Technology's Impact on Organization

A survey of five basic approaches to the relationship between technology & the organization of labor: (1) the theory of "technosocial determinism" maintains the precedence of technology over organization; (2) the multiple determinism theory, while acknowledging the dependence of organization on technology, recognizes other determining factors, eg, the type of social system or public relations; (3) according to the theory of social determinism, the social element is self-sufficient & actually determines the organizational structure; (4) the constructivist view holds that technology offers some choices & general orientation to organization, ruling out causal relations between technology & organization; & (5) the strategic approach is based on the concept of complementary distribution of organization & technology, which are interpreted as two autonomous domains that are brought together by common modes & objectives. An alternative interpretation of technological determinism is proposed, which integrates elements of other approaches, & which is based on the assumption that technology itself encompasses social & technological predictions of the inventor, & that techniques are developed with an implicit organizational design. Thus, there always exists a field of technological & organizational design that is restructured according to the organizational logic inherent in every piece of new technology. 47 References. M. Polinsky