The Networked organisation Jan Damsgaard Dept. of Informatics Copenhagen Business School.
Organisation and Management in the Networked Era... Organisation......Technology Environment......
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Transcript of Organisation and Management in the Networked Era... Organisation......Technology Environment......
Organisation and Management in the
Networked Era...
Organisation......Technology
Environment...
Post-industrial Organisational Paradigms
Organisation and Management in the Networked Era…..
What is an organisation? ...goal-directed….deliberately structured… social entity
What is management? ....attaining organisational goals effectively and efficiently through planning, organising, leading and controlling organisation resources
What do we mean by ‘Networked Era’?…ICT-enabled, connectivity, info-symmetry, extendedenterprises, virtual/knowledge workers...
...Evolution of Thought
IndustrialisationThe Classical TheoristsThe Human Relations MovementOrganisations as SystemsThe Contingency SchoolThe ModernistsPostmodernism
Evolution of Thought: The Classical Theorists
Focus on efficiency and control‘One best way’ - UniversalisticEmployee as tool/instrumentAssumed environment was
stable
1. Scientific Management School2. Administrative Theorists3. Bureaucratic School
Evolution of Thought: The Human Relations Movement
The Hawthorne Studies
Group interaction & social climate important to job performance.
Evolution of Thought: Organisations as Systems
Open Systems - Organisations, like organisms, are open to their environment and must interact with it to survive
Inter-relatedness - subsystems
Closed systems are unsustainable
Evolution of Thought: Contingency School
Theorists and managers must understand environment/context to prescribe appropriate structure/management technique.
Success contingent on more than one factor; no universal solution.
Focus on structure, environment, technology and size.
Evolution of Thought: Modern Perspectives
Institutional Imitation - Orgs/managers tend to imitate past practices and practices of successful organisations.
Cultural Perspectives - concerned with the WHOLE organisation rather then individual parts.
Evolution of Thought: Postmodern Organisation
Paradigm
Postmodern world increased rate of change global competitivenessinformation / electronic revolutionunstable & unpredictable environment
Evolution of Thought: Postmodern Organisation
Paradigm
The postmodern organisation reflects the needs of a changing world:
moderate sizeflexible, decentralised structuresinfo/knowledge as primary form of
capitalemployee empowermentservant leadership
The ‘Learning Organisation’
Old Paradigm New ParadigmVertical Org. Learning Org.*
Forces on orgsMarkets Local, domestic GlobalWorkforce Homogeneous DiverseTechnology Mechanical ElectronicValues Stability, efficiency Change, flexibility
Mgt CompetenciesFocus Profits & Custs, empsLeadership Autocratic Distributed, empowerApproach to work Individualistic TeamRelationships Competitive, conflict Collaboration
*Senge 1990
Images of Organisations
Organisations as machines (Morgan 1997) - Weber observed the parallels between mechanisation of industry and proliferation of bureaucracies
Organisations as organisms (Morgan 1997) - need to adapt to environment to survive
GOALS&
STRATEGIES
CULTURE
SIZE
TECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
STRUCTURE
Inter-relatedness Of The ‘OD’ Dimensions
Organisation & Environment
Systems & Contingency theories
Burns & Stalker (1961) - stable environments suited mechanistic structures; unstable env. suited organic structures
Lawrence & Lorsch (1967) - link between uncertainty, differentiation & integration
Interaction between Technology and Organisation
Joan Woodward’s studies (1950’s): Successful firms - complementary structures & technologies.
Charles Perrow’s studies on analyzability & variety & the appropriate structures for different types of technology
The technological imperativeThe Tavistock Institute: socio-technical
systems theory
Evolution of Technology
ProductFlexibility
Customised
Standardised
BatchSize
Small Large
Unit
Mass
Continuous
CIM*
MassCustomisation
Information Technology Evolution
SystemComplexity
ManagementLevel
Top
FirstLine
Low High
EfficiencyTPS
ResourceMIS / DSS
StrategicWeaponEIS/AIT
ISEvolution
AIT Implications for Organisations....
Management & OD Implications…….
Decision-making: broader, faster, well-informed
Connectivity - the ‘extended enterprise’Time and place not as constrainingFlatter org. structureMore control over degree of centralisationImproved co-ordination/communicationOrganisational responsiveness
….AIT Implications for Organisations
Cultural Implications:
Empowerment / co. brainpower / learning
Increased access to information - openness
Relationships may be more informalHigher skill levelsCollaboration tools facilitate team
cultureJob satisfaction
Fact or fashion?
“These days, it’s fashionable to claim that organisations are becoming flatter. Because of spreading information technologies and the shrinking number of middle managers, information is supposedly flowing both vertically and horizontally, becoming more pervasive and democratic…I’m not persuaded. I see layers added to organisations as often as I see them removed. I don’t see many low-level workers having intimate electronic chats with CEOs…
At best, the relationship between organisational change and information/technology change is a fluid one, with shifts on one side rippling to the other, back and forth over time, creating incremental improvements.”
(Davenport 1997, Information Ecology, p. 180)
Structures of the Future?Art Imitates Life...
Adhocracy (Mintzberg 1988)Doughnut Organisation (Handy 1994) Hyperarchy (Evans and Wurster 1997)Network organisation (Sproull 1991, Champy & Nitin 1996, Kelly 1998)Adaptive network/dynamic network (Daft 2000)Virtual Organisation (Grenier & Metes 1995)Hypertext Organisation (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995)Digital Enterprise (Woolner 1998) Object-oriented organisation (Evans and Wurster 2000)
Challenges?
For post-industrial, extended, network, virtual...enterprises
Identity, place, trust...Unifying visionLeadershipRewards, recognition & developmentChange & stability - need for process & ‘space’
Organisations as mirrors?
New Management for a New Era?
“Each economic age has its optimal form - a structure most aligned with the means of wealth creation, dominant technologies and social context.”
(Woolner in Tapscott 1998, Kelly 1998)