Consisting of the most extensive empirical research ever conducted on the effects of computers on individual workers, People and Computers identifies ways to increase the benefits of computing and minimize its negative aspects. Based on a study of 2,500 managers, professionals, and clerical workers in public organizations, the book reveals the remarkable variation in the positive and negative effects computing has on the individuals who use it in their work.

People and Computers emphasizes four areas of computing's effects on the worker: the level at which computing is used, its impact on the worker's productivity, the problems that computing creates for the worker, and its effects on the individual's work environment. Especially useful are the rich descriptions of the role of computing in aspects of worklife for particular types of workers. These include an examination of the use of computers for managerial control, the impacts of computing on the productivity of professionals, and the benefits-problem mix in computing use by clerical workers.

The authors conclude the computer systems that are becoming the most crucial for end users are what they call "data-based systems." These are characterized by direct user interaction with the machine, by routine rather than selective utilization, and by an array of data bases and software that lets the users creatively search and restructure the data according to their own experience in doing their work.

People and Computers finds that computing had generally enhanced the work life of most end users, particularly by increasing the effectiveness and efficiency with which they perform information-related tasks. But it also shows that computing, rather than being the homogenizing technology it is often portrayed as, can have widely varying effects depending on the character of the linkages between the individual end user and the technology.