ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the situation in the branches before the computer changed the system of work. We will first consider the kinds of people the bank clerks were, their attitudes to their jobs and their ambitions for the future. We can then try to establish whether these personal characteristics and career objectives influenced their reactions to the ‘idea’ of office automation. If bank clerks are a special kind of group quite different from, for example, coal miners or research chemists, this means that management will need to adopt policies for change that do not conflict with the particular kinds of satisfaction they are looking for in their jobs.
