Organizational behavior chapter 11 organizational technology

Chapter 11
ORGANIZATIONAL
TECHNOLOGY

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


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
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


Thompson – resource and
technology matching
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•
•
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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
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management

by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning

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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


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, masscustomization 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

For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning


Information and communication
technology
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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
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning