Structuration Theory (based on Anthony Giddens)
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Focuses on process and human activity
Two concepts
o Recursivity: repetition of patterns
o Reflexivity: reflexive monitoring is an after-the-fact rationalization of
action that is under way or in the past (~ sense making)
 Practical knowledge: unconscious, generally accepted
 Discursive knowledge: what we consciously know
 People don’t really know what they are doing until they do it
(Actors are part of what is being constructed reflexively)
 Rationalization only gives action purpose and appearance of
intentionality
o There is no starting point or source; this is ongoing
o We create meaning by matching our rationalizing (based on existing
categories) with our interpretation
Structure versus system
o System: organization; what we live
o Structure: norms, rules, institutions; what we have to know and be to live
 Rules: not conscious; what we naturally do; routines to transform
something; can be verbalized
 Resources:
 Allocative capabilities give us power over objects
 Authoritative capabilities give us power over people
Duality, not dualism
o Dualism: separating macro and micro (an organization is what
management does independent of the employees)
o Duality: both macro and micro are interwoven; structures are not external
to individuals (an organization is what management, employees, context
etc. make it)
o Structure and system are mutually interdependent; social dynamics
develop from their reciprocal interaction
Theory of Adaptive Structuration (mostly Poole, DeSanctis)
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GDSS (Group decision support system) prime example for structurational
perspective: communication mediated by technology, yet social interaction forms
the context for application of technology
o Heim: modern society and technology are so bound together that it is
impossible to sort out which causes which
o Dialectic of control: the social technology shapes the user, but the user
likewise shapes the technology, exerting some degree of control over its
use and meaning in social action
Structure versus system
o System: social entity and its patterns of relations (i.e., pecking order)
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o Structures: rules and resources actors use to generate and sustain a system
 GDSS provide rules which can be used to generate structuration
 Spirit: goals and attitudes aimed to promote (democracy)
 Features: mostly technical limitations (i.e., voting once)
 Structures are both medium and outcome of action (process of
structuration)
 Process of structuration takes place in interaction
Structuration
o Structuration is the process by which systems are produced and
reproduced through members’ use of rules and resources
o It takes into account technology and its structures; context and its
structures; interactive structuring process (human influence)
o Successful groups match technology to task, but also task to technology
Orlikowski said (among many other things):
 Structuration (overcomes objective/subjective distinction; social process that
involves the reciprocal interaction of human actors and structural features of
organizations; humans are restrained by structures, which they have created;
structures: meaning, power, and norms)
 Interpretive schemes (stocks of knowledge used to analyze what’s going on)
 Duality of technology: technology is physically and socially created and changed
by humans, but also used to accomplish action; when it becomes institutionalized,
it appears objective
 Technology has interpretive flexibility (the interaction of technology and
organizations depends on the people and the contexts)
From what concepts in (adaptive) structuration theory did Orlikowski get meaning,
power, norms, and interpretive schemes?
Related Perspectives:
 Functionalism: society as system, people as its parts
 Strucuralism: focuses on social patterns
 Hermeneutics: science of interpretation
 Interpretivism: emphasizes individual sense-making activities
 Input-Process-Output (IPO) Theories: group processes influence outcomes
 Systems Theory(ies): organizations are organisms and communication is the
lifeblood