and he
has me to thank for that. Sure, I get frustrated—who wouldn’t with customers who want us to
work for free and whine that the former owner promised them this and that. Of course, he
never did anything and now we’re stuck with his broken promises and no paperwork. I do my
best with the paperwork but I get busy on the jobs. You’ve got to decide whether you want paper
or cars to go out. Al and I talk every day—I give him notes about the parts I need. Then Mary
says she wants a list … tell her to ask Al! I don’t have time to please a boss who’s never in the
shop. I’ve got too much going on with doing free and redo work and helping our employees be
great employees. It’s nice to work here most of the time. I’ve always liked working on old cars
and we do great work. The money is starting to be ok and we’re getting better equipment. We
ought to get this place really turned around this next year.
Employee’s Signature: Bob Jared Date: June 28, 2012
Answers:
1. Most forms include a combination of the following: (a) basic employee information, (b)
accountabilities, objectives, and standards, (c) competencies and indicators, (d) major
achievements and contributions, (e) developmental achievements, (f) developmental
needs, plans, and goals, (g) stakeholder input, (h) employee comments, and (i) signatures.
Note, however, that one size does not fit all, and different components are appropriate
based on the purposes of the appraisal.
This appraisal is described in the case study as perhaps the first formal appraisal that Al
Brown has done with his employees. It may be a fiscal year end appraisal or a six month

appraisal. Although the employee’s name, position, and department are provided, there is
no further basic employee information. Some performance attributes appear to relate to
competencies (knowledge, communication skills); some appear to be performance
standards (results, style, service orientation). The supervisor and employee comments
highlight several major achievements and contributions. The supervisor notes some
developmental needs (anger management; more consistent paperwork completion) but
there is no plan or goal to deal with these needs. There is no stakeholder input. There are
employee comments and signatures.
2. The supervisor is usually in the best position to evaluate performance in light of the
organizational goals. As the owner, Al is certainly responsible for making decisions about
any rewards associated with performance evaluation. A disadvantage is that evaluations
can be biased; some supervisors may not be able to directly observe performance.
When the employee completes the form, advantages can include increased acceptance of
decisions and decreased defensiveness during the appraisal interview. The employee is in
a very good position to track his own activities during the review period. Disadvantages
may include rating distortions such as leniency with regard to his own behaviors as well
as other intentional and unintentional biases.
3. Al and Bob agree that Bob provides strong value to the company, although Al is aware
that Bob has, on occasion, jeopardized the company with his inability to control his
anger. Bob believes that he consistently exceeds the position requirements and some of
the descriptions of his performance indicate that he has been a very valuable asset to the
company. Al notes some weaknesses that indicate “consistency” is missing; in fact,
occasional performance does not meet minimum requirements. Al’s overall rating of 2.5
may be the most objective rating.
4. At a minimum, a formal appraisal should be conducted annually. However, it would be
better to conduct formal appraisals at least semi-annually, and quarterly would be the
best. This is a busy shop, and both Al and Bob are working as supervisors with many
other duties besides supervision. They cannot count on providing equally complete and
balanced feedback to each employee on an ongoing basis. Therefore, regular formal
meetings conducted with advance thought and preparation have a much better chance of
helping each employee do his best to help the company meet its goals.
Case Study: Our Civil Service
At the State Employment Service, a number of employment counselors were hired together
during a special recruiting effort 12 years ago in 2000. They formed a cohort, went through
training together, and received graduate hours in vocational counseling together.
About a year ago, Jane Midland, the first member of the cohort to get promoted, tested into a
supervisory position at one of the Job Service Centers. Two of the eleven employees who report
to her are members of the 2000 cohort. Barb Rick and George Malloy deeply respect her abilities
and have a strong affection for her. In fact, Barb Rick has spent time at Jane’s home watching

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content

stale and sterile tune.” The battle rages, but the outcome seems to
be a foregone conclusion. Either the computer will sway Madison
Avenue from Viennese fatuities, or it will learn about sex.

