Automation is a term first used by Del S. Harder to describe the production process of the Ford Motor Company in 1947, describing it as “automatic manipulation of parts between progressive processes”. production process” (Grabbe, 1957, p. 20). Automation changed the way factories operated, with many workers finding themselves replaced by various machines. This evolution towards an automated production line is the result of Taylorism, a management theory developed by FW Taylor (1914) which aims to improve labor efficiency by analyzing and then optimizing the production line. But in the past, as Dirk De Wit (1994, p. 79) mentions, automation was something limited to facilities and material handling. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay All this has changed in recent years. Due to recent technological advancements, machines have become more complex, capable of doing more, and are used in more than just factories. Elon Musk, multi-billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla, believes that “robots will be able to do everything better than us” (Clifford, 2017). There has been a lot of discussion recently about what could or would happen if machines replaced human labor. Many personalities, including Elon Musk, support the idea of ​​a universal basic income. A “system in which everyone receives a standard amount of money just for being alive” (Weller, 2017). Automation brings many benefits to a business and its production process. How does automation impact employees? However, managers and organizations face challenges. It can be argued that the use of automation has a detrimental effect on employee motivation, thereby decreasing their performance. This can be demonstrated by examining various behavioral theories and their effects on intrinsically and extrinsically motivated individuals. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943), a person needs to have their basic needs met before they can achieve their higher-level motivations. It can be suggested that automation influences an individual's job security, which constitutes the second level of Maslow's hierarchy, security. Looking at the next level of Maslow's hierarchy, we find people's social needs (Maslow, 1943). As automation becomes more prevalent in the workplace, it can be assumed that it replaces human labor and fewer people for current employees to work with. Applying Maslow's hierarchy in this case could suggest that the remaining workforce would be demotivated as their social needs are not being met in the workplace, thereby halting progression to higher levels of the hierarchy such as self-esteem and self-realization. Although Maslow's theory offers insight into how automation might influence the individual within a workplace, it is a fairly narrow view and its application to automation has some flaws . For example, Robert V. Presthus (1958) suggests that there are different work orientations. A person who identifies with the organization (known as upwardly mobile) may welcome the change that automation can bring, as opposed to someone who is ambivalent, critical of what their organization does ( Presthus, 1958). It would be reasonable to assume that a personambivalent would be more demotivated and at higher risk of leaving their job than someone with an upward orientation. This also shows that an individual who does not care about social flourishing in their workplace could benefit from robotic colleagues, since the individual would not be affected by the lack of human colleagues, but productivity would be improved through to a more efficient system. machinery part. Amazon.com, one of the world's largest online retailers, ranked No. 83 on the Forbes Global 2000 list (Forbes, 2017), is a company that has made great strides in the field of automation. , more specifically in their warehouses. Their management has faced challenges that have been resolved by automation, but it can also be argued that in the long term, greater challenges will appear. Despite being a large, multi-billion dollar company (Forbes, 2017), Amazon has often been criticized for the way it operates. conditions (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015), particularly in warehouses where conditions were described as “demoralizing and dehumanizing.” Employees were unhappy with the long hours they worked and how they suffered to provide a “good customer experience” (McClelland, 2012). To address this problem, Amazon is working to increasingly automate its warehouses (Wingfield, 2017). While this may be a concern when it comes to employee workplace safety, Amazon has decided to retrain its employees so they can supervise the new machines. Dave Clark, a senior Amazon executive, said new roles had been found for affected workers. (Wingfield, 2017).It can be said that Amazon's use of automation is effective for both the employee and the management. By retraining workers, rather than laying them off, they have not lost any ability to thrive socially through their work. At the same time, the workload of employees was reduced and transferred to the new machines. Looking at Equity Theory, a theory developed by JS Adams which advances the idea that people can be motivated or demotivated based on what they believe is right (Adams, 1965), we can assume that workers in Amazon will feel more motivated. In fact, they would receive the same salary but their workload would be reduced. This combination of a more efficient warehouse workflow and more motivated employees could allow the company to earn more capital. Although Amazon has apparently implemented automation effectively, doubts remain. Especially since working conditions are still reported to be “exhausting” (Agerholm, 2017) despite being more productive. It could be suggested that Amazon only cares about profit and that in the long term it wants to replace most of its workforce with automated counterparts. The fact that robotics has improved morale somewhat is an added bonus, but it's not Amazon's main goal. The persistent lack of motivation among workers can be explained by Locke and Latham's goal-setting theory, which posits that an individual is motivated by specific, measurable, and achievable goals (Locke and Latham, 2002). Because the goals set by Amazon are unrealistic and seemingly unattainable (Agerholm, 2017; Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015), despite improved conditions, they will remain demotivated until more realistic goals are put in place. The term digital Taylorism was used by The Economist to describe the approach taken by Amazon, claiming that technology is used to apply Taylor's theory of scientific management (1914) to employees.