Organizing Technologies

Organizing Technologies presents theories about technology and its recursive ability to both shape its users and to be shaped by its very use.
Organization theory and management studies tend to underrate the importance of technological resources in accomplishing organized activities. In organizations, a wide variety of technologies are mobilized on a day-to-day basis to accomplish organized activities. Some of these technologies are subject to continuous discussions and controversies while others are taken for granted or simply ignored.

Organizing Technologies presents theories about technology and its recursive ability to both shape its users and to be shaped by its very use, outlining an analytical model where technologies serve three broad functions within organizations: to produce goods and services, to enhance administrative work, and to connect and co-align organizations within networks, supply chains, or distribution systems.


"The authors have pulled together a rich review and commentary on much written about technology over the last 200 years, providing us with an invaluable resource and a guiding hand. They recapture the often-forgotten distinction between productive and administrative technologies to help us view recent changes in the global workplace. This book is a God-send for those like teachers, politicians, journalists and managers who find themselves obliged to comment on today's technology-shaped events but lack the background to achieve their own balance."
J. C. Spender, professor at ESADE, Barcelona