Technology and organizational behavior

Technology and organizational behavior

Write an essay that discusses to what extent different authors agree as to what is meant by the term ‘technology’   (20%) Suggest the different ways in which technology affects (a) the job satisfaction of employees (40%) and (b) the design of an organization’s structure (40%).


Before going into discussion of technology and its influence on employees and organization as a whole it is important to understand the meaning of this term and different perspectives which it involves.

Contemporary word ‘technology’ is used in a very broad meaning and ‘...is simply convenient umbrella term’ (Huczynski and Buchanan 2007:72). Originally developed from the ancient greek word teche, used to refer to artistic skills, in medieval time the term was associated with artisans and with craft workers later on (Hatch, 2006). In the 18th and 19th centuries ‘technology’ already implied a new ‘material’ meaning and referred to tools, machinery, industry and factories as well as kept the older meaning to refer to such skills as craft and engineering (Huczynski and Buchanan 2007). Due to the intensive development of economic, political and other aspects of modern society in the 20th century, the meaning of this term greatly expanded. Today, highly depending on a context, under technology we mean either the process of production, recently developed machinery and computing powers, methods and means, or techniques to manipulate and control, like political technology. Pacey (1983) defines technology as ‘the applicator of scientific and other knowledge to practical tasks by ordered systems that involve people and organization, living things and machines’ (cited in Wilson, 2004)

The important difference between social and material content of term technology was   marked by Alan Fox in 1974 (Huczynski and Buchanan 2007). These two aspects of technology are highlighted by modernists, as well as from symbolic-interpretive and postmodernists’ perspectives. One the...