Impacts of IT on Organizations, Individuals

1
Chapter 16

• Impacts of IT on Organizations, Individuals
  Society

2
Learning Objectives

• Understand the major impacts of information
  technology on organizations, individuals, and
  society.
• Consider the potential dehumanization of people
  by computers and other potential negative impacts
  of information technology.
• Identify the major impacts of information
  technology on organizational structure, power,
  jobs, supervision, and decision making.
• Identify some of the major societal impacts of
  the Web.
• Understand the role and impact of virtual
  communities.

3
Case Wearable Computers

• For years, many mobile employees were unable to
  enjoy the new technologies designed to make
  employees work or feel better.
• The use of wireless devices that can communicate
  with each other and with remote IS is increasing
  very rapidly (m-commerce).
• Such systems could easily include GPS (global
  positioning systems).
• So far only a few companies make and sell
  wearables for mobile workers, but this is
  expected to change in the future.

4
Does IT have only Positive Effects?

• While our society generally embraces IT, there
  are many people who believe that humankind is
  threatened by the evolution of technology.
• We must be aware of ITs effect on us as
  individuals and as members of organizations and
  society.Questions arise, such as
• Will society have any control over the decisions
  to deploy technology?
• Where will technology critics be able to make
  their voices heard?
• Who will investigate the costs and risks of
  technologies, and who is going to pay for that
  investigation?

5
Structure, Authority Job Content

• Flatter Organizational Hierarchies
• An increased span of control.
• Blue-to-white Collar Staff Ratio
• The number of professionals and specialists could
  decline.
• Special Units
• Technology center, e-commerce center, etc.

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Structure, Authority Job Content (cont.)

• Centralization of Authority
• Greater empowerment and decentralization.
• Power and Status
• Online knowledge bases may reduce the power of
  certain professional groups.
• Job Content
• If job content changes, people may need training,
  re-skilling.

7
Personnel Issues

• Employee Career Ladders
• The use of IT may short-cut a portion of the
  learning curve.
• Changes in Supervision
• Electronic supervision.
• Other Considerations
• Job qualifications, training, worker satisfaction.

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The Managers Job

• IT changes the way Managers make decisions in the
  following ways
• Automation of routine decisions (e.g,. frontline
  employee).
• Less expertise required for many decisions.
• Less reliance on experts to provide support to
  top executives.
• Empowerment of lower and medium levels of
  management.
• Decision making undertaken by non-managerial
  employees.
• Power redistribution among managers, and power
  shifts down the organization.

9
Organizational Changes

• The use of computer-assisted communication
  technologies leads to the following
  organizational changes (Huber,1990)

• A large number and variety of people
  participating in decision making.
• A decrease in the number and variety of people
  participating in traditional face-to-face
  communication.
• Fewer organizational levels involved in
  authorizing actions.

• More rapid and accurate identification of
  problems and opportunities, so better decisions
  are made.
• Organizational intelligence that is more
  accurate, comprehensive, timely, and available.
• Shorter time required to authorize actions and
  make decisions.

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Impacts of Individuals at Work

• Job Satisfaction
• Dissatisfied Managers
• Dehumanization Psychological Impacts
• Isolation and the Internet

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Impacts of Individuals at Work

• Information Anxiety
• Frustration with the quality of the information
  available on the Web.
• Too many sources online.
• Frustration with the guilt associated with not
  being better informed.
• Impacts on Health Safety
• Job Stress
• Repetitive Strain Injuries
• Ergonomics

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IS the Individual
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Social Impacts

• Opportunities for People with Disabilities
• Quality of Life Improvements
• Potential positive uses of Robots
• E.g., Case Laying Fiber Optic Cables.
• E.g., Case Cleaning Train Stations in Japan
• Improvements in Health Care
• Crime Fighting and Other Benefits

14
Technology Crime

• One of the major debates surrounding IT involves
  situations in which police are using technology
  to reduce crime.
• Scanning Crowds for Criminals.
• Casinos use face recognition systems to identify
  undesirables.
• The U.K. police have, since 1998, been using a
  similar system in East London borough with 300
  cameras.
• Many banks, gas stations, convenience stores, and
  even elevators use the system.

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Cultural Lag

• Ogburns Cultural Lag Thesis
• An inherent conflict exists between the rapid
  speed of modern technological advances and the
  slower speed at which ethical guidelines for
  utilization of new technologies are developed.
• A failure to develop broad social consensus on
  appropriate applications of modern technology may
  lead to
• breakdowns in social solidarity
• the rise of social conflict.

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IT Society

• Hearst (1999) presents three different views on
  how IT and
• society are changing one another
• View 1 Becoming socialized means learning what
  kinds of behavior are appropriate in a given
  social situation.
• View 2 Newly internetworked IT allows people
  acting in their own self- interest to
  indirectly affect the experiences of other
  people.
• View 3 There is a move away from a
  hierarchical society into a society in which
  boundaries are more permeable.
• glocalization- simultaneously being intensely
  global intensely local

17
Virtual Society

• The term virtual society refers to all components
  that are part of a societys culture based on the
  functional rather than the physical structure.

