Queen Essays

Nicole Thompson

School of Business Administration (D.B.A) liberty University 

09/14/2023 

  

Authors Note  

Nicole Thompson 

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. 

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nicole Thompson 

Email: [email protected] 

 

 

Technology Structures and Social Boundaries for Organizations 

 

A lot goes into organizations and making sure that it continues to ensure that it continue running smoothly and run smoothly and run efficiently for a long time. The organization does a lot of different things so that they can run smoothly. When we think about technology we think about computers and things of that nature. Scott (2006) explains it by talking about technology as the hardware used when it comes to performing work and the skill and knowledge of the workers and sometimes even the characteristics of the objects where it is performed. When it comes to organizations, they contain a lot of things besides just structure within them. They also contain diverse types of systems that involve the people within them and the social structure. Without both, they would not be much of an organization running smoothly and using technology to make sure that it runs smoothly. Organizations do everything they can for their social structure and their people so that they continue to go towards their company goals. But, to have that structure with their people and their culture takes time, and a lot of organizations do not focus on it all at once. Depending on the organization sometimes they focus on other things first and then come and focus on the people and then the social structure. To fully understand when it comes to the concept of technology and the social boundaries when it comes to an organization, we must examine how it affects the organizational structure that supports it.  

The Three Perspectives  

When it comes to natural, rational, and open systems and technology those viewpoints are mostly affected by what technology means to social structures and social boundaries. They are three different viewpoints that can bounce off each other when they need to but they do not. So, when investigating all three of them in terms of technology it could be a little difficult.  All three of the viewpoints have their own unique way of doing things when it comes to organizations. Some viewpoints are formal and then some of them are informal so when it comes to technology. Bonanomi et al (2019) talk about in their article the impact that digital transformation has on formal and informal organizations. Bonanomi et al (2019) also talk about in their article how technology has transformed the way professionals work and interact between firms. But when it comes to digital integration between the two the authors discuss how it can be navigating the structure no matter if it's formal or informal can be difficult during a digital transition. So, it is important for managers to use social network analysis and see how it is impacting the organizational structure. So, overall, when it comes to technology and the diverse types of viewpoints, they have an enormous impact on a company's organizational structure. They have their own issues in each organization when it comes to technology, but managers or even top management must be able to identify these issues and help everyone within the organization get through them. 

Natural, rational, and open systems are three different viewpoints that have their own interdependence when it comes to the organizational structure within the technical environment. Within the viewpoints, they all have their own organizational structure based on the nature that is most closely linked to them. But when it comes to technology sometimes it can be shaped and redesigned to fit the nature of the interaction that it must have. Again, technology is always changing and sometimes it must change to fit the organizational structure that it will go into. So, when it comes to all three viewpoints sometimes, they will have issues regarding it, but technology will change for it. Bartczak (2022) talks about in their article how business models and organizations can change over time but that digital technology platforms can help when these business models are changing over time. Bartczak (2022) also talks about their article on the importance of digital technology when it comes to business models and how they promote the implementation of innovative solutions. They also talk about in their article how because of the competition and the market digital technology can be good for that also. So, when it comes to the different types of viewpoints even though they all have their own type of structure, technology can help them when it comes to fitting into their organization. That change is needed for organizations to run smoothly with their formal and informal type of structures. In the end, when it comes to the viewpoint's technology is there to help them so that they can reach their end goal regardless of what it is.  

  Areas of Technology are an Issue 

Technology is a part of organizations today and even part of everyday life. They play a crucial role in making sure that everything is running smoothly and making sure that people can start their day at work. It also helps with producing innovative ideas for companies. Without technology, it causes a bigger issue for companies and can make it harder for employees to do their jobs. So, technology is huge in the business world. But technology is always changing and that can cause an issue for companies that do things differently. Some companies take longer to learn how to do things and learn different systems slower than others. Companies also have other issues when it comes to smoothly using technology within their company. Haseeb (2019) talks about in their article how technology adoption can be hard due to a lack of resources and other issues. Haseeb (2019) also talks about how because of those technological challenges causes low performance. So, some companies have issues when it comes to using technology and making sure that they put it into their company. Also introducing modern technology to a company that does not have the resources can cause the company to have a lot of problems that can affect how the company performs. It can also cause disruptions within the company that can cause a lot of different problems like loss of productivity, loss of continuity, and loss of employees. So, that is one of the major problems that technology can cause within a company.  

