A Dynamic Model of Communication Technology Employment

Although it may seem reasonable from a managerial perspective to expect a consistent relationship between communication technology and organizations, more recent literature (Robey and Boudreau, 1999; Yates et al., 1999) seems to suggest that this common assumption does not hold. Earlier chapters have shown that empirical evidence regarding the impact of communication technology is often contradictory: some authors argue that the increased use of communication technology leads to centralization, while others argue the opposite; some say it leads to the reinforcement of the organizational hierarchy, but others say it undermines it; some maintain it reduces the number of middle managers, while others suggest that it increases the number; some argue for an increase in participation of knowledge workers in decision-making, but others propose a decrease in the number of people involved, and so on. Essentially, the desire of management researchers to maintain an ‘elusive consistency’ (Poole and Van de Ven, 1989) has led to a refusal to acknowledge paradoxes or contradictions in empirical findings. Confronted by evidence that points explicitly towards the existence of contradictions, solving this issue becomes the task.