Information and Communication Technology - a New Wave of Paradigm Shift in Organizations - Literature review Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2012 Introduction Information and communication technology (ICT) has significantly transformed organizations in contemporary society. Two key elements that have been transformed include the aspect of knowledge workers and organizations structures. Knowledge workers are defined as individuals valued by an organization for their abilities to act as well as communicate with knowledge within a particular subject area. On the other hand, organizational structure refers to the framework, normally hierarchical, in which an organization shows how its various elements collaborate in order to attain its organizational goals. The expansion of information communications technology (ICT) is argued to have brought about complexities on knowledge workers and organizational structures. This particular paper seeks to evaluate the notion that the effects of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures are more problematic as opposed to the beneficial aspects. One of the problematic aspects that arises from the investment of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures is the aspect of job elimination which reduces the number of knowledge workers that further affects the organizational structure in a negative way (Maglio & Baumol,2010). The adoption of ICT into an organization’s business operations is capable of saving a lot of time in terms of completion of tasks. For instance, the processing of paper work can be done instantly and financial transactions can be calculated automatically. However, with ICT investment, the tasks previously carried out by human employees are now done by the computer systems. For instance traditional structures such as functional structures that classified the workforce according to the tasks they performed have greatly been transformed through ICT for example customer service department were integrated into the marketing department , the finance department was integrated into the accounting department . This therefore reduces the number of knowledge workers and thus reducing the level of competency in organizational structures (Maglio & Baumol, 2010). With the investment of ICT in a number of organizations, a new wave of paradigm shift has occurred in companies, as a result, creating complexities within the organizational structures. Lim et.al, (2010), highlights that in relation to the paradigm shift, new types of organizations have emerged. These forms of organizations are referred to as virtual or network organizations structures. Virtual organizational structures are a unique kind of boundaryless organizations that exist within a complex network of alliances through the use of the internet. Communication is usually done through e-mails and there is no physical contact among various units in the organization. This therefore implies that the organization can be small; however, it can operate globally (Lim et.al, 2010). The complexities of these forms of organizational structures is brought about by the fact that that organizing a virtual or network business calls for a continuous innovation, transformations as well as the maintenance of “amoeba-like” dynamic processes and organizational structures, therefore, for a virtual or network organization to exist in the long-term it has to have a core of competency. This core is normally associated with a unique product or service, and the ability to innovate a unique method of marketing, which is usually difficult to attain. Another problematic aspect that arises from the investment of ICT on knowledge workers is that despite the vast information brought by the investment of ICT in organizations, knowledge workers face the challenge of wading through in order to make sense of all the information available at their fingertips. According to Irma (2011), present-day knowledge workers have become overloaded with a lot of information due to ICT. A number of them regularly receive at least 100 e-mails in a day, of which only a small percentage is relevant. As highlighted by Irma (2011), before the problem was accessing the information, however with ICT the problem is presently how to plow through and make sense of the many information available. It can be argued that the effects of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures are more beneficial. One of the beneficial consequences of ICT use in organizations is its potential impact in terms of the efficiency in innovation and knowledge creation. Knowledge workers usually undertake Resource and development (R& D) in order to develop new products (product innovation) or improve on the existing organizational production process (process innovation). Due to increased utilization of ICT in research, there is always the possibility of increased product success and increased innovation processes due to the existing R& D efforts, which are influenced by ICT. Cohen et.al (2004) emphasizes that the use of ICT also offers useful technical and scientific information for knowledge workers. The efficiency of R&D may therefore possibly increase due to the fact that ICT enables more rapid feedback on the desires of customer. These effects therefore change the organization structure of the firm. The manner in which the firm locates and organizes its production facilities, workforce inputs and capital are all significantly transformed by the implementation of ICT. As a result Cohen et.al (2004) suggests that organizations that modified their organization structure with Knowledge workers undertaking Resource and development (R& D) attained the largest gains in productivity from ICT. Another argument in support of the notion that the effects of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures are more beneficial is based on the fact that ICT significantly contributes to the increase in communication efficiency and information processing in organization structure where ICT has been successfully implemented. As highlighted by Bouwman et.al (2005), the efficiency of an organization’s communication and information processes normally has direct impacts in at least to aspects of the organization’s economic processes; the cost of transaction goes down and the productivity level of the knowledge workers improves. In the same way, the implementation of ICT is associated with transformation in an organizational capital of firms. All these channels provide the scope for investment in ICT to enhance multifactor efficiency growth beyond the long-established channel of capital expansion. According to Cohen et.al (2004), economic transactions, whether they take place between an organization and customers, or between organizations, come with transaction costs such as transport cost. The investment of ICT in organizations is also argued to be more beneficial in the sense that it enables an organization achieve a higher level of customer service quality, a factor that is argued to generate significant organizational changes in terms of its structures. Brodar & Pihir (2010) highlights that ICT in general, and internet in particular entails feedback in communicating with organization’s clients, as a result, encouraging as well as reinforcing progressive organizational changes. According to Sorrentino (2004),e-services are categorized into three stages where at the outset ICT offers information on the existing services (one-way communication).Secondly,ICT increases and enhances with the organization’s clients (two-way communication),and in the third stage,ICT enables the performance of the full transaction. By providing enough information, the organization achieves better transparency, while the ICT-supported connections and transactions enhance efficiency of the offered services. Prior to the incorporation of ICT as a standard way of modernization, a number organization were facing the problems of compartmentalization, and many organizations were organized in accordance to the administrators’ needs rather than the clients’ needs (Brodar & Pihir, 2010).Therefore, one of the main changes that has been brought by the implementation of the ICT is the better organization of an organization in terms of its structure. Another benefit of ICT on knowledge workers is based on the fact that ICT, and particularly the internet has facilitated new knowledge as well as helping knowledge workers to be up-to-date with technical progress outside their organizations. Rather than relying on intermediaries when faced with technical problems that they may struggle to solve, knowledge workers are now able to refer to the internet for knowledge that eventually leads them to a solution. The generic information from the internet is turned into knowledge and applied to a given technical problem faced by a group. According to Van Duivenboden et.al (2006), prior to the wide use of ICT, knowledge workers would more than likely have consulted their local gatekeepers for help. It is therefore clear that the advancements ICT has brought a change in terms of information search, which has contributed to the decline of the use of gatekeepers among organizations. Conclusion The impact of ICT on contemporary organizations, whether profit or non-profit, is lately at centre of public interest, and its value can be confirmed by the increasing investments on ICT by a number of organizations in most parts of the globe. Through the analysis, the paper has clearly evaluated the various effects (both beneficial and problematic aspects) of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures and each of them can be clearly connected with the implementation of ICT within the organization.Nonetheless,whether the problematic aspects of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures outweigh the beneficial aspects, or vice versa, is very much debatable, but we live in a world that is continuously searching for modernized and up to date modus operand. Therefore, in my opinion, and basing from the analysis above, I disagree with the notion that the effects of ICT on knowledge workers and organizational structures are more problematic as opposed to the beneficial aspects. References Brodar, K & Pihir, I, 2010, Impact of ICT on the Organizational Structure Elements: Case of the Varazdin County Bouwman, H, van den Hooff, B & van de Wijngaert, L, 2005, Information and Communication Technology in Organizations: Adoption, Implementation, Use and Effects, SAGE Cohen, D, Garibaldi, P & Scarpetta, S, 2004, The ICT Revolution: Productivity Differences and the Digital Divide: A Report for the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti, Edition Illustrated, Oxford University Press Harada, T, 2003, Three Steps in Knowledge Communication: The Emergence of Knowledge Transformers. Research Policy 32, Pp 1737-1751 Irma, 2011, Organizational Learning and Knowledge: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (4 Vol), Information Resources Management Association, IGI Global snippet Lim, M, Griffiths, G & Sambrook, S, 2010, Organizational Structure for the Twenty-first century. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Maglio, P.P & Baumol, W.J, 2010, Service Science: Research and Innovations in the Service Economy Series, Springer Sorrentino, M, 2004, The Implementation of ICT in Public Sector Organizations, Analyzing Selection Criteria for E-Government Projects, 17th E-commerce Conference,Pp 1-11 Van Duivenboden, H & Thaens, M, 2006, Information and Communication Technology and Public Innovation: Assessing the ICT-driven Modernization of Public Administration, IOS Press Handbook of Service Science Read More