There are multiple other issues that technology does cause that can hurt an organization more than it can help it. These types of issues can even include hurting the company's innovation and its development within a company. Innovation and development are particularly important for a company to continue growing and technology is a big part of that. Technology can also affect new business models that companies are trying to put in place. Especially in a company that uses mostly technology.  Boni and Gross (2020) discussed in their article that there are issues when it comes to transformative technologies and because of that it affects the promise to create innovations. Boni and Gross (2020) also go over in their article how technology can evolve and change over time and that is normal but that it remains in the preliminary stages. That can be an issue because most of the transformative innovations can take a long amount of time. So, because of that, it can create a lot of different challenges for companies and for the growth of the company going forward. Introducing new types of technologies while trying to learn a different type of system can be very problematic for a company and the workers inside of it. It can also stop productivity within the company. Therefore, technology can be an issue with being innovation and the company's development. Which can set companies behind when it comes to their competition within the market that they are working in.  

Issues with Organizational Boundaries  

 

Scott (2006) talks about in his book how organizations provide a lot of things when it comes to their employees, business partners, consumers, etc. That they do everything they can when it comes to participants but the most common problems there is within an organization are inequity, insecurity, and alienation. Organizations have taken their time over the years to try to solve these issues and the impact that it has on everyone within the organization. But even though they try it does not mean that they have been successful in making sure that it is fair for participants. Most companies find out all this information and feelings from data that is collected throughout the year. Work conditions have an enormous impact on participants within organizations. If there are poor working conditions within a company, then that tends to lead to participants having issues within the company and job satisfaction. Supranowo (2017) analyzes how working conditions and the working environment can influence participants' motivation and their improvement within the organization. In the end, they found out how when there is a more delightful working environment, it encourages things like career development and motivation for the participants in the organization. Things like that are especially important when it comes to making sure that the organization is growing at an excellent rate when it comes to participants. Companies do not want to have negative working conditions for their participants because it will not help them in the long run, it will only hurt them.  

Organizations do everything they can to make sure that they do everything they can for their participants and make it an extremely comfortable place for them to work. Surveys, questionnaires, and talking to participants can let the organization see the truth and what participants think about the company. Many companies have discovered that one of the issues within the workplace is stress and work-related strains. Ipsen, Poulsen, Gish and Kirkegaard (2020) talk about in their article how there were a lot of issues dealing with stress and work-related strains. Ipsen, Poulsen, Gish, and Kirkegaard (2020) also discuss how all the stress that participants were experiencing did not just come from work, but also came from numerous economic issues going on at the time. But the authors also talk about in their article that companies are trying to reduce those stress factors at work but putting in multiple types of interventions. Companies have always had an issue when it comes to stress. Participants always feel like they are overworked and like they do not have support within the organizations. Companies do not always find out these types of issues though sometimes talking to participants to just talking to the management staff within the company. Then just like the article was talking about there could be other issues like the economy that can add to their stress at work. That is why it is important to have those types of innervation and interactions at work when it comes to the participants.  

Personal Perspective  

Technology, regardless of what it has been used for, can help, or hurt an organization depending on how a person uses it. When it comes to organizations and technology it can also help them or hurt them in the long run. It is especially important because of how competitive the global economy is and how organizations need to adapt to meet their customers' needs and also their employees’ needs. Technology can help when it comes to their employees in the organization. It makes everyone's participation easier so they can see how everyone feels and get involved. For example, through technology companies can send out engagement surveys to their employees to get a good look at everything. Without those surveys, companies would not know how they can make things better for people within their organization or solve any issues they may not have seen before. So, keeping the technology current within an organization lets them grab any opportunity across the board.  

Even though technology can be useful it can also pose a challenge to some companies. Leaders do everything they can to make technology easier to use, but sometimes that does not always work out in their favor. Even within this 21st century technology is always changing and having to adapt to it can be hard. And complexity and uncertainty of new-age technology can make it harder for a company to get the best benefit out of technology. 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the New Testament talks about the struggle and how God will help you to overcome it. The passage says “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to men. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of the escape, that you may be able to endure it.” So, even though technology can get complicated at times, it is up to the leaders within the organization to help employees when it comes to seeing them through this type of complexity.  

 

 

 

 

Bartczak, K. (2022). Changes in business models implied by the use of digital technology platforms.  Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 9(4), 262-281.  https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2022.9.4(14)Links to an external site.  

Bonanomi, M. M., Hall, D. M., Staub-French, S., Tucker, A., & Talamo, C. M. L. (2020). The impact of digital transformation on formal and informal organizational structures of large architecture and engineering firms.  Engineering, Construction, and Architectural Management, 27(4), 872-892.  https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-03-2019-0119Links to an external site.  

