Integrated system, autonomous departments: organizational invalidity and system change in a university

Article Abstract:

Research on the relationship between computers and organization structure has mainly focused on the probable impact of technology on features of structure, while the effects of structure on technology have been relatively little considered apart from the way 'organizationally invalid'systems cause conflict and resistance. In recent processual perspectives, the relationship between technology and organization is seen not as deterministic but as one of mutual influence, with the outcome both for the organization and the technology emerging from interaction among various stakeholders during system development and implementation. This article, using a longitudinal case study, shows how organization structures can impact on the developmetn process so as to alter computer-based systems to a design which is unintended but more consistent with existing organizational arrangements. It also discusses how systems specialists and managers can assess organizational invalidity, and offers a contingent framework for the courses of action to be taken if invalidity occurs. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Industrial organization

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The role of management consultants in the development of information technology: the indissoluble nature of socio-political and technical skills

Article Abstract:

This paper explores the role of management consultants in the development of information technology (IT) in organizations. Contending that the process of IT systems development is characterized by the exercise of power, the central theme of the argument concerns the indissoluble nature of the technical and socio-political skills inherent in IT consultancy practice. IT consultancy practice is not just socio-political when winning a contract - the sales pitch - and technical when developing an IT system. Rather, socio-political skills centred on the mobilization of discursive and symbolic resources are an inherent part of the construction of such systems. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Research, Management, Information technology, Practice, Business consultants, Management consultants, Power (Social sciences), Political power

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Information technology, control and power: the centralization and decentralization debate revisited

Article Abstract:

This article addresses the conceptualization of power in relation to the use of computers in organizations. Commonly held views that the application of computer based information systems leads to either a centralization or a decentralization of power and control, or that computers merely reinforce the power of dominant actors, are criticized, and an alternative view is put forward which focuses on the symbolic and disciplinary dimensions of the development of information systems. This perspective is then illustrated in connection with the development of management information systems in the National Health Service. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Organizational behavior, Balance of power

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