The Role of Technology in Society

In this chapter I will elaborate further the general issue of technology’s impact on society and organisation, before presenting theories and models concerning individual motivation, group processes and implementation. Having discussed the impact of collaboration technology in work situations, the conclusion was reached that very few general conclusions can be drawn. This leads us to the question: Why is it that the results of impact-studies are so limited in generalisability Is the research of low quality, or are the questions about the impacts of technology perhaps wrongly phrased? The questions appear to be based on the assumption that technology in itself does have a general impact, i.e. that the introduction of certain tools must necessarily result in certain effects. This is called the “technological imperative” perspective and it has been challenged in several ways (George and King, 1991; Orlikowski, 1996). Firstly, by assuming that the effects of technology depend on certain conditions; this is called the contingency perspective. Secondly, by taking the perspective that people act purposefully to accomplish certain intended objectives and in this framework choose the technology they need.