Information and Communication Technology in Organizations: Adoption, Implementation, Use and Effects

238 Pages·2005·2.08 MB·English

by  Dr Harry Bouwman

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY IN ORGANIZATIONS
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY IN ORGANIZATIONS
Adoption, Implementation, Use and Effects
Harry Bouwman
Bart van den Hooff
Lidwien van de Wijngaert
Jan van Dijk
Sage Publications
London · Thousand Oaks · New Delhi
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First published in Holland with the title ICT in Organisaties.Adoptie,Implementatie,Gebruik en Effect.
Amsterdam,Boom Uitgeverij,2002
© Harry Bouwman,Bart van den Hooff,Lidwien van de Wijngaert and Jan van Dijk,2005
First published in Great Britain 2005
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,or criticism or review,as
permitted in the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act,1988,this publication may be reproduced,storied
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or in the case of reprographic reproduction,in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the
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the publishers.
SAGE Publications
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Contents
Authors vii
Preface viii
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xii
PART I 1
1 ICT and organization:processes and factors 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Organization,communication and technology 4
1.3 Innovation,organization and diffusion 6
1.4 Organization,environment and individuals 14
1.5 Factors influencing the adoption,implementation,
use and effects 15
1.6 Conclusion 20
2 Technology 22
2.1 Technology in context 22
2.2 Technological trends 24
2.3 Convergence 27
2.4 Layer model 30
2.5 ICT in organizations 32
3 Organizations 40
3.1 What is an organization? 40
3.2 Organizational goals and ICT 44
3.3 Organizational structure and ICT 46
PART II 55
4 Adoption:from exploration to decision-making 57
4.1 Adoption in two stages 58
4.2 Adoption of ICT:push and pull,opportunities
and demands 60
4.3 A closer analysis of adoption 64
4.4 Conclusion 73
5 Implementation 75
5.1 Introduction 77
5.2 Design and implementation of ICT systems
and applications 79
5.3 Design and implementation of ICT systems
and applications:organizational integration 83
5.4 Critism of existing design and implementation 87
5.5 Organizational implementation 89
5.6 Conclusion 92
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vi Contents
6 Use:individual,group and organization 93
6.1 Introduction 94
6.2 Individual and use:media choice and use 95
6.3 ICTand communication at the group level 107
6.4 Trends and developments in the use of ICT
in organizations 111
6.5 Conclusion 113
7 Effects:tasks,processes and structures 115
7.1 Introduction 116
7.2 ICT effects:no simple matter 117
7.3 The individual:from productivity to satisfaction 120
7.4 Organization:processes and structures 123
7.5 Environment:network organizations and information
economy 129
7.6 A case study of ICT effects:interaction between
organization and technology 133
7.7 Conclusion 134
PART III 137
8 E-commerce and e-business 139
8.1 Introduction 140
8.2 Business models 141
8.3 Adoption:the translation of business models in practice 145
8.4 Implementation:embedding e-commerce and
e-business in the organization 152
8.5 E-commerce and e-business:adoption and use 158
8.6 On the effects of e-commerce and e-business:
some myths reconsidered 160
8.7 Conclusion 162
9 E-government 163
9.1 Introduction 164
9.2 Differences and similarities when compared to e-business 164
9.3 Government in networks of information,communication
and transaction 165
9.4 Strategic possibilities of ICT for government 166
9.5 The adoption of ICT by government 169
9.6 Implementation and use of ICTby government 176
9.7 Conclusion 179
10 Some concluding remarks and research agenda 181
10.1 Opportunities and demands in retrospect 181
10.2 Phases and factors in retrospect 182
10.3 Future developments and research agenda 184
10.4 Concluding remarks 190
Glossary of concepts 191
References 200
Author index 215
Subject index 219
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Authors
Harry Bouwman is an associate professor at the information and communication
technology (ICT) section of the Faculty of Technology and Management at Delft
Technical University. He studied political science at the Free University of
Amsterdam. In 1986 he took his doctoral degree at the Catholic University of
Nijmegen. He worked at, among other places the University of Amsterdam, the
University of Utrecht, Michigan State University and at TNO Strategy,Technology
and Management. His publications cover videotext (Relaunching Videotex, 1992),
multimedia,(Multimedia tussen hoop en hype/Mutlimedia between Hope and Hype),1993;
Multimedia en Route,1996),ICT clusters (Silicon Valley in de Polder,2000) and ICT
and communication science (Communicatie in de Informatiesamenleving/Communication
in the Information Society),and he wrote scientific articles on these subjects,as well as
on (mobile) telecommunication and on e- and m-commerce.He is currently involved
in research into the development of business models for services provided by organi-
zations cooperating within complex value systems.
Bart van den Hooff is an assistant professor at the Communication Science
Department of the University of Amsterdam, and a researcher at the Amsterdam
School of Communications Research ASCoR. In 1997, he took his doctoral degree
with distinction, with the thesis ‘Incorporating electronic mail: adoption, use and
effects of electronic mail in organizations’.After taking his degree he worked for some
time as a consultant (at M&I/PARTNERS in Amersfoort),and returned to the world
of academia in 1999.Both in his teaching and in his research he focuses on issues sur-
rounding the adoption,use and effects of ICT in organizations,in particular the role
ICT plays in processes of organizational learning and knowledge sharing.
Lidwien van de Wijngaert studied Communication Science at the University of
Amsterdam, and conducted research at the Telematica Institute in Enschede. Since
August 1999 she is working as an assistant professor at the Institute for Information
Science at the Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science of the University of
Utrecht.Her research focuses on the significance of ICT to users and their context.
She publishes on a regular basis in books and scientific journals such as New Media &
Society and Information Services and Use and she is a regular speaker at scientific con-
ventions, both at home and abroad. Since March 2001 she has been an associate
consultant at Dialogic in Utrecht.
Jan van Dijk is professor of Applied Communication Science at Twente University,
specializing in the Sociology of the Information Society.Between 1980 and 2000 he
was associate professor at the Social Science Faculty at the University of Utrecht.Van
Dijk has been conducting research into the social aspects of new media since 1984.
He focuses primarily on the social, cultural and political aspects. His best known
books are De Netwerkmaatschappij (1991–2001)/The Network Society (1999), Nieuwe
media en politiek(1997)/Digital Democracy(2000).He is currently conducting research
into the influence of networks and network organizations,into interactive television
and into digital inequality. He advises the European Commission in his capacity of
member of the European Union’s (EU’s) Information Society Forum.
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Preface
The decision to write a book about a common field of interest is easily taken.The
process involved in transforming that idea into an end-product (the book itself) is
another matter.Some steps in that process are taken quickly,others require a certain
amount of time and discussion.And although not all these discussions are relevant to
the reader,in this preface we want to address a number of subjects on which our discus-
sions have focused – as well as the decisions in which they have resulted.The title of the
book is,of course,the very first subject of discussion:Information and Communication
TechnologyinOrganizations:Adoption,Implementation,Use and Effects.
Is this a book about what in Europe we call ICT (information and communication
technology)? Well,yes and no.Technology – whether it is Internet-technology or infor-
mation and communication technology makes little difference to us – appears to be at
the centre.After all,it is one of the central words in the title.We view technology as no
more than a tool to organize things differently, streamline processes and carry out
tasks more easily.Technology is an enabler.The use of technology is given shape in all
kinds of social processes,whereby economic and political (both within businesses and
real politics) considerations play a role.
Is it about organizations? Again,yes and no.Organizations are the context in which
adoption,implementation and use of ICT are given shape.The effects of the adop-
tion,implementation and use of ICT can be felt directly within the organization,but
there is also an impact on the relationships between the organization and its environ-
ment:its suppliers,competitors and customers.
Information and Communication Technology in Organizations.Why in,should this not
be between,or within? The use of the word in seems to imply that we limit ourselves to
what happens within the boundaries of an organization. Nothing could be further
from the truth.Increasingly,organizations are part of a complex network of organiza-
tions that sometimes work together and sometimes compete with each other,blurring
the boundaries of organizations.Not only is there co-operation across organizational
boundaries,an increasing number of people are working in organizations on a tempo-
rary basis, or people work together in virtual teams or communities of practice.