Boni, A. A., & Gross, D. M. (2020). Emerging, transformative technologies: Promises and business model challenges.  Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, 25(4), 3.  https://doi.org/10.5912/jcb948Links to an external site.

Haseeb, M., Hussain, H. I., Ślusarczyk, B., & Jermsittiparsert, K. (2019). Industry 4.0: A solution towards technology challenges of sustainable business performance.  Social Sciences (Basel), 8(5), 154.  https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8050154Links to an external site.

Ipsen, C., Poulsen, S., Gish, L., & Kirkegaard, M. L. (2020). Continuous evaluation of participants’ perceptions of impact: Applying a boundary object in organizational‐level interventions.  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 30(3), 149-164.  https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.20830Links to an external site.  

 

Official king James Bible online. (n.d.). Retrieved September 3, 2023, from  htLinks to an external site.tps://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Links to an external site. 

 

Scott, W.R (2007). Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems Perspectives. London, England: Prentice Hall, Inc. 

 

SUPRANOWO. (2017). The influence of working environment conditions, compensation and career development on employees’ working motivation at an indonesian bank.  Expert Journal of Business and Management, 5(2), 142-148. 

 

,

Jeffrey Bartrom

Discussion Thread: Technology Structures and Social Boundaries

 

Technology Structures and Social Boundaries

Overview of Technology terminology and social boundaries for organizations today

              According to Scott and Davis (2016), Organizational theorists believe that technology encompasses not just the physical hardware, but also the knowledge and abilities of an organization’s employees and their skills. The four organizational concepts that have evolved are task environment, general environment, technology, and technical systems (Ricardo, 2021). The general environment is an inclusive concept that involves all outside factors and influences that impact the operation of a business that an organization must respond or react to maintain its flow of operations.

 It is further broken down into six types of general macro environments and forces that are interrelated and affect organizations: sociocultural, technological, economic, government and political, natural disasters, and human-induced problems that affect industries and organizations (Ricardo, 2021). The task environment is the set of external forces that directly affect the organization’s operations and performance. It includes customers, competitors, suppliers, regulators, and other stakeholders. Technology refers to the tools, techniques, and actions used by an organization to transform inputs into outputs. It includes both hardware and software components. Technical systems refer to the combination of technology and people working together to achieve a common goal. It is a complex system that involves both social and technical aspects. The environment can provide the material needed for technology, but the environment also provides the technology used to transform the material into the final product. Merida (2015) provided a good example of this when they explained Solomon’s request for materials and skill for constructing the temple: “Hiram… …[supplied] wood, carpenters, and stonemasons. The Sidonians were experts in building techniques. Solomon asks Hiram for skilled men and materials.”

 The institutional components of the organizational technological framework refer to the formal and informal rules, norms, and values that guide the behavior of individuals within an organization (Ricardo, 2021). These components include laws, regulations, policies, procedures, customs, traditions, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations.

The political component of the organizational technological framework refers to the influence of government policies on organizational behavior. This includes laws, regulations, taxes, subsidies, trade agreements, tariffs, and other forms of government intervention in the economy (Ricardo, 2021).

Scott and Davis (2016) asserted that “most analysts have conceived of organizations as social structures.” While organizations may themselves be structures and structure may be one of the most common features of organizations, the nature of these structures varies greatly from one organization to another, and most structures are quite important to the organization. Mahmood and Mubarik (2020) identified structural capital as a vital component of intellectual capital within their Industry 4.0 framework. There are many different formal and informal structures and organizations that develop their unique structural arrangements for differing reasons. Among these reasons are technology and labor, each of which holds tremendous influence over the creation and modification of organizational structures.

How do each of these apply to the three perspectives (natural, rational, and open)

Natural

The relationship between technological structures and social boundaries can be viewed from three perspectives: natural, rational, and open. From a natural perspective, technological structures and social boundaries are viewed as the outcome of an organization’s natural growth (Scott & Davis, 2016). According to this viewpoint, technology is a tool used by businesses to increase productivity and competitiveness.

Rational

From a rational perspective, technological structures and social boundaries are seen as deliberate and intentional creations of organizations. They are the result of deliberate design and decision-making processes that seek to optimize performance and efficiency.

Open

From an open perspective, technological structures and social boundaries are viewed as dynamic and flexible. This perspective emphasizes the importance of collaboration, innovation, and creativity in organizational structures. Open systems theory suggests that organizations should be adaptable to change and should be able to respond quickly to new challenges.

The three perspectives on technology structures and social boundaries offer different insights into how organizations can use technology to improve their performance. While the natural perspective emphasizes growth, the rational perspective emphasizes efficiency, and the open perspective emphasizes flexibility and innovation.