Industry
We have discussed the computer in business; perhaps it would be
well to stress that this includes industry as well. The computer not
only functions in the bank and brokerage house, insurance office,
and supermart, but also is found increasingly in jobs with oil
refineries, chemical plants, surveying teams, knitting mills (a likely
application when we remember Jacquard), and steel mills. As
automation takes over factories, it brings the computer with it to
plan and operate the new production methods. Transportation too is
making good use of the computer. Freight-handling in the United
States, Canada, England, and the U.S.S.R. is using machine
techniques.
Our high-speed airplanes are already more aimed than flown, and
less and less seen and seen from. Mach-3 aircraft are on the drawing
boards now, aircraft that will fly at three times the speed of sound or
about 2,000 miles per hour. An airliner taking off from London must
already be cleared to land in New York. So authorities on both sides
of the ocean are concerned. In England, giant computers like the
Ferranti Apollo and others are on order. There is talk in that country
too of integrating military and commercial aviation into one traffic
control system. In the next ten years the sky population may double
again, in addition to flying faster, further crowding the airlanes and
particularly the space adjacent to airports. The only solution to this
aerial traffic jam lies in the electronic computer.
Not as spectacular as air traffic control, but important nonetheless,
is the job of planning the route an airliner will fly. United Air Lines
uses a Bendix G-15 to select flight plans for its big DC-8’s. In a
manner similar to the NANWEP course-planning described for
surface vessels, the computer examines a number of possible routes
for the big transports, considering distance flown, wind,
temperature, weight and fuel requirements, and time schedules.

This flight-planning was originally done by manual computation
and required an hour to work out details for only one possible flight
plan. The computer method was demanded because of the
increased speed of the big jets and their sensitivities to weather
conditions en route. The computer examines a number of tentative
plans in minutes and selects the one which will make the optimum
use of winds aloft, temperatures, weather, and so on. If weather
changes en route require it, the pilot can call the planning center no
matter where he is and request that the computer work out a new
flight plan.
Once the optimum flight plan has been figured, an electronic
computer in the aircraft itself may one day assure that the desired
flight path is actually flown. The ASN-24 computer, developed by
Librascope, Incorporated, and the Air Force, weighs only thirty-one
pounds, yet performs more than 20 million computation steps in a
six-hour flight. The electronic navigator, with information from
Doppler equipment and other navigation aids, evaluates which is the
best “fix,” weighing for example the relative accuracies of a Loran fix
and a dead-reckoning fix. The computer even shoots celestial fixes
and plots the results! Obviously faster than its human monitor, the
electronic navigation computer solves navigation problems with an
error as small as one part in 32 million.
A broader use of the computer in aircraft is proposed by the
Convair Division of General Dynamics. Because today’s airplane is far
more complicated than those ten years ago, and those ten years
hence will extend this trend, the firm feels that checkout of the
aircraft will require electronic computers. While adding about 3 per
cent to the total cost of the plane, such equipment could perform a
variety of functions including maintenance analysis and would add
an hour a day to the profit-making flight time.
There would be no profit for the airlines with the best flight
planning and in-flight control in the world if there were no
passengers aboard; the “traffic problem” extends from the sky to the
ticket counter. For this reason most airlines have already recruited

the computer for another important job—that of ticket reservation
clerk. An example, recently installed by United Airlines, is the
“Instamatic,” a giant, far-flung system weighing 150 tons and
requiring 12,000 miles of circuits. Instamatic cost $16 million and
can handle 540,000 reservations in a single day. So complex is the
computer system that it requires 40,000 printed-circuit boards,
500,000 transistors, and 2,000,000 ferrite memory cores. But it gets
the job done, and any one of 3,000 agents all over the country can
confirm space on any flight, anytime, within seconds!
There are other systems used by competing lines, systems called
Sabre, Teleflite, and so on. But Remington Rand UNIVAC has
proposed an over-all system that will make any of them look like a
child’s do-it-yourself walkie-talkie. The UNIVAC plan is for a single
interline reservation system, used by all twenty-four domestic
airlines. Called AID, for Airline Interline Development, the new
scheme would cost the airlines only 12 cents per message, and
could be tied in with foreign carriers for international bookings.