18
IT Employment Levels

• A major attribute associated with automation is
  the replacement of people by machines.
• There is no doubt that many people have been
  displaced by automation, but many more have
  gained employment due to automation.
• Computers encourage competition, which leads to a
  decline in prices.
• Lower prices mean higher demand, which, in turn,
  creates more jobs.
• The computer industry itself has created millions
  of new jobs.

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Is Mass Unemployment Coming?
20
Digital Divide

• Digital Divide the gap between those that have
  information technology and those that do not.
• Within countries and among countries.
• In 2001, only 5 of the worlds population used
  the Web, and the vast majority of this 5 was
  located in the developed world.
• Yet the Web has the potential to turn poor
  countries such as India into economic powerhouses
  dissolve rigid social barriers.
• Cyber cafes - One instrument for closing the
  digital divide.

21
Globalization Free Speech

• International Implications
• Many countries, willingly or unwillingly,
  knowingly or unknowingly, are being westernized
  as a result of information about western ways of
  life and values flowing freely across borders.

• Challenge to Free Speech
• The problem of Internet pornography is very
  serious
• Some countries take an entirely different line
  with respect to freedom of speech

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Social Responsibility

• Social Responsibility.
• Organizations need to be motivated to utilize IT
  to improve the quality of life in the workplace.
• Social Services and Privacy.
• Conflicting public pressures may rise to suppress
  the use of IT because of concerns about privacy
  and Big Brother government.
• E.g. Hong Kong ID Cards

23
Virtual Community

• A virtual community is one in which the
  interaction is done by using the Internet.
• Also known as an Internet community or an
  electronic community.
• An Internet community may have millions of
  members and as a result could have significant
  effects on e-markets.
• GeoCities (geocities.com) has grown to many
  million members in less than two years.

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Elements of the Virtual Society
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Types of Virtual Communities

• Communities of Transactions - facilitate buying
  and selling.
• Communities of Interest or Purpose - people have
  the chance to interact with each other on a
  specific topic.
• Rugby365.com gets rugby fans, and music lovers go
  to mp3.com.
• Communities of Relations or Practice - are
  organized around certain life experiences,
  situation, or vacations.
• Communities of Fantasy - participants create
  imaginary environments.

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Business Aspects of E-communities

• Value creation arises in virtual communities
  because the community brings together consumers
  of specific demographics and interests.
• This presents opportunities for transacting
  business, and for communicating messages about
  products and services.
• E-communities can attract advertising revenues
  from advertisers eager to communicate their
  messages to a specific target audience.
• Opportunities also arise for collecting valuable
  marketing information.
• demographics and psychographics of members

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Value Creation in Virtual Communities
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The IRM Model
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Lessons Learned

• The major concern of most organizations today is
  how to transform themselves to a new
  organization adaptable to the new economy.
• The key to survival is the ability to properly
  and quickly adapt to changes in the environment.
• Change in the business environment is
  demonstrated not only in the increased
  competition and globalization, but also in
  industry structures, distribution channels,
  production systems, and more.
• IT can also save organizations, helping them to
  adjust and survive.
• IT is the major driver of the new economy.

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Digital Economy Ready

• Actions organizations can take to become
  digital-economy ready
• Build strategic information systems and use
  innovations such as electronic auctions and
  exchanges.
• Create effective and efficient communication and
  collaboration networks.
• Examine possible new models and initiatives of
  e-commerce
• Examine supply chains.
• Make a continuous effort to increase
  productivity, quality, security, and
  effectiveness in every facet of the
  organizations operations.

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Digital Economy Ready (cont.)

• In moving to a digital-economy-ready status,
  carefully plan IT systems in coordination with
  the business plans they intend to support.
• Increase recognition of knowledge, its creation,
  preservation, storage, and dissemination.
• Support managerial decisions with IT and
  especially the Web.
• Have the ability to process a large amount of
  data.
• Facilitate innovation and creativity in digital
  economy applications by using intelligent
  systems.

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Digital Economy Ready (cont.)

• Carefully address the economies of IT in general
  and e-commerce in particular, including
  outsourcing, when moving to the new economy.
• Properly build and deploy information systems
  that will provide for internal efficiency and
  connect to the many business partners.
• Manage the increasing information resources in
  both business units and a centralized IS
  department.
• Address organizational, personal, and
  socioeconomic issues associated with the increase
  use of IT.

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Managerial Issues

• Supporting the disabled.
• Culture is important.
• The impact of the Web.
• Making money from electronic communities.

• Information anxiety may create problems.
• IT can cause layoffs.