Areas of technology that are an issue for participants

              Technology is an important aspect of any organization, as it is the piece that allows businesses to interact with the outside world where most of the interaction occurs. This means that technology would often control the inputs and outputs for the organization. When organizations utilize technology, it is a means to enhance the processes and quality. If you look at how IBM and Oracle offer technology services to companies, it’s a means to enhance their business structure and operations (Ardito, et al., 2019). This technology allows companies to rely on computer artificial intelligence to alter the framework of how their company operates. The dependency upon this technology can cause a struggle as there are not human inputs occurring, only algorithms that thinks for each programmed input to react to. This has eliminated a lot of jobs that are used to manually plan and track these trends and shipments (Lu et al, 2018). Before this technology was invented, workers would get an order in and would start on fulfilling and then get it ready for a shipment.  When this new technology was inserted, you lost those jobs to a computer who dictated what order should be packed and ship first and sent out on what trailer to streamline the effectively and cost intensive.

              Technology issues with automation also occur because the inputs for rates and production metrics can ignore the human factors such as labor force, skill level and even understanding the system in place. Amazon utilizes a program that gets in real time orders and auto sequences them by customer promise date, cost to ship and item location in organization (Barber, 2018). This is all done with my computer algorithms that only take a few inputs to get active each shift but doesn’t account for labor force and won’t redirect work until the last minute. The technological parameters in jobs can be detrimental to employees as they don’t have the required skill and knowledge as well as the technological requirements for the job. Some employees are bound to technology for their organization which is their environment, but they must understand all aspects of the structure or encounter technological difficulties (Scott & Davis, 2016).

Issues with organizational boundaries for participants

Organizations are inherently an open system making them prone to being closed off and just a shell versus a permeable structure that allows flow through (Ricardo, 2021). This means that organizations must allow the proper attributes and qualities to grow and permeate through that organization versus allowing negative ones to fester and rot the foundation away. Organizational boundaries are created, maintained, respected, or contested, crossed, or broken down by organizational members acting in a living forward mode. The resulting boundaries frame future practice and organizational members’ understanding of the organization’s past and present. In decentralized organizations, it is harder to work with other divisions or departments of their own organization than it is to work with outside suppliers or customers. In ordinary cases, this intraorganizational coordination failure can cost substantial sums of money. In other cases, these failures can be catastrophic such as government agencies failing to disclose information through all agencies and culminated into the largest terrorist attack on America.

Organizational boundaries are socially constructed distinctions created intentionally to foster specific patterns of behavior by one set of individuals that are different from other sets of individuals. They have a double-edged value: positive and negative. On the positive side, creating boundaries potentially allows workers to focus, and thereby deepen and specialize knowledge and activity. The negative side is control, where management and culture inflexibility thwart the agility needed for crossing boundaries (Scott & Davis, 2016).

There are four types of organizational structural boundaries that are particularly relevant for communication: vertical boundaries, horizontal boundaries, external boundaries, and conceptual boundaries. Vertical boundaries within an organization serve to create distinctions between levels of control across and within functions (Ntale, et al., 2020). Horizontal boundaries within an organization provide a focus on specialized or unique expertise within a common function, where specific knowledge is developed, thus creating, and using unique language associated with precise meaning (Ntale, et al., 2020). External boundaries separate members within an organization from other entities that their organization interacts with. Conceptual boundaries are created by differences in the way people think about things. Effective communication across organizational boundaries requires shared meaning. However, this can be difficult to achieve due to the unique language associated with each boundary type.

Organizational boundaries, however, friction and conflicts that hinder knowledge integration among actors that possess different knowledge may sometimes occur. This is because actors with different backgrounds and experience are governed by individual mental models or path dependencies, and they feel uncomfortable or express resistance when faced with a different type of knowledge at organizational boundaries. Companies and organizations that are governed by individual mental models, however, cannot avoid competency traps or core rigidities, and they may lose their opportunities for innovation.

Ntale et al. (2020) discussed the impact of culture on structure as follows: “In the more developed countries, [structuring to allow interagency cooperation] has been achieved, leading to high levels of interorganizational collaboration. In low-income countries, however, observable practice shows limited collaboration among organizations (Fret, et al. 2023). Whereas these countries have stepped up their efforts to address challenges such as graduate unemployment, their efforts remain largely individualistic and highly fragmented (Ntale, et al., 2020). These are boundaries that organizations face due to a melting pot of workers who bring all different types of skills and attributes. In current social climates organizations are being faced with societal pressures to reform their diversity through recruiting tactics and how they compensate workers. Equitable compensation is one of the largest issues facing organizational boundaries due to the organizations recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic in which they are promoting these features to attract high quality talent (Franken, et al., 2021).