Remington Rand UNIVAC
Console for airlines reservation system permits pushbutton booking of space.
Present methods of reservations among airlines require from less
than a minute for easy bookings to several hours for the tough ones.
The AID system uses a dial phone, with direct lines to a central
computer in Chicago. The response to the dialed request is an

immediate voice answer. If space is available, the computer also
stores all the needed information for the reservation and transmits a
teletype message to the boarding point of the proper airline.
To go back another step, the aircraft on which the computer
confirms seat space was most likely built with the help of another
computer. A typical production system is that used by Lockheed in its
Marietta, Georgia, plant. There an IBM 305 RAMAC computer keeps
track of 45,000 parts orders continuously. The result is better and
faster operation, and a saving to Lockheed of $3,500 a month. In
California, Lockheed is using a computerized data acquisition system
called EDGE, for Electronic Data Gathering Equipment, that feeds
production information directly into a computer memory for analysis
and action orders. Remote reporting stations can be operated by
production-line workers and will relay production data to the central
computer. Although the Lockheed EDGE system will cost more than
$600,000 a year, officials feel that it will save the company three
times that at the outset, and perhaps more when wider use is made
of its potential. An interesting feature is the tying together of
Lockheed’s widely separated plants at Sunnyvale, Palmdale, and Van
Nuys, California.
North American Aviation links its complex of plants in the Los
Angeles area by microwave, even bouncing beams of data from
reflectors atop Oat Mountain where there is no direct line-of-sight
path between the different locations. Douglas Aircraft maintains a
data link between California and Charlotte, North Carolina, to permit
use of computers over a distance of 2,400 miles.
The airlines are also using computer inventory systems to control
their stock of spare parts. Material costs represent 60 per cent of
airline revenue and are rising; some larger carriers have investments
of as much as $75 million in spare parts. It takes the computer to
control the flow of repairable parts through the shop efficiently,
schedule the removal of those requiring periodic checks, spot high-
use items, and so on.

As an example of the complexity a large airline faces in its
maintenance, TWA stocks 8,000 different replaceable items. When
such parts are needed, they must be on hand where they are
needed, but overstocking can lead to financial ruin. To match
increasing competition, airlines find it necessary to resort to the laws
of probability and other sophisticated statistical techniques in
stocking parts. Fed such equations, the computer can match ten to
twelve man-years of work in three hours, and mean the difference
between an oversupply of parts in New York with outages in Los
Angeles, and properly balanced stocks.
The ramifications of the computer in the airplane industry are far-
reaching. For example, Boeing has recorded the lessons it learned
on its Bomarc missile program in computers so that it can retain and
apply them on its Minuteman and Dyna-Soar programs. The
computer will thus keep track of men and their projects and warn
them of previous mistakes. Modern management techniques such as
PERT and PEP, favored by the government, make good use of the
computer.
The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation is primarily a builder of planes
and space vehicles, but it has found itself in the computer business
too as a data-processing center. Installing computers for its own
engineering and business uses, McDonnell soon began selling
computer time in off hours to banks and other businesses. It now
has a computer valuation of about $10 million and operates around
the clock.

The Designing Computer
It seems strange that the computer was a bookkeeper and clerk
for years before anyone seriously considered that it might be an
engineer as well, yet the men who themselves designed the
computer were loath to use it in their other work. Part of this
resistance stems from the high premium placed on the creativity of
research and design work. The engineer uses science in his work, to
be sure, but he professes to use it as an artist, or with the personal
touch of, say, a brewmaster. There is another possible reason for the
lag in computer use by the men who should appreciate its ability the
most. In the early days of the computer, it clacked away all week
figuring payrolls, and perhaps writing checks. That’s what it was
ordered for, and that’s where the money was—in the businessman’s
application of the computer.
To be sure, the military was using the computer for other
purposes, but the average scientist or engineer not employed by
Uncle Sam had access to an electronic computer only on Sunday, if
at all, when the big machine had done its primary work and could
take a breathing spell. To further compound excuses for the foot-
dragging engineer, there was a difference in needs in payroll
computation and scientific mathematical calculation. Commercial
computers are designed for a high rate of input and output, with a
relatively slow arithmetic going on inside. The engineer, on the other
hand, might need only several minutes of computer time, but it
could take him a couple of days to put the problem into a form the
machine could digest.
Slowly, however, enough engineers fought the battle of translation
and forewent Sunday pursuits like church, picnics, and golf to learn
haltingly how to use the electronic monster. It took courage, in
addition to sacrifice, because the computer was pooh-poohed by
some sharp scientific brains as an idiot savant at best. Behind the