Although we start with what happens inside organizations,we do not end there.
Adoption, implementation, use and effect.As such this is a nice linear way of
describing all that goes on when new technologies are implemented in an organiza-
tion.But although this analytical division helps us organize the chapters of this book,
in practice the processes involved are anything but linear.They are complex processes
that contain a great number of feedback loops,that often grind to a halt and that are
sometimes even abandoned altogether.
And that is just the title.You can imagine that,in the light of the differences in our
backgrounds,we have discussed a number of issues at great length.We have no desire
to bore our readers with that,but there are a few things that we do wish to emphasize.
To begin with,we have a shared perspective.The book that you see before you was
written from a shared socio- and communication-scientific point of view with regard
to the domain of ICT and organizations.
This is not a book,then,that spends a great deal of time discussing various ICT-
related development methods,nor does it address new standards and protocols or talk
about the latest in co-operation tools.Although we pay attention to technology,this is
not a book about technology. It is a book that we feel may help developers, systems
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Preface ix
architects,programmers,ICT managers,and so on,gain insight into the human and
organizational dimension of ICT.Technical experts may be disappointed by the way
we discuss their area of expertise:we do not go beneath the surface and will not dis-
cuss the New New Thing, to paraphrase Michael Lewis.That is not our ambition.
Technology is but one of the factors we address.
Nor is this a book about management.There are no how to dolists,simple decision
models, suggestions on investment decisions, plans of action or guidelines.We do
believe,however,that managers will find this book very useful,as it helps them under-
stand the complexity with which they are faced at an everyday level.We claim to
provide an overview of all sorts of individual,social,organizational and economic fac-
tors that play a role in the adoption, implementation, use and effects of ICT in
organizations.In Chapter 1 we present our basic ideas on the subject.In Part II we
will get back to it in greater detail.
We have decided to divide the book into three parts.In the first and general part we
introduce our basic model of processes and factors. In Part II we discuss the four
process steps.In Part III we address the two crystallization points of developments in
ICT and organizations,to wit e-commerce/e-business and e-government.
With regard to the first part,we have struggled with which question to address first:
organizations or technologies.We have decided to discuss the technological component
of ICT first.The reason we have made this choice is that a description of trends and
developments and of individual technologies and applications makes it easier to estab-
lish a connection when discussing organizations.Again,technology is not the most
important subject,but it is where things get started,in real life as in this book.The
second part sticks to the four process steps:adoption,implementation,use and effect.
The two chapters in the final part are very different in nature.The chapter on e-
commerce/e-business sheds more light on current discussions and topics with regard
to the use of ICT in organizations.As we have addressed various examples with regard
to the adoption,implementation,use and effects in Part II we have decided not to do
so here, but instead discuss the current state of affairs surrounding e-commerce/e-
business. In the chapter on e-government we have adhered more closely to the
process/factor model presented in Chapter 1,for several reasons.First,we did not dis-
cuss government and ICT at great length elsewhere in the book.Secondly,for reasons
that will become clear when reading Chapter 9,government organization is a special
kind of organization.Thirdly,government tends to follow the business community’s
lead in terms of benefiting from the possibilities of ICT.
Chapter 10 includes some of our final thoughts on the book,the concept of multi-
plicity and a research agenda.Central to the whole book and to this chapter is that we
advocate a multi-theory, multi-level, multi-method, multi-moment approach of
research into the adoption,implementation,use and effect of information and com-
munication technology in organizations.
We have written the book with our students in mind. They are students in
Communication Studies (Amsterdam), Communication Science (Twente),
Information Studies (Utrecht) and Technical Management (Delft).We wish to thank
students who were given the opportunity to respond earlier to concept chapters and
lectures based on our ideas for their comments and reactions.However,the book is
also relevant to students with other backgrounds, such as management, business
administration,economics or organizational psychology and psychology.
We would not have been able to write this book without the support and efforts of
a number of people we would like to thank: Eric Andriessen, Ronald Batenburg,
Frank Bongers, Edward Faber, Marieke Fijnvandraat, Timber Haaker, Carola
Hageman, Christiaan Holland, Els van de Kar, Marijn Janssen, Carleen Maitland,