Did we revert back to Taylorism?


Have you read the most recent cover article ("Managing by the Numbers") for Business Week?  Stephen Baker shares with the reader how "IBM improves productivity by tracking employees' every move".  Now, seriously, is this a good thing?  

Since I spent a few years of my life studying Organizational Behavior , the study of "every move we make"--ala Sir Frederick Taylor--is fascinating to me.  But, I really wonder if it going to make our workplaces any more engaging.  Won't workers just respond like they did to the "Taylorization" of their jobs in the mid-1900s?  Remember that?  Tremendous morale problems in the workforce.  At the very least, this commoditization of our employee base seems troubling to me.  

Just because we CAN measure every move our employees make, doesn't mean that we should.

Care to agree or disagree? 

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