1. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Management and Organisational Behaviour 7th Edition CHAPTER 17 Technology and Organisations

2. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.2 What is technology? Problems in definition 1.There are a variety of definitions, none of them is universally accepted 2.The way technology is defined or conceptualised by a person provides an indication as to the theoretical perspective of what technology means or consists of to that person

3. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.3 Technology definitions Scope – what is defined as comprising technology Role – how the interaction between technology & the organisation is defined Orlikowski

4. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.4 Key perspectives on technology in an organisational context 1.Technological determinism 2.Socio-technical systems 3.Radical / Marxist 4.Political / processual 5.Socio-economic shaping of technology (SST) 6.Social construction of technology (SCT) 7.Actor – network analysis (ANA) 8.Technology as text & metaphor (TTM)

5. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.5 Technological determinism Hard determinism Technology alone causes certain things to happen or to be as they are Technologies feed, clothe, provide shelter for us, transport & entertain us

6. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.6 Technological determinism ‘Softer’ determinism Technology has social effects that are complex & contingent

7. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.7 Socio-technical systems approaches Have a particular concern to find the ‘best fit’ in any given job/work design between the social elements (people’s psychological & social needs) & technical elements (the apparatus & physical location of the organisational system) Trist

8. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.8 Radical / Marxist perspectives The social & economic outcomes of technical change must be understood through: the location of events & decisions within the wider dynamics of capitalism the accumulation & the imperative of profitability for organisational survival Braverman

9. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.9 Radical / Marxist perspectives This is achieved through: the intensification of management control over labour the deskilling & degradation of work Braverman

10. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.10 Ways of control Electronic panopticon – the use of information technology to monitor & record the work of employees Automating – the replacement of actions of the human body by the machine Informating – the simultaneous generation of new information about organisational activities

11. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.11 Political / processual approaches Focuses on the assumption that the outcomes of technological change - rather than being determined by the logic of capitalist development, or external technical & product market imperatives - are socially chosen & negotiated within organisations by organisational actions Zuboff

12. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.12 Technological change research Buchanan & Boddy Research located within the political / processual perspective ‘the capabilities of technology are enabling, rather than determining’ ‘decisions of choices concerning how the technology will be used’ and not the technology itself leads to the organisational outcomes

13. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.13 Socio-economic shaping of technology (SST) Focuses on the ways that technology is shaped by the economic, technical, political, gender & social circumstances in which it is designed, developed, & utilised SST often draws upon Marxist & gender analyses

14. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.14 Social construction of technology (SCT) SCT draws upon the sociology of scientific knowledge to examine the unfolding of technological change over time in its social & economic contexts to show that technology is created through a multi actor (multi directional) process

15. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.15 Social construction of technology (SCT) A range of technological options are available or identifiable, which a variety of people, groups & organisations seek to promote or challenge The concerns of these people are partly technical, & also social, moral, & economic The groups define the problem for which an artefact is intended to be a solution. Technological change occurs when sufficient consensus emerges for a particular design or when an option is imposed by a powerful actor or group

16. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.16 Actor – network analysis (ANA) Actors define one another & their relationships through – Intermediaries, e.g. books & magazines Technical artefacts Skills Money They attempt to construct networks that will bring together a range of human & non-human actants

17. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.17 Technology as text & metaphors (TTM) TTM draws on the sociology of scientific knowledge It does not accept the proposition that technology stabilises – that is it comes to have some identifiable ‘objective’ implications, characteristics, & capabilities What technologies are, what they can & cannot do, what effects they have are seen as a socially negotiated phenomenon Technologies are only understood or read in the particular social contexts in which they are found

18. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.18 Technology as text & metaphors (TTM) The different representations of the nature of technologies / organisations can be created using different metaphors or readings, so the focus of interest turns to not what a particular technology can & cannot do but rather how such accounts are derived

19. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.19 Forms of technology Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) Information technology Service provision Product

20. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.20 Advanced manufacturing technology Computer numerical control machine tools (CNC) Robotics Computer-aided design (CAD) Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) Computer-aided production planning & inventory control systems Materials requirements planning (MRPI) Manufacturing resource planning (MRPII)

21. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.21 Information technology Word processing Personal computers Intelligent knowledge-based systems Mainframe, mini, microcomputers – used in stand- alone or networked (LAN, WAN, WWW) Teleconferencing Videoconferencing Teleworking/telecommuting

22. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.22 Service provision Automated teller machines (ATM) Electronic funds transfer (EFT) Electronic data interchange (EDI) Electronic point of sale (EPOS) Teletext Patient monitoring systems

23. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.23 Products Pocket calculators Electronic games Digital watches

24. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.24 Information & communications technology ICT is inherently flexible as a result of – Its compactness Low energy use Low running costs Software

25. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.25 Stages in new technology adoption & introduction Figure 17.2 Source: Preece, D.A. Organisations and Technical Change: Strategy, Objectives and Involvement, Routledge/ITBP (1995), p.7.

26. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.26 Types of networks in the new enterprise Suppliers Producers Customers Standard coalitions Technology co-operation Ernst

27. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.27 The new enterprise paradigm Business networks Technological tools Global competition The state

28. Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005 OHT 17.28 The material foundation of the network society 1.Information is the raw material 2.Pervasiveness of effects of new technologies 3.Networking logic 4.Flexibility of IT 5.Convergence of specific technologies into an integrated system