Windows of Opportunity: Temporal Patterns of Technological Adaptation in Organizations

Abstract

(Rosenberg, 1982;Dutton and Thomas, 1985). These problems, in turn, require adaptation of the technologies already in use.A close understanding of the process of adaptation is critical for several reasons. First, users' adaptations to technologies-in-use often help to shape funher development and research activities (von Hippel. 1988;Dutton and Thomas, 1985). Second, the operating efficiency ultimately achieved with a new technology depends heavily on users' modifications (Enos, 1958;Hollander, 1965;Dutton and Thomas. 1984). Third, modifications affect not just the technologyin-use, but also its physical and organizational context (Leonard-Banon, 1988 (1983) states that when organizations try to rush the introduction process, they fail to identify and correct problems that later hamper productive use of the technology. Thus, "too-rapid implementation of the innovation ... can lead to disastrous results" (Rogers, 1983:364). Similarly, Hughes (1971:152) maintains that "trying to force the pace" of adaptation is counterproductive, while Hage and Aiken (1970:106) suggest that "the longer the elite allow [the] period of tnal and error to continue, the greater the chances of the new program achieving its intended objectives." Finally, Imai (1986) (Kiesler and Sproull, 1982;Starbuck, 1989). Groups in organizations also develop tendencies toward routine behaviors. Over time, they become increasingly unlikely to recognize and respond to new kinds of problems (Kelley and Thibaut, 1954;Katz, 1982;Hackman, 1990). Even research teams have been shown to be reluctant to alter a given technical approach once it has been selected, and the longer the approach has been used, the greater their rigidity (Allen, 1966).At the individual level, research suggests that people's arousal, attention, and motivation to engage in effortful problem solving is not constant over time. Specifically, active problem solving and information processing appear to drop sharply as soon as tasks become familiar or manageable (Langer and Imber, 1979;Kruglanski and Freund, 1983). With increasing exposure, observers tend to "chunk" activities into larger units that convey less information than fine-grained observauons, although a sudden surprise can sometimes reverse the process (Newtson, 1973; Louis and Sutton, 1991). Familiarity also breeds rounnized response patterns; once activities are well entrenched, even superficial resemblance to a known stimulus is sufficient to tngger a familiar response (Luchins, 1942).One of the few scholars to have considered the implications of these behavioral tendencies for technological adaptation is Weick (1990). Following Winner (1986), Weick (1990:21) suggests that "the point at which technology is introduced [may be) the point at which it is most susceptible to influence." Weick argues that "beginnings are of special imponance ... because they constrain what is learned about the technology and how fast it is learned " (1990:21-22 We deliberately sought vanety in the settings studied, the technologies...

Evaluating information systems: an appropriation perspective

“…The evaluation approach adopted also confirmed the long-observed phenomena of users being shaped by and shaping technology over time, encapsulated in such terms as technology adaptation, reinvention or customisation (Johnson and Rice 1984;Trigg and Bødker 1994;Tyre and Orlikowski 1994). These phenomena are here viewed as part of realising the design of the system through a process of appropriating the technology.…”

“…After a period, mutual adaptation ceases, with the design of the technology and practices around use of the technology stabilising (Mendoza et al 2005;Tyre and Orlikowski 1994). It is at this stage that the design can be thought of as being fixed.…”

El desarrollo de sistemas ERP: elementos para un enfoque por procesos

“…Esta orientación, bastante difusa en la práctica de gestión y de consultoría, ha estado radicalmente puesta en crisis de los enfoques orientados al BPR (HAMMER y CHAMPY, 1993;DAVENPORT, 1994) que han mostrado como válida aun la relación inversa es decir como los objetivos y las disposiciones organizativas pueden ser radicalmente modificadas por las oportunidades ofrecidas por la nueva tecnología. 3) Lógica dual: esta línea interpretativa, relativamente reciente, hace referencia a la Structuration Theory de Giddens y encuentra en Orlikowski (1991Orlikowski ( , 1992, Tyre (1994), Barley (1986Barley ( , 1990, De Sanctis y Poole (1994) sus exponentes más representativos. Desde esta óptica, la relación entre organización e instrumentos técnicos es bidireccional.…”

Dual information systems for organizational working and learning: the business and breakdown layers

“…The interpretive flexibility of information technology is often poor (Bf/ldker and Grfilnbrek, 1991;Eriksson, Hellman, and Nurminen, 1988;Gasser, 1986;Tyre and Orlikowski, 1994;Zuboff, 1988). This inflexibility results in part from agents with insufficient shared knowledge of the nature of social practices as a whole; of the articulation of these practices in time and space by the structural properties of organizations; of their own roles in the organization; and of the role of information systems as a structural property mediating work processes.…”

“…DIS are implemented by combining a coordination technology platform (Rein, 1992) with hyperknowledge systems (Chang, Holsapple, and Whinston, 1994 From the point of view of institutionalized reflection-in-action, the importance of routine use of information systems cannot be over-stated. Information systems as a structural property of organizations remain constitutive of organizational realities that can be known, understood, and acted upon (Lyytinen and Ngwenyama, 1991;Orlikowski, 1992;Orlikowski and Robey, 1991;Tyre and Orlikowski, 1994). For example, Tyre and Orlikowski presented and analyzed three case studies and found (1994, p. 111) that " ... routine use was ... necessary for on-going adaptation; it provided the raw data that, if utilized, could lead to improvements in the technology or the way it was applied in the local context."…”