Information technology and organizational transformation : history, rhetoric, and preface PDF
Preview Information technology and organizational transformation : history, rhetoric, and preface
Information Technology and Organizational Transformation Information Technology and Organizational Transformation History, Rhetoric, and Practice JoAnne Yates John Van Maanen Editors Organization Science Published in cooperation with The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and "Information Systems Review" Sage Publications, Inc. ' International Educational and Professional Publisher Thousand Oaks • London • New Delhi Copyright © 2001 by Sage Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information stor- age and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information: Sage Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-mail: [email protected] Sage Publications Ltd. 6 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PU United Kingdom Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd. M-32 Market Greater Kailash I New Delhi 110 048 India Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Information technology and organizational transformation: History, rhetoric, and practice / edited by Jo Anne Yates and John Van Maanen. p. cm. — (Organization science) ISBN 0-7619-2301-2 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Information technology. 2. Organizational change. I.Yates, JoAnne, 1951- II. Van Maanen, John. III. Title. IV. Organization science (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) HC79.I55 15378 2000 303.48'33—dc21 00-010588 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Acquiring Editor: Marquita Flemming Editorial Assistant: Mary Ann Vail Production Editor: Diane S. Foster Editorial Assistant: Cindy Bear Typesetter: Tina Hill Indexer: Kathy Paparchontis Contents Preface John L. King Introduction Jo Anne Yates and John Wan Maanen PART I: THE HISTORY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION 1. The Role of Information Technology in the Transformation of Work: A Comparison of Post-Industrial, Industrial, and Proto-Industrial Organization Susan J. Winter and S. Lynne Taylor 2. Information Technology and Organizational Change in the British Census, 1801-1911 Martin Campbell-Kelly 3. Texas Politics and the Fax Revolution Jonathan Coopersmith PART II: THE RHETORIC OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION 87 4. Computerization Movements: The Rise of the Internet and Distant Forms of Work 93 Suzanne Iacono and Rob Kling 5. Politically Wired: The Changing Places of Political Participation in the Age of the Internet 137 Charles Bazerman 6. Information Technology in a Culture of Complaint: Derogation, Deprecation, and the Appropriation of Organizational Transformation 155 JohnR. Weeks PART III: THE PRACTICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION 179 7. Big Brother Goes Portable: End-User Computing in the Internal Revenue Service 185 Brian T. Pentland 8. Information Technology in the Police Context: The "Sailor" Phone 205 Peter K. Manning 9. Improvising Organizational Transformation Over Time: A Situated Change Perspective 223 Wanda /. Orlikowski 10. Transforming Work Through Information Technology: A Comparative Case Study of Geographic Information Systems in County Government 275 Daniel Robey and Sundeep Sahay 11. Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces 305 Susan Leigh Star and Karen Ruhleder Index 347 About the Editors 361 About the Contributors 363 Preface This volume provides one of the first clear-headed assessments of informa- tion technology and organizational transformation. Its virtue is not so much in its recognition of the importance of the subject; speculation on this topic has been rampant for more than a decade. Rather, it is unusual, and unusually useful, because it avoids speculation in favor of conceptually coherent accounts grounded in empirical study of actual organizations. The chapters contained in this volume move beyond the superficial glorification of in- formation technology as an extraordinary instrument of social change and straight to the heart of the mechanisms of change as they play out in everyday organizational life. In the process, they reaffirm that the real story of informa- tion technology in organizations is more about people than about technology. Taken together, they provide an important contribution to the intellectual foundations of one of the most interesting developments in decades. The volume grew out of a special issue of the journal Information Systems Research (ISR), a publication of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) that appeared in December 1996. This was ISR's first special issue, and it was important that the issue embody the insights and intellectual rigor for which the journal is known. JoAnne Yates and John Van Maanen served as guest editors and produced results beyond expectations. In keeping with the successful partnership between INFORMS and Sage Publications, the articles of this special issue, together with four additional papers, were accepted for production as a book. Harry Briggs at Sage provided essential early support for the book project. On behalf of ISR and INFORMS, I thank JoAnne, John, and Harry for their extraordinary efforts in producing this excellent volume. In addition, I ac- knowledge and thank the many individuals who submitted manuscripts for consideration and who helped to review these submissions. As always, the INFORMS publications staff, especially Kathye Long and Candi Gerzevitz, were of great assistance throughout the process. John L. King University of Michigan Former Editor-in-Chief, Information Systems Research ix
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