Page 233 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Document Processing

SUMMARY HISTORY OF DOCUMENT
The classic principles of division of labor and specializa- PREPARATION
tion still exist. However, their application produces both The advent of a writing system coincided with the transi-
functional and dysfunctional consequences in the increas- tion from a hunter-gatherer society to agrarian encamp-
ingly complex organizations of the twenty-first century. A ments where it became necessary to count one’s
number of factors affect the modern application of divi- property—whether it was parcels of land, animals, or
sion of labor. Along with other complex organizational measures of grain—or to transfer that property to another
and market dynamics, these factors include information individual or another settlement. Letters were being hand-
technology, worker empowerment, human factors, com- written as early as 2686 B.C.E. Prior to the inventions of
munication systems, organizational size, competitive pres- the typewriter and the computer, all documents were
sures, and organization structure. handwritten, whether they were letters, bills of lading,
property deeds, or reports.
SEE ALSO Management: Historical Perspectives The invention of the typewriter changed the way
people communicated—moving from handwritten docu-
BIBLIOGRAPHY ments to typed ones. The typewriter was invented in 1714
Alsene, Eric (1994). “Computerization Integration and Organi- by Henry Mill. Christopher Latham Sholes, a Milwaukee
zation of Work in Enterprises.” International Labor Review. inventor, is the person most often associated with the
133(5/6): 657-676. invention of the typewriter in the United States. In 1868
Sholes produced the first practical typewriter to be
Bessant, J.R. (1991). Managing Advanced Manufacturing Tech-
nology: The Challenge of the Fifth Wave. Manchester, UK: patented.
NCC Blackwell. At that time, however, correspondence was deeply
rooted in etiquette and penmanship. Individuals were of
Child, J. (1987). “Organizational Design for Advanced Manu-
facturing Technology,” in Wall, T.D., Clegg, C.W. and the mindset that letter writing was the most private, com-
Kemp, N.J., eds. The Human Side of Advanced Manufactur- plete, and encompassing form of communication between
ing Technology. Chichester: Wiley. people. Individuals who dared to type letters risked rejec-
tion. Typewritten letters were viewed as insulting, imply-
Kerka, Sandra (1994). “New Technologies and Emerging
Careers. Trends and Issues Alerts.” Columbus, OH: ERIC ing that the recipient could not read. Even as late as 1922,
Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. the etiquette authority Emily Post was still describing let-
ter writing as an art—even as she saw that art shrinking
Lindbeck, Assar, and Snower, Dennis J. (1997). “The Division
of Labor Within Firms.” Stockholm, Sweden: Institute for until “the letter threatens to become a telegram, a tele-
International Economic Studies, University of Stockholm. phone message, a post-card” (Post).
Nonetheless, sales of the typewriter became lucrative,
Luthans, Fred (2005). Organizational Behavior (10th ed.).
and with its acceptance, individuals found the process of
Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
preparing documents a far simpler one. The typewriter
Walton, Richard E. (1985). From Control to Commitment in the
gave operators a faster means of writing than a person
Workplace: In Factory After Factory, There Is a Revolution
could do by hand.
Under Management of Work. Boston: Harvard Business
Review. In 1961 IBM introduced the first electric typewriter,
the Selectric. Instead of the standard movable carriage and
individual type strikers, this typewriter had a revolving
Donna L. McAlister-Kizzier
type ball. The use of the revolving type ball allowed the
Selectric to print faster than traditional typewriters. Fol-
lowing on the heels of the electric typewriter, IBM intro-
duced the Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST)
DOCUMENT in 1964. The MT/ST was one of the earliest attempts to
PROCESSING convert the regular Selectric typewriter into a word
processor.
A document is any written, printed, or electronically pre-
pared business communication that conveys information.
In the information age, documents are essential products TYPES OF DOCUMENT
that are becoming larger and more complex. Document PROCESSING
processing involves the equipment, software, and proce- Different definitions have been ascribed to document pro-
dures for creating, formatting, editing, researching, cessing. Several business education courses with docu-
retrieving, storing, and mailing documents. ment processing in their titles describe courses as being

210 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION