Organizational Theory

There have been numerous studies regarding how the influence of technology has brought about change to the structure of an organization as well as its processes. Many of the studies have concluded that the organizational structure is strongly affected by the principal technology which the organization uses. (Volti, 2005) Technology, in simple terms, is seen as the conversion of inputs into outputs using machines, equipments and processes. It is a system based on the use of knowledge and organization, evident in physical objects for the attainment of precise goals. However, with the coming along of new technologies, as well as postmodernist and symbolic-interpretivist, it has further expanded on how we think of technology to include it into the arts and social practise. This essay will look in the modernist and postmodernist perspective which will provide the different views as to how technology, organizations, management and employees are related.

The modernist perspective sees ontology as objectivism. What this means is that they believe in the reality which exists externally outside the influence of humans. They see the world as something which is not subjected to others authority, waiting to be discovered. They believe that technology brings about value for the organization and that technology will decide the structure of an organization. Epistemology wise, modernist see it as positivism. They have a preference towards ‘hard’ data such as numbers. An assumption made would be that with the application of scientific method, it is possible to find the truth about certain events. This would then allow knowledge to best tested against the objective world. With the accumulation of knowledge, humans are than able to progress further and eventually evolve.

Modernists adopt the General Systems Theory which is influenced by Emile Durkheim’s structural functionalism. They are concerned with what are the factors that bring individuals and groups together. The