Presenting an overview of the most important factors that determine whether the application of ICT in organizations will succeed or fail, this text pays attention to technical, organizational and economic perspectives as well as examining psychological and user perspectives.

Organizations and Communications Technology is must reading for those interested in the relation of communication technology to organizational form and function. The book does what many such collections do not do: It presents in a complementary--if not totally unified--fashion a variety of perspectives on and answers to questions raised about the essential nature, determinants, and effects of the organization-communication technology interface. Such coherence in theme and structure is not accidental; rather, it derives from the editors′ commitment to a robust theoretical foundation in which to ground past and future research. . . . They have succeeded brilliantly in their efforts to focus substantive scholarship on theory building in a data-rich but theory-poor field. The result is a work that will no doubt be a classic. The reader who makes the commitment to mine its essays will not be disappointed. --Journal of Business and Technical Communication "As a summary of the field, this collection of theoretical essays succeeds on two main counts. . . . First, it brings together in one volume writers whose recent work has been widely cited and discussed throughout the literatures of information science, communication, management, and technology studies. Second, the book presents some exciting theoretical ideas about the relationship between communication technologies and social behavior that are applicable beyond the organizational setting. . . . On the whole, this book is a fine overview that updates and lends structure--′organizes′--this evolving literature for a diverse audience." --Journal of Communication "The editors . . . argue convincingly that the study of human and organizational aspects of communications technology suffers from a glut of data and a deficiency of theory. The objective of the book becomes one of starting the process of developing a corpus of theory that will integrate the knowledge we have. Overall, the book achieves this objective well, with the gratifying addition that there are also plenty of practical recommendations of immediate value to the practitioner. . . . This is an ambitious book and given the importance of the topic this is inevitable. It is aimed at a broad range of disciplines. It is unashamedly theoretical in its approach yet contains a good deal of immediate practical importance. My own prediction . . . suggests that this book will be regarded as a milestone from which future progress will be measured." --The Occupational Psychologist "Communications technology offers a wonderful springboard for much broader considerations of how people in organizations and behavior within them. Worthwhile . . . engaging." --Academy of Management Review "Will interest any business communication scholar concerned with the ways organizations are affected by new technologies. . . . Provide[s] a wealth of stimulating ideas." --Journal of Business Communication "Organizations and Communications Technology is an attempt to provide a foundation for theory development on information technology in organizations by delegating the task to a set of competent researchers and theorists. Given the dearth of theory development in the field such a strategy makes some sense. Because of (its) diversity, organizations, communications, and management information systems scholars should all find something of interest." --Administrative Science Quarterly How do technology and organization interact to shape organizational structures and processes? What organizational, political, and social processes constrain technological development? What forces shape the articulation of organizational and technological systems? Answering these and other pivotal questions, this powerful volume centers on the role of theory for advancing our knowledge of communication technology in organizations at several levels: micro, group, and macro. A distinguished team of contributors examines a richly diverse group of topics, including telecommunications, communication networks and new media, the use of group decision support systems, and discretionary databases, to name but a few. Organizations and Communication Technology offers nothing less than a fresh foundation for research and management practice. As such, it is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and students in the fields of management studies, communication science, organization studies, and policy studies.

Many organisations are using an increased range of information technologies to support a variety of new organisational practices and organisational forms. The book aims to investigate the integration of information technologies into work places and their effect on work and work-life. Issues include changes in: the nature, quantity and quality of work; power relations; privacy; and aspects of organisational culture. The book also considers the social process of shifting from present organisational structures and practices to new ones.

Information Technology in Organisations and Societies: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from AI to Technostress consolidates studies on key issues and phenomena concerning the positive and negative aspects of IT use as well as prescribing future research avenues in related research.

Organisational semiotics is a discipline that is concerned with the interrelationships between individuals and groups, and between humans and technology, functioning in organisations and society. Organisational semiotics opens up the prospect of theory-building and the development of new methods and techniques to gain insights into organised behaviour and enacted social practices, in the presence and absence of various technologies. It shares common interests with many other approaches to information and organisations, such as computer science, computational semiotics, organisational engineering, and language action perspective. The common vision shared by these approaches is to treat organisations and related information systems and technologies within a unified semiotic framework, with particular reference to the huge range of issues that elude many traditional disciplines. The analysis and design of information systems develops methods for solving the practical problems but offers no rigorous, theoretical foundation for them or how information functions within and between organisations. The semiotic perspective accommodates the individual and the social, the human and the technical, intra- and inter-organisational interactions, at a level of detail that is required in the study, modelling, design, and engineering of new and alternative organisational and technical systems. This perspective is outlined in the chapter presentations of Information, Organisation and Technology.

There is a strong movement today in management to encourage management practices based on research evidence. In the first volume of this handbook, I asked experts in 39 areas of management to identify a central principle that summarized and integrated the core findings from their specialty area and then to explain this principle and give real business examples of the principle in action. I asked them to write in non-technical terms, e.g., without a lot of statistics, and almost all did so. The previous handbook proved to be quite popular, so I was asked to edit a second edition. This new edition has been expanded to 33 topics, and there are some new authors for the previously included topics. The new edition also includes: updated case examples, updated references and practical exercises at the end of each chapter. It also includes a preface on evidence-based management. The principles for the first edition were intended to be relatively timeless, so it is no surprise that most of the principles are the same (though some chapter titles include more than one principle). This book could serve as a textbook in advanced undergraduate and in MBA courses. It could also be of use to practicing managers and not just those in Human Resource departments. Every practicing manager may not want to read the whole book, but I am willing to guarantee that every one will find at least one or more chapters that will be practically useful. In this time of economic crisis, the need for effective management practices is more acute than ever.

"This book provides a much needed understanding of how management can deal with the impact of politics and culture on the overall utilization of information technology within an organization"--Provided by publisher.