Personal Perspective

              Organizational boundaries and technological aspects are crucial factors that organizations must consider in all aspects. The structures that define an organization are part of the framework that holds it all together while also fulfilling the overall mission of the organization (Ricardo, 2021). Technology plays a major role in assisting organizations to accomplish tasks and activities with ease and efficiency. Additionally, technology plays a role in the human factor by providing the users and organizations with physical and knowledge-based information that assists in its success (Fret, et al., 2023). Technology also plays a major role in the communication aspect as it allows companies to cross thresholds of boundaries by connecting and communicating outside of the company. While technology may negatively impact the organization in some form the benefits outweigh the cost for the benefits exceed the negative.

              Organizational operations require the participation and input of workers. The boundaries that technology has brought into the organization has created obstacles for organizations that must be addressed to survive. Organizational simple structures minimize the division of labor and direct supervision while bureaucracies have centralized authority and routinized tasks. Functional organizations divide work into operations and support departments while multidivisional organizations divide it among autonomous departments working on a common product or in a common market. The technical complexity and unpredictability of interconnectedness requires the organizational boundaries to delineate the simple and functional structures within the organization.

In Genesis 11:6 – "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined doing” ( New International Bible, 1978/2011). This passage describes how technology can be used for good or for bad as all come together under one language. The same is with an organization who brings everyone together and integrates technology into it, so it speaks the organization’s language. This is a very powerful aspect as many could easily use it to wield harm if it’s used with ill intentions.

Conclusion

              Technology structures are a common part of all organizations today as it allows them to cross boundaries from their current placement. These structures have the chance to enhance an organization through its production and communication capabilities. These enhancements have allowed organizations to optimize their systems like Amazon and their production facilities. Just as technology structures help organizations social boundaries also assist the organization in succeeding as the interdependency that these two systems play on each other are intertwined through the natural, rational, and open systems. Technology structures revealed that there is a need to use humans to control the technology in any organization. The reason is technology cannot work without the knowledge of humans. In social boundaries, organizations determine to what extent a person should be involved with the organization and where the border should be placed, making them ultimately connected to each other to ensure proper balance and operation.

References

Ardito, L., Petruzzelli, A. M., Panniello, U., & Garavelli, A. C. (2019). Towards industry 4.0: Mapping digital technologies for supply chain management-marketing integration.  Business Process Management Journal, 25(2), 323-346.  https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-04-2017-0088Links to an external site.

Barber, D. A. (2018). Rule of logistics: Walmart and the architecture of fullfillment by jesse LeCavalier (review). T echnology and Culture, 59(4), 995-997.  https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2018.0112Links to an external site.

Franken, E., Bentley, T., Shafaei, A., Farr-Wharton, B., Onnis, L., & Omari, M. (2021). Forced flexibility and remote working: Opportunities and challenges in the new normal.  Journal of Management & Organization, 27(6), 1131-1149.  https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2021.40Links to an external site.

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Lu, D., Marlow, J., Kocielnik, R., & Avrahami, D. (2018). Challenges and opportunities for technology-supported activity reporting in the workplace. Paper presented at the 1-12.  https://doi:10.1145/3173574.3173744Links to an external site.

Merida, T. (2015). Christ-centered exposition commentary: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings. B & H Publishing Group.

Mahmood, T. & Mubarik, M. S. (2020). Balancing innovation and exploitation in the fourth industrial revolution: Role of intellectual capital and technology absorptive capacity.  Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 160, 1-9.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120248Links to an external site.

New International Version Bible. (2011). The NIV Bible. Https;//www.thenivbible.com ) Original work published 1978)

Ntale, P. Ssempebwa, J., Musisi, B., Ngoma, M., Genza, G. M., Kimoga, J., Mugimu, C. B., Ntayi, M. M., & Balunywa, W. (2020). Interagency collaboration for graduate employment opportunities in Uganda: Gaps in the structure of organizations.  Education & Training, 62(3), 271-291.  https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-08-2019-0193Links to an external site.   

Ricardo, R. (2021). Literature review HR planning: External environment, organizational decisions and employees inventory. Dinasti International  Journal of Economics, Finance & Accounting, 2(3) https://doi.org/10.38035/dijefa.v2i3.1258Links to an external site.   

Scott, W. R. & Davis, G. F. (2016). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural, and open system perspectives (6th ed.). Routledge.