inertia there could have been a touch of concern too—concern that
the machine just might not be as stupid as everybody kept saying it
was.
Heavy industry made use of the machines. The steel plants,
petroleum and chemical plants, and even the designers of highways
were among the early users of computer techniques. There was of
course good reason for this phenomenon. Faced with problems
involving many variables and requiring statistical and probabilistic
approaches, these people could make the best use of machines
designed for repetitive computations. The refiner with a new plant in
mind could simulate it in the computer and get an idea of how, or if,
it would work before building his pilot plant. Today the notion of
dispensing with even the pilot plant is getting serious consideration.
One program used by a gasoline producer analyzed thirty-seven
variables and thirty-seven restrictions, a matrix that could never be
evaluated by ordinary methods. Textile fiber research is another
example, with thread tests run on dozens of samples and averaged
statistically for valid conclusions. B. F. Goodrich put the computer to
work in its laboratories at such tasks as multiple-regression studies
of past production of processes like polymerization and the running
of a batch of new material on the computer.
These applications were accomplishing a two-fold benefit. First,
years were being telescoped into weeks or even days; second,
complete investigation rather than sketchy sampling was possible.
Optimum solutions took the place of the guesswork once necessary
because of the lack of sufficient brainpower to run down all the
possibilities. Still there were scientists and designers in other fields
who shook their heads loftily and said, “Not for me, thanks.” The
computer was but a diligent clerk, they held, relieving the engineer
of some onerous chores. It could do nothing really creative; that
must be left to man and his brain.
By now many industrial firms had purchased or rented computers
for the technical people so that they would not have to fight for a
place in line at the payroll computer. Civil engineering agencies,

perhaps a hundred strong, used computers to design bridges and
plan and lay out highways. Designers at the Tudor Engineering
Company of San Francisco put its Bendix G-15D to work planning
the highway that Contra Costa County will need in 1980. Almost all
of our fifty states now use computers in their highway departments.
In 1960, Georgia solved more than a thousand highway bridge
design problems in its computers. Besides doing the work faster and
cheaper, the computer produces a safer product. For example, if
substandard materials are programmed in, the computer will print
out a warning or even stop working altogether so that the error can
be corrected.
Steel companies, like Jones & Laughlin, use computers not only to
run production mills, but also as research tools. Three hours of
operation of a new furnace can be simulated in the computer in
thirty seconds. Tracing the steel back to its ore, the computer is
used again. The Bureau of Mines has used the machines for several
years; they are helpful in problems ranging from open-pit operation,
grades of ore, drill-core data logging, reserve calculations, and
process control.

General Electric Co., Computer Dept.
Computer operation of Jones & Laughlin steel mill.
Gradually, then, the resistance was worn down. Grudgingly at first,
and accepting the computer only as an assiduous moron, engineers
in other fields put it to work. Complex machine operations like gear-
shaping were planned and carried out by computers that even
punched out tapes for controlling the production tools. Optics
designers switched from desk calculators to electronic computers.
Mechanical engineers in jobs from ultrasonic vibrators to tractor
design became users of computers. Mass spectrometry, heat-
exchanger design, and waterworks design joined the jobs the
computer could do.
The computer had figured in plotting trajectories for missiles, and
in the production of aircraft; engineers found it could design them

too. Back in 1945, an analysis of twenty-one different flight
conditions at each of twelve stations of an airplane fuselage took 33
days and cost more than $17,000. Today, by using a high-speed
computer instead of a desk calculator, the analysis is completed in a
day and a half, at a cost of $200!
The last of the diehards seemed to be the electronics people
themselves. A survey conducted by a technical journal in the field
showed that in 1960 many designers were not using computers in
their work. Admitting that the computer was a whiz just about
everywhere else, the electronics engineer still could say, “The
machine is great on paperwork, but I do creative work. The
computer can’t help me.” Other reasons were that computers were
expensive, took much time to program, and were helpful only with
major design problems. Fortunately, all designers do not feel that
way, and progress is being made to put the computer to work in the
electronics field. It is helping in the design of components (Bendix
saves ten man-hours in computing a tenth-order polynomial and
associated data) and of networks (Lenkurt Electric saves close to
250 engineering hours a week in filter network design). Bell
Telephone uses the computer approach in circuit analysis, and
Westinghouse in the design of radar circuitry. It is interesting that as
we move up the design scale, closer to what the engineer once
considered the domain of human creativity, the computer still is of
great value. In systems design it is harder at the outset to pin down
the saving in time and the improvement in the system (the latter is
perhaps hard to admit!) but firms using computers report savings in
this field too.
One interesting job given the computer was that of designing the
magnetic ink characters to be used in its own “reading” applications.
This project, conducted by Stanford Research Institute, is typical of
the questions we have begun to ask the computer about its needs
and ways to improve it. A larger scale application of this idea is that
of letting the computer design itself. Bell Telephone Laboratories
developed such a system, called BLADES, for Bell Laboratories

