Achieving Integration Through Information Systems.

Abstract

One of the current schools of thought in organizational research is that there is no one best way to organize and manage human effort. This is the conclusion resulting from recent research.[1] However, one cannot conclude that performance is independent of the organization structure. In combination, the two conclusions lead to questions concerning the conditions under which alternative organization designs are most effective. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss such conditions with particular reference to the choice between alternative authority structures and information systems. The first section of the paper presents a scheme which permits the identification of different kinds of information and decision processes. The second section relates the kinds of information systems to current thinking concerning contingency theories. The purpose is to identify the design variables and the possible trade-offs among them. The last section describes some empirical studies to illustrate the nature of the design choices.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR