Communication regimes: A conceptual framework for examining IT and social change in organizations

This paper defines and extends Kling’s concept of communication regimes by identifying the concept’s origins and offering a definition that will allow further research using this framework. The terminology used here originates in political science; in translating these concepts for information science, however, much of the original meaning can be maintained and fruitfully applied. The paper outlines the definition and illustrates it using examples from photojournalism as a communication regime undergoing change. A communication regime is: 1) a loosely coupled social network in which the communication and the work system are highly coupled; 2) a system with a set of implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actors’ expectations converge; 3) a system in which the types of communication are tightly coupled to the production system in which they are embedded; 4) a system with institutions which help to support and to regulate the regime; and 5) a system within which there are conflicts over control, over who enforces standards, over who bears the costs of change and who reaps the benefits of change. This example suggests other areas where a communication regime framework may help understand the relationship between IT and social change.