Effects of media of communication and collaboration in structural change: insights from a computer-mediated research group

The focus of the article is on the interplay between media, organizational ideologies and structural change. It is argued that technology plays a significant role when seen in interaction with people in certain settings, referred to as media. Changes in media that favour members whose beliefs deviate from the dominant ideology may allow these members to take up more central organizational roles. Conversely, media in place may also serve to protect the existing organization structure. Therefore, there is a need to study carefully the impact of media of communication and collaboration on organizational evolution. The argument is supported by findings from a computer mediated research group. Suggestions are offered about the relevance of the findings for practitioners.

[1]  H. Leavitt,et al.  Organizational Intelligence: Knowledge and Policy in Government and Industry. , 1967 .

[2]  James Brian Quinn,et al.  The intelligent enterprise a new paradigm , 1992 .

[3]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Evolving the notes: organizational change around groupware technology , 1997 .

[4]  Michael X Cohen,et al.  A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. , 1972 .

[5]  M. Abel.  Experiences in an exploratory distributed organization , 1990 .

[6]  Harold L. Wilensky.  Organizational Intelligence: Knowledge and Policy in Government and Industry , 1967 .

[7]  Martha Grabowski,et al.  Organizations, Technology and Structuring , 1999 .

[8]  Nils Brunsson.  The Irrational Organization: Irrationality as a Basis for Organizational Action and Change , 1985 .

[9]  S. Barley.  Technology as an occasion for structuring: evidence from observations of CT scanners and the social order of radiology departments. , 1986, Administrative science quarterly.

[10]  Alan D. Meyer,et al.  ENVIRONMENTAL JOLTS AND INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONS: ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSES TO DISCONTINUOUS CHANGE , 1990 .

[11]  M. Beer,et al.  Why change programs don't produce change. , 1990, Harvard business review.

[12]  S. Zedeck.  The Executive Effect: Concepts and Methods for Studying Top Managers. , 1991 .

[13]  George P. Huber,et al.  A theory of the effects of advanced information technologies on organizational design, intelligence , 1990 .

[14]  Nitin Nohria,et al.  The Virtual Organization: Bureaucracy, Technology, and the Implosion of Control , 1994 .

[15]  Marshall W. Meyer,et al.  Power in Organizations. , 1982 .

[16]  K. Weick.  Technology as equivoque: sensemaking in new technologies , 1990 .

[17]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The structuring of organizations : a synthesis of the research , 1980 .

[18]  E. Shils.  The Constitution Of Society , 1982 .

[19]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[20]  Robert N. Stern,et al.  The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. , 1979 .

[21]  Arthur D. Shulman,et al.  Putting Group Information Technology in its Place: Communication and Good Work Group Performance , 1999 .

[22]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  Organizational Learning: A Theory Of Action Perspective , 1978 .

[23]  Frances J. Milliken,et al.  Executives’ Perceptual Filters: What They Notice and How They Make Sense , 1988 .

[24]  John F. Rockart,et al.  Computers, networks, and the corporation , 1991 .

[25]  D. Light.  The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. By Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann. New York: Doubleday, 1966. Pp. 199. $5.95 , 1967 .

[26]  Donald L. Mills,et al.  Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems , 1983 .

[27]  S. Ranson.  The Structuring of Organizational Structures. , 1980 .

[28]  William H. Starbuck,et al.  CONGEALING OIL: INVENTING IDEOLOGIES TO JUSTIFY ACTING IDEOLOGIES OUT , 1982 .

[29]  I. Janis.  Victims of Groupthink: A psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes. By Irving L. Janis. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. viii + 276 pp. Map, illustrations, chart, notes, sources, bibliography, and index. Cloth, $7.95; paper $4.50.) , 1973 .

[30]  C. Eden,et al.  THE INTERSUBJECTIVITY OF ISSUES AND ISSUES OF INTERSUBJECTIVITY , 1981 .

[31]  K. Lewin,et al.  Group decision and social change. , 1999 .

[32]  Chris Argyris,et al.  Overcoming organizational defenses : facilitating organizational learning , 1990 .

[33]  P. Berger,et al.  The Social Construction of Reality , 1966 .

[34]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Learning from Notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation , 1992, CSCW '92.

[35]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Learning from Notes: organizational issues in groupware implementation , 1992, CSCW '92.

[36]  J. B. Quinn,et al.  Intelligent Enterprise: A Knowledge and Service Based Paradigm for Industry , 1992 .

[37]  J. Kenneth Benson,et al.  Organizations: A Dialectical View. , 1977 .

[38]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Patterns of contact and communication in scientific research collaboration , 1990, CSCW '88.

[39]  Thomas A. Finholt,et al.  Communication and performance in ad hoc task groups , 1990 .

[40]  A. Giddens.  The Constitution of Society , 1985 .

[41]  J. Bartunek.  Changing Interpretive Schemes and Organizational Restructuring: The Example of a Religious Order , 1984 .

[42]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Genre repertoire: norms and forms for work and interaction , 1994 .

[43]  Johan P. Olsen,et al.  THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE PAST: ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING UNDER AMBIGUITY* , 1975 .