Achieving organisational efficiency and effectiveness: The lasting role of information technology

Abstract

Over the last few decades information technology (IT) has become an integrative part of organisational transformation in nearly every industry and sector. An extensive body of knowledge deals with the adoption, development, design, implementation and other aspects associated with the introduction of IT into organisations. However, this literature generally investigates IT at the project level investigating timeframes of months to few years. Subsequently, models developed by existing research cannot address the long-term implications and effects of IT for organisations. This study develops such a long-term model by analysing IT related organizational transformation over four decades in an organization. Drawing from annual reports, monthly staff circulars, meeting minutes, request for system proposals and other primary resources it reveals a repetitive pattern where the organization cycles through phases of automation and informating. While automation drives organizational efficiency by means of standardization, informating drives organizational effectiveness by leveraging new usage scenarios. Over time automation and informating feed off each other as new usage scenarios eventually drive further standardization and automation, while automation leads to the accumulation of data enabling further informating of organizational processes. At a time when organizations seemingly struggle to keep up with the latest technology and its transformative potential, the model developed in this research supports both researchers as well as organizations in better understanding and managing the mid-range to long-term implications associated with IT.

Biography

Dr. Sebastian Boell investigates how information and communication technologies (ICT) shape how organisations are able to create understanding about themselves and their environment. Seeing organisations as complex, continuously changing socio-technical systems Sebastian explores foundational questions about information systems, such as: How do ICT shape organisational information? and, How do organisations change and adapt with and through information over time?