Cooperation and conflict: organizational issues in ICT

1
Cooperation and conflict organizational issues
in ICT
Eric Monteiro NTNU and Univ. of
Oslo Bedriftsuniversitet Oct. 2002
2
Contents

• Organizational issues where are they?
• A few notions illustrated
• Key lessons and issues

3
AC vs. DC
?
Altern. current cheap transport
Direct current motor
4
AC vs. DC
?
Altern. current cheap transport
Direct current motor
Do you want those deadly currents in your home?
5
Inscribing behaviour
ltltLeave the key!gtgt
6
Inscribing behaviour
Leave the key
7
Inscribing behaviour
8
Inscriptions

• WHO inscribes
• WHAT is inscribed (which scenario)
• HOW is it inscribed (the material)
• STRENGTH of an inscription - does it succeed?

9
Stabilization
Big wheel
Young men of nerves
speed
air
10
Stabilization
Big wheel
Young men of nerves
speed
air
Women, Children, elderly
safety
springs
11
Context (I)
12
Context (II)
M
Tue
W
Th
F
8 - 9
9 - 10
10 - 11
11 - 12
12 - 13
13
Benefits for whom??

• Calenders..
• Benefits those CALLING meetings
• Additional work those BEING called

14
Individual ? cooperative work

• Lotus Notes in Alfa Corporation
• sharing experience projects, customers
• (implicit) structures of incentives

15
Ex. Lotus Notes in Statoil (1992- )
20.000
10.000
5.000
1994
1996
1998
16
Ex. Lotus Notes in Statoil
Norne
ISO 9000
Olje
1994
1996
1998
17
Standardization (I)

• Imposed - emergent ?
• Ex. ISO vs. Internet
• Irreversibility?
• Ex. QWERTY
• Key dilemma

Keep stable
Change
18
QWERTY
Q W E R T Y U I O P Å A S D F G H J K L Ø Æ
Z X C V B N M
19
Maritime Classification Company (MCC)

• 300 offices, 100, countries, 5500 employees
• Invested heavily in basic communication
• Surveys - the same service anywhere
• HAVE to standardize but impossible

20
The intentions
We wrote special instructions to cover our
quality requirements in relation to the
implementation. It was quite detailed, and we
established a number of best-practices where
we described what we conceived as the best ways
of doing things on a world-wide basis. And then
after having discussed this, we distributed it
with the aim of getting as standardized
solutions as possible also on a very detailed
level. (Manager 6)
21
Phases

• Paper forms
• Manualy entered
• Many (70) variants
• Delay in reporting
• THE uniform report
• Never took off
• Too little free-text options
• Hybrid
• Different variants
• spreading

22
Variations
You cant just pick out item 2.1 on all vessels
and say OK heres a problem, because the vessels
are so different, systems are differently
constructed, components are different hence I
dont really see the advantages. I was very
surprised when the system the Surveyor Support
System was so focused on checklists.
(Surveyor 3, B)
23
Dilemma of quality
Uniformity of output, a major goal of
routinization, seems to be a poor strategy for
maintaining quality control in interactive
service work, since consumers often perceive
rigid uniformity as incompatible with quality
(Leidner, 199330)
24
Inscribed use too strictly (I)
Im always forced to enter information on the
lowest and most detailed level. This is
extremely time-consuming and the work becomes
very fragmented its chaotic, and I miss
the ability to have a view of the whole while
Im working on a specific detail. In many cases
I realize that Ive to fill in a blank line and
I click back and forth to ensure that the report
gets a proper outline (Surveyor 1, B)
25
Inscribed use too strictly (II)
Here I had to create a totally new survey which I
called a Conversion survey its really only
a free-text field shows how this is done
It had some memos attached, which is not needed
anymore because its not a gas tanker, and this
certificate will also be withdrawn points on the
screen. But I have to recreate the memo to
signal the need for the periodical survey
within May 99 (Surveyor 3, B)
26
Issues

• Balancing between the need for standardization
  and the need for tailoring the system to suit
  different local work practices
• What are the consequences of focusing too much on
  the extremes ?
• How is the boundary between the global and the
  local drawn ?
• How do we manage the design, implementation and
  use of such large-scale systems?