While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline-after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late ' 80s-and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in Britain, at least among the middle-class down shifters of my acquaintance, we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employers are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns.
His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have applied re-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without giving sufficient thought to long-term profitability.Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as "The Flight from S.cience and Reason" , held in New York City in 1995, and "Science in the Age of (Mis) information, which assembled last June near Buffalo.
