Constructing the Networked Organization: Content and Context in the Development of Electronic Communications

Martin Lea, Tim O’Shea and Pat Fung
Additional contact information
Martin Lea: Department of Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL England
Tim O’Shea: Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Buckinghamshire, England
Pat Fung: Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Buckinghamshire, England

Organization Science, 1995, vol. 6, issue 4, 462-478

Abstract: This paper presents a case study of the development of electronic communications in a changing organization with the aim of studying the complex relationship between content and context in the design and implementation of technological change in communications. The development of a computer-mediated communication system was followed over a period of four years during which time the participating organization expanded by acquisition and then reformed in conjunction with its neighbours in other countries into an integrated, “networked” organization in preparation for the creation of the Single European Market. The Actor-Network approach, which uses a network metaphor as a framework for understanding the relationship between content and context in technology design, is used to explore the co-construction of the new organizational form and the new communications system. We contrast this approach with traditional and other recently proposed approaches and conclude that the study of actor networks affords an opportunity to transcend the dualities between the technical and the social and between content and context that currently frame studies of electronic communications in organizations.

Keywords: electronic communication; networked organization; social constructionism; actor networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1995
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.6.4.462 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:6:y:1995:i:4:p:462-478

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().