new technology in the human services

NTHS Vol10(4) pp29-30 1997

Fulk J & Steinfield C (Eds.) (1990) Organisations and Communication Technology Sage Publications, New York ISBN 0-8039-3531-5

Bob Sapey is Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Lancaster. He is a member of the New Technology in the Human Services Advisory Group and edits the Professional Digest for Professional Social Work. His current research is on disability and housing and he is currently revising Mike Oliver's book 'Social Work with Disabled People'.

Contact him at:
Dept of Applied Social Studies
University of Lancaster
Lancaster, LA1 4YL, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1524 594863
Email: b.sapey@lancaster.ac.uk

Organisations and Communication Technology

Reviewed by Bob Sapey

Reviewing a reader of thirteen chapters is a bit like reviewing thirteen books, which would not only be excessive on words, but potentially tiresome. This review is therefore of necessity, extremely truncated, which in turn means that it cannot reflect the richness and depth of writing of this particular book.

Although now eight years old, this collection of papers has not lost any of its value to the study of organisations and technology. The principle reason for this and one of the main aims of the book, is that rather than attempting to measure and evaluate the latest impacts of new technology, the authors have set out to take a more reflective approach in the hope of developing a theoretical infrastructure in which such studies might take place, The editors suggest that the field of technology is currently impoverished of theory while being overrun by data, and there hope is that a theoretical infrastructure will permit us to gain knowledge from the observations of developments in this field.

The book is structured into five parts which do develop some key themes. In Part 1, 'Theorizing About Information Technology in Organizations', the need for theory is discussed and promoted. While interesting in its own right - I found myself making links to the debates about the need for theory in social work - this is primarily an introduction to the rest of the book.

Part 2, as its title states, presents 'Two Views of Information Technology, Tasks, and Organizations'. First, James Beniger argues that in conceptualising information technology as organisations and vice-versa, we are able to draw upon a wide range of established theory concerning the latter, in order to understand the former. This really sets the scene for the rest of the book in which the writers do just that. The essence of his argument for this conceptualisation is that bureaucracies and other modern organisations evolved as a response to the need for more efficient ways of processing information in order to control faster production and operational processes. As such, new technologies are a continuation of this and should not be thought of as completely distinct. This is followed by a paper by Clifford Nass and Laurie Mason which criticises current approaches to researching technology as being unable to generate useful generalisations. They go on to propose a range of variables, to which others could well be added, that would permit more meaningful study to occur. While complementing Beniger's paper to some extent, this also provides a more traditional, theory-testing approach to research than the interpretivism associated with classical organisations theorists such as Weber.

The third part, 'Individual Interactions with Information Technology in the Organizational Context', makes use of symbolic interactionism to develop the other main theme that runs through the book - media choice. First, Linda Trevino, Richard Daft and Robert Lengel present a rational model of decision making in which the interacting variables are message equivocality, contextual determinants and media symbolism. This is followed by Robert Zmud who draws out two further key issues of control and manipulation in seeking to understand more about why strategic managers fail to use information systems. The rational model is then challenged by Janet Fulk, Joseph Schmitz and Charles Steinfield with their 'social influence' model in which they also take account of the ways in which people experience technology. In particular this affects the hierarchy of media symbolism which in turn further influences the experience of media use.

In Part 4, 'Information Technology and Collective Behaviours', the focus moves away from the individual, but the social influence model is picked up by Noshir Contractor and Eric Eisenberg. They welcome its contribution but suggest that it lacks the inclusion of communication theory that would allow for an understanding of the processes by which social information flows. Their starting point is that everything about the adoption and use of media is social and go on to apply communications network concepts to the use of technology. In doing so they draw on Giddens' structuration and Burt's theory of structural action. This theme is then continued by Marshall Poole and Geraldine De Sanctis in seeking to understand the use made of 'Group Decision Support Systems'. At this stage the book felt to be less relevant to technology and social work but the next paper by Lynne Markus, which explores a critical mass theory of interactive media, could be quite useful in studying the developing use of the Internet. This part is then completed with a paper from Terry Connolly and Brian Thorn in which they examine the domain of the discretionary database, which falls somewhere between the simple computerisation of data that is already stored and the expert systems that might be commercially developed. Bulletin boards are the example they use, in which information is provided free of charge, yet does require some form of motivation.

The final sections of the book looks at 'Information Technology and Organizational Design'. George Huber seeks to integrate studies of IT with organisation theory to understand its impact, particularly on organisational design, intelligence and decision making. In doing so he picks up on the earlier theme of media choice and suggests that the assumption made that equivocal messages require a rich media may not be absolute. Rather, the use of a lean media such as email, may extend participation and allow communications to focus on the more equivocal aspects of their discussions when meeting face to face. In another important part of this paper, he argues that it is one of several mistaken impressions that advanced technology leads to rational outcomes. Thomas Allen and Oscar Hauptman then consider the role of technology in research and development organisations, and how its integration into different organisational designs relates to the effectiveness of pursuing functional or project goals. The final paper in the book is from Peter Keen. He is concerned to help managers use telecommunications to maintain organisational health. He considers how their use can help to change and simplify organisational structures, while increasing direct and flexible contact between people. To do otherwise might be counter-productive.

As I said at the beginning, this review is necessarily brief and only touches the surface of this book. However, I believe that it succeeds in the goal of editors which was 'less to present closed deductive systems than to organize thought and energize conceptual development on a very important and timely topic for organizational communication studies' (p23).

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Last updated 1 November 2000

The journal has now ceased publication (2003)