Abstract
In 1996 a large Danish manufacturing company — Omikron25 — started a European-Commission financed information technology (IT) research project — BlueTech1 — in order to develop and test new software that would allow shop floor workers to have more influence and control over their daily work in production. This new software was expected to raise the workers’ motivation and commitment and — in the long run — their productivity. The whole idea was to use BlueTech as an experiment that should show that IT can act as a catalyst for organisational change. Omikron had a very traditional top-down hierarchical functional organisation, with foremen and supervisors telling their colleagues what to do when and how. Most workers had a career of more than 20 years with the company, some even more than 40 years, a period in which a lot had changed technologically, but not organisationally or culturally. BlueTech, on the other hand, was implemented by a very young research department specialised in developing advanced robot systems and robot software, a department which was something of an ‘outsider’ within a company focussed on hands-on production.
For reasons of confidentiality, the names used in the paper are aliases.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnold, J., Robertson, I. T., & Cooper, C. L. (1995). Work Psychology: Understanding human behaviour in the workplace (2nd ed.). London: Pitman.
Barley, S. R. (1986). Technology as an occasion for structuring: evidence from observations of CT scanners and the social order of radiology departments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31(1), 78–108.
Burton, R. M., Lauridsen, J., & Obel, B. (2000). Fit and misfits in the multi-dimensional contingency model: An organizational change perspective (LOK report No. 1-2000). Odense: University of Southern Denmark.
Burton, R. M., Lauridsen, J., & Obel, B. (Forthcoming). The opportunity cost of extreme situational and contingency misfits.
Burton, R. M., & Obel, B. (1998). Strategic organisational diagnosis and design: Developing theory for application (2nd ed.). Boston/Dordrecht/London: Kluwer Acadmic Publishers.
Caplan, R. D. (1998). Person-Environment Fit. In J. M. Stellman (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety (Vol. 1, pp. 34.15–34.17). Geneva: International Labour Office.
Cooper, C. L., Sloan, S., & Williams, S. (1987). Occupational Stress Indicator. Windsor: NFER/Nelson.
DeSanctis, G., & Poole, M. S. (1994). Capturing the complexity in advanced technology use: adaptive structuration theory. Organization Science, 5(2), 121–147.
Døjbak, D., Nissen, T., & Obel, B. (2000). OrgCon: Vejen til at lære din virksomhed bedre at kende. Ledelse i dag, Forthcoming.
Edwards, J. R., Caplan, R. D., & Harrison, R. V. (1998). Person-environment fit theory: conceptual foundations, empirical evidence and directions for future research. In C. L. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of Organizational Stress (pp. 28–67). New York: Oxford University Press.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532–550.
Feldman, M. S. (1989). Order Without Design. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Franz, C. R., & Robey, D. (1987). Strategies for research on information systems in organizations: a critical analysis of research purpose and time frame. In R. J. Boland, Jr. & R. A. Hirschheim (Eds.), Critical Issues in Information Systems Research (pp. 205–225). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Fulk, J. (1993). Social construction of communication technology. Academy of Management Journal, 36(5), 921–950.
Giddens, A. (1979). Central Problems in Social Theory. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New York, NY: Aldine Publishing.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(2), 159–170.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1980). Work redesign. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Harrison, R. V. (1978). Person-environment fit and job stress. In C. L. Cooper & R. Payne (Eds.), Stress At Work (pp. 175–205). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Harrison, R. V. (1985). The person-environment fit model and the study of job stress. In T. A. Beehr & R. S. Bhagat (Eds.), Human Stress and Cognition in Organizations (pp. 23–55). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s Consequence: International Differences in Work-related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
James, L. R., James, L. A., & Ashe, D. K. (1990). The meaning of organizations: The role of cognition and values. In B. Schneider (Ed.), Organizational Climate and Culture (pp. 40–84). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Kanfer, R. (1990). Motivation theory and industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 75–170). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Karasek, R. (1998). Demand/control model: A social, emotional, and physiological approach to stress risk and active behaviour development. In J. M. Stellman (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety (Vol. 1, pp. 34.36–34.15). Geneva: International Labour Office.
Kristensen, T. S. (1999). Spørgeskema om psykisk arbejdsmiljø. København: Arbejdsmiljøinstituttet (National Institute of Occupational Health).
Locke, E. A. (1996). Motivation through conscious goal setting. Appplied and Preventive Psychology, 5, 117–124.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1984). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Morgan, G. (1986). Images of Organization. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Mottaz, C. J. (1988). Determinants of organizational commitment. Human Relations, 41, 467–482.
Orlikowski, W. J., & Gash, D. C. (1994). Technological frames: making sense of information technology in organizations. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 12(2), 174–207.
Orlikowski, W. J., & Robey, D. (1991). Information technology and the structuring of organizations. Information Systems Research, 2(2), 143–169.
Pinder, C. C. (1998). Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior. London: Prentice-Hall.
Prasad, P. (1993). Symbolic processes in the implementation of technological change: a symbolic interactionist study of work computerization. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 1400–1429.
Schabracq, M. J. (1991). De inrichting van de werkelijkheid (The design of Reality). Meppel/Amsterdam: Boom.
Schabracq, M. J., & Cooper, C. L. (1998). Toward a phenomenological framework for the study of work and organizational stress. Human Relations, 51(5), 625–648.
Starbuck, W. H., & Milliken, F. J. (1988). Executives’ perceptual filters: What they notice and how they make sense. In D. C. Hambrick (Ed.), The Executive Effect: Concepts and Methods for Studying Top Managers (pp. 35–65). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Staw, B. M. (1991). Dressing up like an organization: when psychological theories can explain organizational action. Journal of Management, 64, 273–290.
Verjans, S. (Forthcoming). Harmony and Stress in Information Systems Development and Implementation. A Multilevel Theory and Some Empirical Work on the Crossroads of Work Psychology, Organisational Theory and Information Systems Research — PhD Dissertation. Odense: University of Southern Denmark Press.
Verjans, S., Mogensen, L. K., & Lynggaard, H.-J. B. (1998). Interactive collaborative production scheduling. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society — IECON′98, 1926–1931.
Weick, K. E. (1990). Technology as an equivoque: sensemaking in new technologies. In P. S. Goodman & L. Sproull (Eds.), Technology and Organisations (pp. 1–44). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Whyte, W. F. (Ed.). (1991). Participatory Action Research (Vol. 123). Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Yin, R. K. (1984). Case Study Research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Verjans, S. (2002). Implementing IT in Production Settings. In: Liu, K., Clarke, R.J., Andersen, P.B., Stamper, R.K. (eds) Coordination and Communication Using Signs. Information and Organization Design Series, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0803-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0803-8_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5247-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0803-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive