Organisational Theory Technology RMIT University Slide 1 Technology Objectives: • Discussion of assignment • Introduce the concept of technology • Discuss common assumptions about technology • To understand the relationship between technology, organisations, management and employees. • To explore how the different perspectives view technology. RMIT University Slide 2 Assignment QUESTION: "In considering the influence that technology in general or any single technology has over human affairs, it is ... necessary to consider not only the technology and its presumed "imperatives," but also the key human agents of the technology, the organisations in which they operate, and how these influence the course of technological change" (Rudi, 2006: 257). Select two of the four perspectives and discuss how they provide different insights into the relations between technology, organisations, management and employees. RMIT University Slide 3 Thinking about Technology A critical exploration of the claims and counterclaims of the relationship between technology and progress. ‘Why do we take so little for granted in the social sciences and so much for granted in the natural sciences?…what happens when you apply the scepticism normally reserved for social relations to technology?’ (Grint and Woolgar, 1997, 37). Technology does not emerge from an objective exercise in problem solving. RMIT University Slide 4 Defining Technology ‘Technology’ is a fairly new word—coined by Jacob Bigelow, Harvard professor, in the 1820s. Roots of the word are much older: • Techne (Greek): art, craft or skill • Teks (Indo-Euro): weave or fabricate RMIT University Slide 5 Defining Technology Modern Definition 1: ‘A system based on the application of knowledge, manifested in physical objects and organisational forms for the attainment of specific goals’ Assumption: – that technology comes about in order to meet an organisational or social need. RMIT University Slide 6 Questions concerning technological innovation Do technologies comes about in order to meet an existing need? Keyhole surgery to cut costs? Do we (creators) find ‘needs’ for a new technology? Transistors replace valves – miniaturisation? Are technologies invented for practical purposes? Related to 1? Are technologies invented for the ‘challenge’ or for symbolic purposes? Hydrogen Bomb? Logos? RMIT University Slide 7 Defining Technology Modern definition 2: ‘A system based on the application of knowledge, manifested in physical objects and organisational forms for the attainment of specific goals which maybe for practical reasons, symbolic reasons or for reasons of generating profit’. RMIT University Slide 8 Technology and Progress A modernist duality: Common (modernist) assumptions: • Technological change is usually one of continuous improvements of existing technologies. • ‘We’ can always make things better and faster. • The progressive element of technology makes it a unique human endeavour. • Advances in technology bring positive advances to an organisation. • An organisation’s level of progress can be measured in its advances in technology. Does the evidence support these claims? Totally? Partially? Not at all? RMIT University Slide 9 Myth 1: Technology is ‘progressive’ Critical theorists and postmodernists argue: Technology is a subversive force: – Technological change can be a subversive process that results in the modification or destruction of established organisational roles, relationships and values. Examples: 1.Early 1800s, British manufacturers in the textile industry wanted to introduce new ‘more productive’ machines. Workers objected for fear of its impact on their jobs and skills. Formation of the ‘Luddites’ to destroy the ‘subversive’ technology. 2. China Today: the concept of toxic progress –polluted air and water. RMIT University Slide 10 Myth 2: Technology can ‘fix’ all problems Solving one problem generates new problems? Car accidents seat belts, air-bags Hyper active kids Retalin (prescription drugs) Heroine addiction methadone Graffiti resistant paints Dangerous jobs robotics Global warming carbon capture and storage/geosequestration ‘Ugly people’ cosmetics/cosmetic surgery RMIT University Slide 11 The Appeal of Technocracy: The myth of rational and objective leadership? That organisations can be governed by engineers and technical experts (scientific managers) who attempt to solve workplace problems’ based on technical/scientific principles. RMIT University Slide 12 The deficiencies of the technocratic delusion • Technology is often a source of organisational problems. • Goals for organisations are not always clear and often contested by various stakeholders (workers versus managers). Technology is value-laden: not objective – it serves to benefit someone. – It is informed by those who control the institutional means for its creation – The techniques produced embody (objectify) the values and perspectives of individuals engaged in their production. – Humans are not as quick to change behaviour as a new machine or computer chip. RMIT University Slide 13 Technological Determinism ‘The assumption that technology determines—that is leads directly to—a particular form of society or organisation’ (Grint, 1998). • We are the ‘servants’ of technology rather than its ‘master’ (‘Frankenstein Monster’) • Generally rejected by classical modernists (control of), SI (constructed by), CT (used by hegamons) and PM (Tech-Human interface) The technological imperative: technology as a cause of organisational structure – we select then accommodate it. – Robert Blauner concludes in his research on work in American industries that: ‘technology more than any other factor determines the nature of the job tasks performed by blue collar employees and has an important effect upon a number of aspects of alienation’ ? RMIT University Slide 14 MODERNIST APPROACHES: structural typologies Types of technology: (Perrow) core technology – unit/organisation level (Woodward, Thompson) supporting technology – task level – task variability (TV), task analysability (TA) Two-by-two matrix TV (high, low) against TA (high, low) Thompson’s Typology: Distinguish between long linked (mass production continuous processing), mediating (bring people together for exchange) and intensive (coordinating two or more specialised abilities) RMIT University Slide 15 Woodward’s Industrial Organization (1965): A Modernist approach Organisational form reflects production technologies Production Type Production and Technological characteristics Organisational structure Unit and small batch production (shipbuilding) Made to order. Unpredictable. Diverse products. Specialised & flexible technologies Highly skilled labour. Structure: Flat, flexible Control: Committees, teams. Skilled workers maintain some control over machines. Mass production (automobile) Routinised & predictable Conveyor & Assembly line Automated (robotics) Unskilled Structure: Vertical, bureaucratic, specialised Control: Managerial control of machines Continuous production (chemical) Continuous flow & automated Highly technical, computerised Structure: vertical & organic Control: committee, technicians monitor and manage production. RMIT University Slide 16 Child’s Strategic Choice: • Technology is a consequence of organisational structure and management’s ‘strategic choice’ • An organisation can shape technological change through their ability to affect the supply and demand for a particular technology. • An organisation responsible for a sizable portion of an industry can greatly influence the technological development of the industry as a whole when it creates (or refrains from creating) new products. For example, Microsoft. • A technology might be selected not because of its innate superiority, but because it meets the needs of the power holder within that organisation. RMIT University Slide 17 Symbolic Interpretive Approaches:Technology as socially determined technological changes are themselves socially engineered and all human relationships (including organisational relationships) are derived from and ultimately determined by cultural and/or social relationships rather than technological aspects. RMIT University Slide 18 SI: Expanding the Definition • Because technology is socially constructed Symbolic Interpretivists expand definition beyond physical objects to include symbols – words, images, metaphors and beyond task to include interactions between people and technologies. • Broadening the study of the socio-technical interface • Special interest in New (computer) technologies: • Stochastic – more open to producing the unexpected – reliability an issue • Continuous – in ways never imagined by modernists • Abstract – operator removed from technical operation • Tight coupling –human agency/technology RMIT University Slide 19 Social Construction of Technology Symbolic interpretive approaches focus on how technologies are ‘constructed’ through interaction. Reject modernist notion that technology: – determines organisational design – develop according to a particular ‘logic’, process or universal law. RMIT University Slide 20 Social Construction of Technology Influences on technological design and use: institutionalisation • Market control (mimetic pressure) – Beta versus VHS, Microsoft versus Apple • Social acceptance (normative pressure) – 1890s cars interpreted as ‘green’ alternative to horse-drawn carts – Today cars associated with environmental destruction. • Government policy (coercive pressure) – Criminalisation of hemp in 1937 allowed for DuPont’s synthetic fibres. • Gender (normative pressure) – Bicycle RMIT University Slide 21 Social Construction of Technology Application/focus of SCOT as an analytical tool: • Identify the different interpretations of technology. • Analyse the problems and conflicts these interpretations give rise to. • Correct the design features of the technological artifacts. RMIT University Slide 22 Social Construction of Technology: conclusion Technologies have different meanings to different groups. “..technology is not a pure application of science; it is co-determined by social, cultural, economic and technical factors in the environment that contextualizes it” (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006: 155). RMIT University Slide 23 Critical Theory Braverman and Labour Process Theory: power over Harry Braverman’s key arguments: • Links Taylorist work redesign processes to Marxist class analysis. • Through the process of deskilling and work degradation, all employees are finding themselves in a similar disempowered and alienated position. • All work is becoming the same and workers are becoming extensions of machines. • Under the ‘logic’ of capitalism ‘deskilling’ is a universal process and the skilled craft worker is becoming extinct. • Through ‘deskilling’ workers have lost control over the production process and are largely powerless to stop any workplace changes (e.g. technological change, the hiring and firing of workers, managerial decisionmaking, shift rosters, speedup, etc.) RMIT University Slide 24 Postmodern Conceptions of Technology Focus of research: the relationship between technology and ‘self’ in organisations and the emergence of the techno-human interface. • Technologies of control (e.g. self-surveillance, discipline, focus on performance rather than values). • Technologies of representation: technologies used to represent individuals and work processes:(e.g. electronic systems to identify performance and make managerial decisions about merit and promotion among employees). RMIT University Slide 25 Postmodern Conceptions of Technology techno-human partnerships Cyborganisation A hybridised organisation: a techno-human construct – An organisation who has been taken over in whole or in part by computer or electromechancial devices (computers, software programmes, phone systems, copier machines, etc.). – An organisation determined by both machine and human intervention. – A techno-organic organisation Dangers: – Human misuse and abuse of technology – Organisational members serve the technology instead of the technology serving the organisation. – Organisational members often expect more from a technology than it can deliver. – Human and social elements become subordinated to technological capacities and/or imperatives. RMIT University Slide 26 Actor Network Theory: Techno –human equality? • Knowledge product of interactions – machines, people, buildings, concepts, written documents • Network not the actor that performs the act – humans just another element (Networks of relationship between human and non-human actors) • Networks are fluid and largely invisible • Two key assumptions: • Social world is materially heterogeneous – sociotechnical ordering • Elements of network do not have an independent existence - principle of rationality RMIT University Slide 27 Assignment QUESTION: "In considering the influence that technology in general or any single technology has over human affairs, it is ... necessary to consider not only the technology and its presumed "imperatives," but also the key human agents of the technology, the organisations in which they operate, and how these influence the course of technological change" (Rudi, 2006: 257). Select two of the four perspectives and discuss how they provide different insights into the relations between technology, organisations, management and employees. RMIT University Slide 28