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DOI: 10.1177/0021886394302007 Information Technology and the Integration of Change: Sociotechnical System ApproachCal Poly State University
University of Trondheim and Cal Poly State University The integration of change over time is one of the ongoing challenges in a firm's life. Organizations seem to develop unique mechanisms that help them facilitate the integration of changes throughout and across organizational units. Information technologies based on electronic data processing are having a widespread impact on information flow within and between firms, on the structural configurations of the firm, and on management's ability to integrate change. This article proposes sociotechnical systems as a framework for examining the organizational implications of new information technology systems and as a tool for guiding the integration of change. The implications of the implementation of a local area network and its concomitant impact in a software development firm are examined over a 4-year period. The sociotechnical systems approach suggests that the same new information technology is likely to have different implications in various companies in terms of system integration, work design, and organization structure. These implications are likely to necessitate a realignment of the entire organization. The article concludes with the identification and discussion of some theoretical issues.
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