1. ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Chapter 11
ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

2. TECHNOLOGY –DEFINITIONS
Technology - the means by which relevant material, technical, procedural, informational, cognitive and social resources are deployed to achieve desired outcomes
Core technology - the means employed in the transformation activities that lead to the main outputs of the organization (or unit)
Material technology - the tangible aspects of technology that can be seen, touched or heard
Social technology - the social and behaviour shaping devices of structure, control, co-ordination, motivation and reward systems

3. TECHNOLOGY –DEFINITIONS
Winner (1977) identifies three general applications of technology:
Apparatus - the physical apparatus or materials that are necessary for the achievement of tasks
Technique - the purposive aspects of human activity through the application of skills, methods, procedures or routines as a means of achieving objectives
Organization - refers to social arrangements or frameworks including factories, bureaucracies and teams established to achieve particular goals

4. Open systems model of an organization
Figure 11.1

5. Taxonomies of systems
Figure 11.2

6. Industrialization and technological change
Blumer (1990) distinguishes between industrialization and technological change:
Non-industrial technological change - some technological developments that have no impact on the level of industrialization
Industrialization as one form of technological development - Industrialization brings with it many changes other than those based on technology
Transplanted industrialization - technology does not automatically evolves as part of the process of industrialization
Causal relationships – there is a complex chain of events involved in the relationship between technology and society
Ambiguity - technological development contains a higher level of ambiguity in terms of its interrelationship with social change than does the concept of industrialization

7. Perspectives on technology
Woodward and production technology
Unit or small batch
Large batch or mass
Continuous process
Table 11.1

8. Perrow’s framework of departmental technology
Figure 11.3

9. Assessing the degree of task routine/nonroutine
Figure 11.4

10. Thompson – resource and technology matching
Task interdependence - the way in which tasks differentiated through the division of labour are operationally related to each other
Mediating technology - this form of operational technology mediates what would otherwise be independent activities or needs
Long-linked technology - the sequential processes most obviously found in assembly line factory operations
Intensive technology - describes processes where different units interact constantly with each other during the transformation process
Technical core - the central transformation processes that need to work efficiently and unperturbed by sudden changes and uncertainties
Boundary spanning units - buffer the operating (technical) core from environmental uncertainty

11. The Aston studies
In terms of technology these studies utilized three categories:
Operations – reflected the nature of the transformation process, the techniques used
Materials - the nature and characteristics of the things that were being processed.
Knowledge - the skill and ability required to undertake the tasks necessary to achieve the objectives

12. Technology - Other contributions
Burns and Stalker (1961) - mechanistic and organic (or organismic) structures partly reflect the technology found in the organization
Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) - considered technology as an environmental contingency factor

13. Assumptions about technology:
Neutrality
Impact
Modernism
De-skilling
Structure
Efficiency

14. TECHNOLOGY – SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
Canonical practice - the formal, espoused and prescriptive description of how tasks should be done and how technology should be deployed
Noncanonical practice - the often improvised approaches that are iteratively developed in actual ongoing work and shared and collectively improved among the interacting members of a working community
Communities of practice - ongoing groups of people that interact and actively share information while engaging in an activity they are individually and collectively committed to

15. The politics of technology
Competition
Interaction
Control or influence
Labour process debate
Rationality (or otherwise) in decision making
Benefits to managers
Tighter control over work processes
Pace of work
Skill levels required
Design of work

16. Technology and alienation
Alienation - Thompson (1989):
Work performed under conditions in which the worker is estranged from his or her own activity in the act of production, through the sale of labour power and the subordination of skills and knowledge to the capitalist, or other external social forces
Blauner (1964):
Powerlessness
Meaninglessness
Isolation
Self-estrangement
Burnout - emotional exhaustion, lower concern about other people, and diminished personal accomplishment

17. The Impact of Technology
Central to service technology is the direct inclusion of consumers in the value generation process - an external element into processes that have often been seen by managers as largely under their control
Manufacturing, mass-customization based on:
AMT
FMS
CAD
CAM
CIM

18. Information and communication technology
Zuboff suggests that ICT can be distinguished in different stages - automation, information and transformation
Konsynski & Sviokla argue that the failure by management to obtain the full value from ICT is a consequence of outdated paradigms of organizational functioning - new paradigm sees decision making being based on an appropriate allocation between humans and technical systems
Competency traps – when managers delay investment in new technologies too long
Informational society - is characterized by the knowledge generation and exchange through interactions between and among networks of individuals as well as economic, social, political and cultural institutions