The role of power in shaping the use of information infrastructures Knut H. Rolland Department of Computer and Information Science Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Structure of the talk The concept of power Different political streams of IS studies Information infrastructures as ’disciplinary technologies’ Power and politics in the use of the GSIS in MCC Implications

The concept of power Power as hierarchical, causal, and zero-sum –Neoclassical and structural organization theory (e.g. Dahl, 1957; Weber, 1947) –Labour Process Approaches (e.g. Braverman, 1974) Power as context and relationship specific –The ’power school’ in organization theory (Pfeffer, 1981) Power as inherent in all human action (Giddens) –”dialectics of control” Disciplinary power (Michel Foucault) –Implicit and systemic –Distributed across different actors –Embodied in heterogeneous micro-practices –Enacted and discontinuous

Political streams of IS studies Organizational politics perspective in IS –Organizational politics ’better’ than rational models (Kling, 1980; Markus, 1983) –“key participants who value particular CBIS configurations actively strive to develop and expand them through a variety of strategies which require political mobilisation” (Kling and Iacono, 1984: p. 1218) The ’Scandinavian school’ –use of information technologies inevitably related to a power struggle between workers and management –IT professionals should take an active role in choosing to support “resource week groups” Theoretical frameworks –”Integrated Information Environment or Matrix of control?” Orlikowski (1991) –”The political perspective on the organizational change process emphasizes the information system as involved in the process of control and domination..” Walsham (1993: p. 69)

Information infrastructures as disciplinary technologies Actor-network theory (ANT) –Power is distributed in heterogeneous networks and actively performed through processes of enrolling actors and inscribing interests (e.g. Latour,1991) –”Politics by other means” Disciplinary technologies –User behaviour is inscribed in the heterogeneous components of an information infrastructure: e.g. standards, training programmes, implementation strategies, level of detail, categories, distribution of work tasks etc. –Users can ’resist’ and establish ”counter networks”: the dialectics of control

Power and Politics in use of the GSIS in MCC The GSIS as a disciplinary technology –Sequence of tasks inscribed: must fill-in all details before reports can be generated –’Best practices’ and ’24 hour policy’ –Imposing a specific configuration of the underlying infrastructure –Reports can only be stored in the GSIS ’Counter networks’ and changing coalitions –IT department and local surveyors –Alternative ways of using the GSIS (dialectics of control)

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