Bridging the Gap: What can IT and Organizational Studies Learn from Each Other?

1. T E C H N O L O G Y A N D MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS SYST 406 Dr. D. RATEB I N S T I T U T I O N S

2. TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS SYST 406 Dr. D. RATEB INSTITUTIONS

3. ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN WHAT CAN AND MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS SYST 406 Dr. D. RATEB ORGANIZATIONALSTUDIES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LEARN FROM EACH OTHER?!! ZEINAB ABDELFATTAH ROAA ALIAN MOHAMED EL DEMERDASH NAILA FATTOUH DANA HASHEM SALMA KABIL YARA MANSOUR TAREK SHAHIN

4. INTRODUCTION DEFINING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEFINING ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES

5. INTRODUCTION ASSUMPTIONS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ARE TWO DISTINCT FIELDS BOTH FIELDS PREVIOUSLY HAVE NOT BEEN INTEGRATED, AND SO COULD LEARN EQUALLY FROM EACH OTHER.

6. INTRODUCTION CURRENTLY, HOWEVER, THE INFLUENCE THE TWO HAVE ON EACH OTHER IS “LOP-SIDED”

7. INTRODUCTION CONTRASTING IT AND OS: OS OBJECTIVES IT OBJECTIVES

8. INTRODUCTION THE ESTIMOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES OS IT PARTICULAR GENERAL PRACTICAL THEORETICAL THEY ARE COMPLIMENTARY DIFFERENCES

9. INTRODUCTION THE ARTICLE PROVES THAT THEIR EPISTEMOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES ARE COMPLEMENTARY: “Particulars are important for theory building, and theory is important for making sense of specifics.”

10. WHAT ORGANIZATION STUDIES CAN LEARN FROM IT RESEARCH?

11. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY

12. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY IN THE 1960’s AND 1970’s, THEORISTS DEVISED THEORIES OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IT AND OS

13. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY There exist three main theories 1- Contingency Theory 2- Media-Richness Theory 3- Social Construction Theory

14. MATERIALISMVS. AGENCY CONTINGENCY THEORY TECHNOLOGY AS A MATERIAL DETERMINANT OF AN ORGANIZATION’S STRUCTURE… “…The more complex and unpredictable the technology, the more likely are organizations to adopt an organic rather than a mechanistic structure”

15. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY MEDIA-RICHNESS THEORY MEDIA-RICHNESS THEORY TRIES TO EXPLAIN INDIVIDUALS’ CHOICES OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA IN TERMS OF A MEDIUM’S PROPERTIES. Although the theory moves significantly towards the concrete and welcomes the actual properties of technology, it undermines organizational cultures, group preferences, work practices, and symbolic properties.

16. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION THEORY SHIFTS AWAY FROM THE ABSTRACT AND MATERIAL IMAGE OF TECHNOLOGY TO A VIEW OF TECHNOLOGIES AS FUNDAMENTALLY SOCIAL OBJECTS… …ACKNOWLEDGES THE ROLE OF HUMAN AGENCY IN TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

17. BRIDGING THE GULF BETWEEN MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY

18. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY: BRIDGING THE GULF WHEN “BRIDGING THE GULF”, ELEMENTS OF BOTH CONSTRUCTIONIST AND MATERIALIST PERSPECTIVES SHOULD BE USED

19. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY: BRIDGING THE GULF EVERY TECHNOLOGY REFLECTS HUMAN AGENCY IN TWO WAYS 1. ALL TECHNOLOGIES REPRESENT A PARTICULAR SET OF CHOICES 2. MULTIPLE USE OF TECHNOLOGIES ALLOWS THE SHAPING OF THEIR IMPLICATIONS INTO EVERYDAY PRACTICE

20. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY: BRIDGING THE GULF TECHNOLOGY’S MATERIAL PROPERTIES INFLUENCES HUMAN AGENCY CONSTRAINS AFFORDS

21. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY: BRIDGING THE GULF BRAVERMAN BELIEVED THAT TECHNOLOGIES DESKILL WORKERS “…managers use designs and labor processes that separate cognition from execution…” “…relegating the latter to workers and the former to managers and staff”

22. MATERIALISM VS. AGENCY: BRIDGING THE GULF BUCHANNAN AND BODDY ARGUED THAT WHETHER TECHNOLOGY DESKILLED WORKERS DEPENDED ON THEIR ATTITUDES AND BACKGROUNDS… …AND ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOIGICAL APPLICATION