Automatic Design System, to design a computer used in the Nike-
Zeus antimissile defense system.
A wag once noted that the computer would one day give birth to
an electronic baby. His prophecy came true perhaps quicker than he
anticipated, but there is one basic difference in that the progeny is
not necessarily a smaller machine. The giant LARC, for instance, was
designed by lesser computers. As A. M. Turing has pointed out, it is
theoretically possible for a simple computer to produce a more
complex one. This idea is borne out in nature, of course, and man is
somewhat advanced over the amoeba. Thus the implication in the
computer-designed computer is far more than merely the time and
money saved, although this was certainly a considerable amount.
The BLADES system in twenty-five minutes produced information for
building a subassembly, a job that required four weeks of manual
computation.
Notable improvements in the general-purpose computer are doing
much to further its use as a technical tool. Present machines do jobs
as varied as the following: personnel records, inventorying, pattern
determination, missile system checkout, power-plant control, system
simulation, navigation, ballistic trajectory computations, and so on.
Special computers are also provided now for the engineer; and
among these is the Stromberg-Carlson S-C 4020 microfilm recorder.
Engineering specifications are put into the computer and the
machine can then produce on request mechanical drawings as
required by the engineer. Data stored in the memory is displayed on
a Charactron tube. There is little resistance to this type of computer,
since the engineer can say it is doing work below his level of ability!
Of course, the draftsman may take a dim view of computers that can
do mechanical drawing.

Bell Telephone Laboratories
Engineer checks design information for first computer built from complete
information furnished by another computer. Shown is a subassembly of the
computer, which will be used in the Army’s Nike-Zeus antimissile defense system.
After a rather hard to explain slow start, then, the computer is
now well established as a scientific and engineering tool. Blue-sky
schemes describe systems in which the engineer simply discusses his
problem with the machine, giving specifications and the desired

piece of equipment. The machine talks back, rejecting certain
proposed inputs and suggesting alternatives, and finally comes up
with the finished design for the engineer’s approval. If he laughs
overly loud at this possibility, the engineer may be trying to cover up
his real feelings. At any rate the computer has added a thinking cap
to its wardrobe of eyeshade and work gloves.

Digital Doctor
Medical electronics is a fairly well-known new field of science, but
the part being played in medicine by the computer is surprising to
those of us not close to this work. Indicative of the use of the
computer by medical scientists is a study of infant death rates being
conducted by the American Medical Research Foundation. Under the
direction of Dr. Sydney Kane, this research uses a UNIVAC computer
and in 1961 had already processed information on 50,000 births in
ninety participating hospitals. Punched-card data include the
mother’s age, maternal complications, type of delivery, anesthetics
used, and other pertinent information. Dr. Kane believes that
analysis by the computer of this information may determine causes
of deaths, after-birth pathological conditions, and incapacity of
babies to reach viability. A reduction in infant mortality of perhaps
12,000 to 14,000 annually is believed possible as a result of the
studies.
Another killer of mankind, cancer, is being battled by the
computer. Researchers at the University of Philadelphia, supported in
part by the American Cancer Society, are programming electronic
computers to act as cancer cells! The complexity of the problem is
seen in the fact that several man-years of work and 500 hours of
computer programming have barely scratched the surface of the
problem. A third of a million molecules make up the genes in a
human cell, and the actions of these tiny components take place
many times faster than even the high-speed computer can operate.
Despite the problems, some answers to tough chemical questions
about the cancer cells are being found by using the computer, which
is of course thousands of times faster than manual computation.
If you were discharged from a hospital in 1962, there is a chance
that your records are being analyzed by a computer at Ann Arbor,
Michigan as part of the work of the Commission on Professional and

