THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE ON THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF LARGE-SCALE ORGANIZATIONS.
Abstract
This study is a part of a project proposing to study the introduction of technological change and its impact on the career professionals and executives who run large-scale organizations technically and administratively. The study undertakes the task of analyzing the independent variable, i.e. the technological change variable. Concern is with two sources of innovations: those generated by research in the physical sciences, and those generated by research in the social sciences. There is reason to believe that each type will tend to have a somewhat different impact on a large-scale organization, or may well affect the components of the organization in a somewhat different sequence. The typology has two distinguishable categories: the mechanical-technical variety as generated by the physical sciences, and the administrative-social variety as generated by the social sciences. To study the impact of such innovations on large-scale organizations, it will also be necessary to have an organizational model of the basic components which comprise an organization. The components to be included are: organizational goals; the formal organization which includes the distribution of functional activities and the formal authority structure; the informal organization; and the reward system. Case studies of various large-scale organizations into which such change was introduced are examined. Represented in these case studies are: industry, the military, hospitals, prisons, and the governmental agencies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0612195
Entities
People
- Stanley Philip Greenspon
Organizations
- University of Georgia