From multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary research: Effects of information systems on formal organizations

The purpose of this work is to help build a bridge between total overviews of the field of information science on the one hand, and empirical research on the other. This is done by building a model for linking multi‐disciplinary approaches into a relevant and effective whole, and for deriving testable propositions from this new framework. Both the method followed in building this model and the method of presenting it, consist of working out an example—a sample area of research interest. The example is the field of research into the effects of rationalized information systems on the functioning of formal organizations. The disciplines involved in the analysis are organization theory (itself a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary area), general systems theory, cybernetics, some areas of information science and of the behavior sciences. The example first shows theoretical trends in the discipline of primary relevance—organization theory—being analyzed. A search for relevant analogies, theoretical and empirical terms, and testable propositions is then made in the disciplines listed above. This investigation yields a conceptual framework for empirical analysis which benefits from the contributions of all these disciplines, taking into account systemic characteristics such as the levels of organization of the system to be researched and a modified set of related propositions about relevant behavioral (personal and organizational) processes. A general method for interdisciplinary analysis of other problem areas is seen as being implicit in the specific example offered.