Hospital Activity. Information on 2-1/2 million patients from thirty-
four states will be processed by a Honeywell 400 computer to
evaluate diagnostic and hospital care and to compare the
performance of the various institutions.
In the first phase of a computerized medical literature analysis and
retrieval system for the National Library of Medicine, the U.S. Public
Health Service contracted with General Electric for a system called
MEDLARS, MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System.
MEDLARS will process several hundred thousand pieces of medical
information each year. New York University’s College of Engineering
has formed a biomedical computing section to provide computer
service for medical researchers. Using an IBM 650 and a Control
Data Corporation 1604, the computer section has already done
important work, including prediction of coronary diseases in men
under forty.
The success of computers in these small-scale applications to the
problems of medicine has prompted the urging of a national
biomedical computer system. It is estimated that as yet only about 5
per cent of medical research projects are using computer
techniques, but that within ten years the figure will jump to between
50 and 75 per cent.
An intriguing possibility is the use of the computer as a diagnostic
tool. Small office machines, costing perhaps only $50, have been
suggested, not by quacks or science-fiction writers, but by scientists
like Vladimir Zworykin of the Rockefeller Institute of Medical
Research. Zworykin is the man who fathered the iconoscope and
kinescope that made television possible. The simple diagnostic
computer he proposes would use information compiled by a large
electronic computer which might eventually catalog the symptoms of
as many as 10,000 diseases. Using an RCA 501 computer, a pilot
project of this technique has already gathered symptoms of 100
hematological diseases.
Another use of the computer is in the HIPO system. Despite its
frightening acronymic name, this is merely a plan for the automated

dispensing of the right medicine at the right time to the right
patient, thus speeding recoveries and preventing the occasional
tragic results of wrong dosage. More exotic is a computer called the
Heikolator which is designed to substitute for the human brain in
transmitting messages to paralyzed limbs that could otherwise not
function.
The simulation of body parts by the computer for study is already
taking place. Some researchers treat the flow of blood through
arteries as similar to the flow of water through a rubber tube,
analyze these physical actions, and use them in computer simulation
of the human system. The Air Force uses a computer to simulate the
physical chemistry of the entire respiratory and circulatory systems,
a task that keeps track of no less than fifty-three interdependent
variables.
Dr. Kinsey of the Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit is directing
computer work concerning the physiology of the eye. According to
Kinsey it was impossible previously to approximate the actual
composition of cell substances secreted from the blood into the eye.
Even those whose eyes no longer serve them are being benefited by
computer research. The Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus,
Ohio, uses an IBM computer to develop reading devices for the
blind. These complicated readers use a digital computer to convert
patterns of printed letters into musical tones. Further sophistication
could lead to an output of verbalized words. Interestingly, it is
thought that the research will also yield applications of use in
banking, postal service, and other commercial fields.
Russia is also aware of the importance of the computer in the
medical field. A neurophysiologist reported after a trip to Russia that
the Soviet Union is training its brightest medical students in the use
of the computer. Such a philosophy is agreed to by medical
spokesmen in this country who state that no other field can make
better use of the computer’s abilities. Among advanced Russian work
with computers in the biomedical field is a study of the effects on
human perception of changes in sound and color.

Visionary ideas like those of radio transmitters implanted in
patients to beam messages to a central computer for continuous
monitoring and diagnosis are beginning to take on the appearance
of distinct possibilities. Some are beginning to wonder if after it has
learned a good bedside manner, the computer may even ask for a
scalpel and a TV series.

Music
The computer has proved itself qualified in a number of fields and
professions, but what of the more artistic ones? Not long ago RCA
demonstrated an electronic computer as an aid to the musical
composer. Based on random probability, this machine is no tongue-
in-cheek gadget but has already produced its own compositions
based on the style of Stephen Foster. Instead of throwing up their
hands in shocked horror, modern composers like Aaron Copland
welcome the music “synthesizer” with open arms. Bemoaning only
the price of such a computer—about $150,000—Copland looks to the
day when the composer will feed in a few rough ideas and have the
machine produce a fully orchestrated piece. The orchestration,
incidentally, will include sounds no present instruments can produce.
“Imagine what will happen when every combination of eighty-eight
keys is played,” Copland suggests. Many traditionalists profess to
shudder at the thought of a machine producing music, but
mathematical compositions are no novelty. Even random music was
“composed” by Mozart, whose “A Musical Dice Game” is chance
music with a particularly descriptive title, and Dr. John Pierce of Bell
Laboratories has extended such work.

