Organizational behavior chapter 11 organizational technology

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Managementby John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Chapter 11... TECHNOLOGY –DEFINITIONS•

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

ORGANIZATIONAL

TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 11

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

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

Open systems model of an

organization

Figure 11.1

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

Taxonomies of systems

Figure 11.2

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

Perspectives on technology

Woodward and production technology

• Unit or small batch

• Large batch or mass

• Continuous process

Table 11.1

Perrow’s framework of departmental

technology

Figure 11.3

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

Assessing the degree of task

routine/nonroutine

Figure 11.4

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

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

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

Assumptions about technology:

• Neutrality

• Impact

• Modernism

• De-skilling

• Structure

• Efficiency

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

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

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz 1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

The Impact of Technology

Manufacturing,

mass-customization based on:

• AMT

• FMS

• CAD

• CAM

• CIM

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

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