23. AN ILLUSTRATION: COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK (CSCW)

24. CSCW CSCW EMERGED OUT OF HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION RESEARCH IN THE MID-1980’S GENERAL PHILOSOPHY: DESIGNERS COULD MORE ADEQUALTLY FORMULATE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS IF THEY MAKE USE OF DESCRIPTIONS OF WORK PRACTICES MADE BY SOCIAL SCIENTISTS

25. CSCW “STUDIES OF SITUATED COORDINATION” …EXAMINES HOW WORKERS ORIENT TO EACH OTHER AND TO THEIR TASKS USING EMERGING INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGIES AT HAND

26. WHAT IT RESEARCH CAN LEARN FROM ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES

27. GENRES OF IT RESEARCH

28. GENRES OF IT RESEARCH STUDIES OF THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY THESE TEND TO EXAMINE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES SIMILAR TO STUDIES OF ORGANIZATION

29. GENRES OF IT RESEARCH RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT DEPLOYMENT AND THE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IT INVOLVES: HOW TO DESIGN BETTER TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS MORE EFFECTIVE ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGY BY USERS …STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES

30. GENRES OF IT RESEARCH Organizing and Managing IT Services It researchers have found the work of organizational theorists useful in examining a variety of questions: How should IT departments relate to other organizational functions? How should firms recruit and retain IT Professionals What are the best ways to develop and manage IT infrastructure

31. THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT OF TECHNOLOGY

32. THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES INSTITUTIONALIZATION GLOBALIZATION ENTERPRENEURSHIP POST-MODERNITY

33. THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS EXAMINES HOW BROAD SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL FORCES – LAWS, CULTURE – AFFECT, AND ARE AFFECTED BY, THE ACTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS …”organizations, and the individuals who populate them, are suspended in a web of values, norms, rules, beliefs, and taken-for-granted assumptions, that are at least partially of their own making” -Barely and Tolbert

34. THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT INSTITUTIONAL INFLUENCES… ENABLE ENABLE AND CONSTRAIN AND CONSTRAIN …ACTIONS

35. THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVES AND IT RESEARCH “An institutional perspective would offer IT researchers a vantage point for conceptualizing the digital economy …that is shaped as much by culture and structural forces as by technical and economic ones.”

36. TOWARD A MORE TECHNOLOGICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL VIEW OF TELECOMMUTING

37. TELECOMMUTING DEFINING TELECOMMUTING “…refers to using telecommunications lines, computers, and other office technologies (such as pagers, telephones, and faxes) to work from a site other than one’s assigned office.”

38. TELECOMMUTING STUDIES OF TELECOMMUTING COMPARE TELECOMMUTERS TO TRADITIONAL OFFICE WORKERS WITH RESPECT TO JOB SATISFACTION PRODUCTIVITY SOCIAL ISOLATION STRESS ABILITY TO MANAGE WORK AND FAMILY ISSUES

39. TELECOMMUTING ISSUES CONCERNING TELECOMMUTING TELECOMMUTING VIOLATES THE SEPERATION OF WORK AND HOME MANAGERS RESIST TELECOMMUTING: “WORKERS WILL EXERT LESS EFFORT WHEN THEY ARE NO LONGER VISIBLE TO THEIR SUPERVISORS” WORKERS FEAR TELECOMMUTING: “IT WILL UNDEERMINE OUR CAREERS BY MAKING US LESS VISBLE FOR PROMOTION iRoNiCaLLy IrOnIcAllY iRoNiCaLLy IrOnIcAllY iRoNiCaLLy IrOnIcAllY iRoNiCaLLy IrOnIcAllY iRoNiCaLLy IrOnIcAllY iRoNiCaLLy

40. TELECOMMUTING The practical Literature on Telecommuting revolves around 4 scenes

41. TELECOMMUTING WITH REGARD TO THE STUDIES MADE… Both IT and OSResearchUsingDifferentTimeSpans TELECOMMUTING REMAINS WRONGLY DEFINED AS A SUBSTITUE FOR OFFICE NEITHER IT LITERATURE Nor OS LITERATURE ON TELECOMMUTING “ENVISION REALITY”… …INSTEAD, EACH DISCUSSES A SPECIFIC SITUATIONAL FEATURE WITHOUT “DEVELOPING AN INTEGRATED UNDERSTANDING”

42. CONCLUSION

43. CONCLUSION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ARE TWO DISTINCT DISCIPLINES THAT CAN LEARN SUBSTANTIALLY FROM EACH OTHER UNDERSTANDING TECHNO-SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE OF TECHOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, SOCIAL PROCESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES

44. CONCLUSION The Article is far from promoting complete fusion of the two fields. However, it merely claims that greater Integration will be needed as we move into a post-industrial era that requires a fast and dynamic Organizational structure

45. THANKS, Y’ALL