Taken from “Illiac Suite,” by L. A. Hiller
and L. M. Isaacson, copyrighted 1957, by
Theodore Presser Co. Used by permission.
Random chromatic music produced by ILLIAC computer
resembles the compositions of some extreme modern composers.
Listen: [MP3]
In 1955, Lejaren A. Hiller, Jr., and L. M. Isaacson began to
program the ILLIAC computer at the University of Illinois to compose
music. The computer actually published its work, including “Illiac
Suite for String Quartet,” Copyright 1957, New Music Editions, done
in the style of Palestrina. All music lies somewhere between the
complete randomness of, say, the hissing of electrons in vacuum
tubes and the orderliness of a sustained tone. No less a master than
Stravinsky has called composition “the great technique of selection,”
and the computer can be taught to select in about any degree we
desire. Hiller describes the process, in which the machine is given
fourteen notes representing two octaves of the C-major scale, and
restricted to “first-species counterpoint.” By means of this screening
technique, the computer “composed” by a trial-and-error procedure
that may be analogous to that of the human musician. Each note
was examined against the criteria assigned; if it passed, it was
stored in memory; if not, another was tried. If after fifty trials no
right note was found, the “composition” was abandoned, much as
might be done by a human composer who has written himself into a
corner, and a new start was made. In an hour of such work, ILLIAC
produced several hundred short melodies—a gold mine for a Tin Pan
Alley tunesmith! It was then told to produce two-voice counterpoint
for the basic melodies. “Illiac Suite” is compared, by its programmers
at least, with the modern music of Bartok.
Purists whose sensibilities are offended by the very notion of
computer music point out that music is subjective—a means of

conveying emotion from the heart of the composer to that of the
listener. Be that as it may, the composition itself is objective and can
be rigorously analyzed mathematically, before or after the fact. From
a technical standpoint there seems to be only one question about
this new music—who composed it, the programmer or the
computer?
An interesting sidelight to computer music is its use to test the
acoustics of as yet unbuilt auditoriums. Bell Telephone Laboratories
has devised such a machine in its Acoustical and Visual Research
Department. The specifications of the new auditorium are fed into
the computer, followed by music recorded on tape. The computer’s
output is then this music as it will sound in the new hall. Critical
experts listen and decide if the auditorium acoustics are all right, or
if some redesign is in order.

The Machine at Play
The computer’s game-playing ability in chess and other games has
been described. It is getting into the act in other fields, spectator
sports as well. Baseball calls on the computer to plan season
strategy and predict winners. When Roger Maris began his home-run
string, an IBM 1401 predicted that he had 55 chances in 100 of
beating Ruth’s record. Workers at M.I.T. have developed a computer
program that answers questions like “Did the Red Sox ever win six
games in a row?” and “Did every American League team play at
least once in each park in every month?”
An IBM RAMAC computer is handling the management of New
York’s Aqueduct race track, and promises to do a better job than the
human bosses, thus saving money for the owners and the State of
New York Tax Commission. The Fifteenth Annual Powderpuff Derby,
the all-women transcontinental air race, was scored by a Royal
Precision LGP-30 computer, and sports car enthusiasts have built
their own “rally” computers to gauge their progress. The Winter
Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria, will be scored by IBM’s RAMAC, and
even bowling gets an assist from the computer in the form of a
scoring device added to the automatic pin-setter, bad news to
scorekeepers who fudge to boost their points.
An IBM 704 has proved a handy tool for blackjack players with a
system for winning 99 per cent of the time, and rumor has it that a
Los Angeles manufacturer plans to market a computer weighing only
two pounds and costing $5, for horse-players.
Showing that the computer can be programmed with tact is the
demonstrator that answers a man’s age correctly if he answers ten
questions but announces only that a woman is over twenty-one.
Proof that the computer has invaded just about every occupation
there is comes to light in the news that a Frankfurt travel agency
uses a computer called Zuse L23 as an agent. The traveler simply

fills out a six-question form, and in a few seconds Zuse picks the
ideal vacation from a choice of 500. Computers, it seems, are
already telling us where to go.

Business Outlook
The computer revolution promises to reach clear to the top of the
business structure, rather than find its level somewhere in middle
management. The book, Management Games lists more than 30,000
business executives who have taken part in electronic computer
management “games” in some hundred different versions. The first
widely used such game was developed in 1956 by the American
Management Association. While such games are for educational
purposes, their logical extension is the actual conduct of business by
a programmed computer.
In his book, Industrial Dynamics, Dr. J. W. Forrester points out
that a high-speed digital computer can be used in analyzing as many
as 2,000 variables such as costs, wages, sales, and employment.
This is obviously so far beyond human capability that the advantage
of computer analysis becomes evident. A corollary benefit is the
speed inherent in the computer which makes it possible to test a
new policy or manufacturing program in hours right in the computer,
rather than waiting for months or years of actual implementation
and possible failure. For these reasons another expert has predicted
that most businesses will be using computer simulations of their
organizations by 1966. Regardless of the timetable, it is clear that
the computer has jumped into business with both its binary digits
and will become an increasingly powerful factor.

