Information technology and organizational transformation : history, rhetoric, and preface

386 Pages·2001·18.819 MB·English

by  Van Maanen, John, Yates, JoAnne

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.
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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