More shows in this subject heading:

Productivity Paradox

Aired March 1 and 2, 1997

Listen to the show.

You must have RealAudio installed to listen to the show. Download RealAudio here.

This is Internet On The Air. I'm Joan Silvi. Is your computer your friend...or just a source of frustration? Details in a moment.

Funding Credit: Internet On The Air is a production of the University of Michigan School of Information and Michigan radio, made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Here's the scenario...you arrive at your office, grab a cup of coffee and greet your co-workers. You sit down at your computer, ready to be productive.

Twenty minutes later, you're still getting it to work correctly...and you wonder whether it's just a $2000 paperweight.

Sound familiar? A recent study found that a significant percentage of a user's time is spent tinkering with their computer -- changing software, experimenting with new applications or just trying to get it running. This study seems to support the widespread fear that information technology has not contributed to productivity gains...and may, in fact, be slowing things down. Since the 1970's, over a trillion dollars has been invested in information technology, yet studies found productivity to be stagnant. This situation is known as the "productivity paradox".

But an investigation by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a different explanation. Researchers say information technology improves the quality and timeliness of a product -- areas which are harder to measure. And experts warn that merely spending money on technology does not guarantee a more productive office - it should be seen as a tool, not a substitute for a good business strategy.

For more information on computers and productivity, contact our Web site at www.iota.org. I'm Joan Silvi, for Internet On The Air.

Top of Page

Related Links

For further information, try these Web sites:

• Find articles about the effects of information technology on productivity at Tech Web, including these from Information Week:
  • Roundtable -- IT's Challenges And Opportunities
    How are emerging enterprises using information technology, and does it help or hinder?
  • Fastest-Growing Companies: IT Pays
    Is there a relationship between a CEO's view of information technology, and how well that company performs?
  • Metrics in the Real World
    Calculating return on investment for information technology projects is becoming standard operating procedure.
    
    
• Erik Brynjolfsson, an Associate Professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Center for Coordination Science, assesses the productivity of information technology investments. Here are some of his papers:
  • The Productivity Paradox of Information Technology: Review and Assessment
  • Paradox Lost? Firm-level Evidence of High Returns to Information Systems Spending
  • Productivity, Profit and Consumer Welfare: Three Different Measures of Information Technology's Value
  • Information Technology as a Factor of Production: The Role of Differences Among Firms"
  • Information Technology and Productivity: A Review of the Literature
    
    
• Is IT worth it?, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, provides an introduction to Brynjolfsson's work.
  
  
• These Computer World articles from 1997 maintain that information technology has not made businesses more productive.
  • Computers have yet to make companies more productive, by Paul A. Strassman
  • How do computers = productivity?, by Kevin Fogarty
    
    
• Another Computer World article discusses both sides of the debate in What does 'productivity' mean?, by David Moschella.
  
  
• This editorial from MIS Quarterly, Probing the Productity Paradox, argues against the theory the information technology investments have not produced significant productivity gains.

Top of Page

The Interview

There was no interview recorded for this show.

We would like to thank Professor Michael Cohen of the University of Michigan School of Information for his technical assistance.

Please direct questions or comments to iota.webmaster@umich.edu.

Last Updated January 26, 2000