Lichty, © Field Enterprises, Inc.
“Our new ‘brain’ recognizes the human factor, doctor!... After feeding it the
symptoms, it gives the diagnosis and treatment.... But YOU set the fee!”

“Men have become the tools of their tools.”
—Thoreau

9: The Computer and Automation
In his movie, City Lights, Charlie Chaplin long ago portrayed the
terrible plight of the workman in the modern factory. Now that the
machine is about to take over completely and relieve man of this
machinelike existence, it is perhaps time for Charlie to make another
movie pointing up this new injustice of civilization or machine’s
inhumanity to man. It seems to be damned if it does and damned if
it doesn’t.
For some strange reason, few of us become alarmed at the news
of a computer solving complex mathematics, translating a book, or
processing millions of checks daily, but the idea of a computer
controlling a factory stimulates union reprisals, editorials in the press
against automation, and much general breast-beating and soul-
searching. Perversely we do not seem to mind the computer’s
thinking as much as we do its overt action.
It is well to keep sight of the fact that automation is no new
revolution, but the latest development in the garden variety of
industrial revolution that began a couple of centuries ago in England:
Mechanization was the first step in that revolution, mechanization being the
application of power to supplement the muscles of men. Mass production came
along as the second step at the turn of this century. It was simply an organization
of mechanized production for faster, more efficient output.
Automation is the latest logical extension of the two earlier steps, made possible
by rapid information handling and control. Recent layoffs in industry triggered
demonstrations, including television programs, that would indicate we suspect

automation of having a rather cold heart. The computer is the heart of
automation.
Remington Rand UNIVAC
Control operations require “real-time” computers that perform calculations and
make necessary decisions practically instantaneously.
None of these steps is as clear-cut or separate as it may seem
without some digging into history and an analysis of what we find.
For example, while we generally consider that the loom was simply
mechanized during the dawn of industrial revolution, the seeds of
computer control were sown by Jacquard with punched-card
programming of the needles in his loom. Neither is it sufficient to say
that the present spectacle of automated pushbutton machines
producing many commodities is no different from the introduction of
mass-produced tractors. Tractors, after all, displaced horses; the
computer-controlled factory is displacing men who don’t always want
to be put out to pasture.
Automation is radically changing our lives. It is to be hoped that
intelligent and humane planning will facilitate an orderly adjustment

to this change. Certainly workers now toil in safer and pleasanter
surroundings. It is reported that smashed toes and feet, hernia, eye
trouble, and similar occupational accidents have all but disappeared
in automated automobile plants. Unfortunately other occupational
hazards are reportedly taking the place of these, and the
psychological trauma induced by removal of direct contact with his
craft has given more than one worker stomach ulcers. Let us
investigate this transfer of contact from man to computer-controlled
machine.
A paper presented at the First Congress of the International
Federation of Automatic Control, held in Moscow in 1960, uses as its
introductory sentence, “Automatic control always involves
computing.” The writer then points out that historically the
computing device was analog in nature and tied so closely with the
measuring and control elements as to be indistinguishable as an
actual computer. In more recent history, however, the trend has
been to separate the computer. With this trend is another important
change, that of using the digital computer in automatic control.
One of the first papers to describe this separate computer function
is “Instrument Engineering, Its Growth and Its Promise,” by Brown,
Campbell, and Marcy, published in 1949. “Naturally,” the authors
state, “a computer will be used to control the process.” Not a shop
foreman or an engineer, but a computer. Watt’s “flyball” governor
pioneered the field; more recent and more obvious examples of
control by computers include ships guided by “Iron Mike” and
airplanes flown by the automatic pilot. These were analog devices,
and the first use of a digital computer as a control was in 1952,
quite recently in our history. This airborne digital control computer
was built by Hughes and was called “Digitac.”
Since most industries have been in existence for many years, far
antedating aviation, electronics, and the modern computer, the
general incorporation of such control has been difficult both because
of the physical problem of altering existing machines and the mental
phenomenon of inertia. Factory management understandably is slow

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