The same but different: Understanding variation and similarity in the outcomes of a similar technology. A comparative case study on the deployment of manufacturing execution systems in three Belgian SME's

IF 5.7 2区管理学 Q1 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Information and Organization Pub Date : 2024-10-22 DOI:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2024.100539

Yennef Vereycken, Anne Guisset, Monique Ramioul

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Current research on technological innovation seems preoccupied with studying the varying outcomes of technological innovation on work and organisations. To understand this variation and explain why technological innovation leads to specific outcomes, the process of technological innovation must be scrutinized. A comparative case study was conducted to examine the design, implementation and use of an identical technology (Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)) in three Belgian SMEs. We explain the organisational and labour related outcomes of MES deployment by analysing both the strategic choices during the selection, design, implementation and utilization of MES in relation to the division of labour between employees, management and technology developers during the technological innovation process. Our findings show how various strategic choices and different divisions of labour lead to both overarching similarities (e.g. increased centralisation, standardization and employee control) as well as important variations in technological outcomes (e.g. degree of (de)centralisation, standardization and employee control). These results illustrate the relative autonomy organisations have in shaping technological outcomes while simultaneously showing the limitations they face, stemming from (I) the material characteristics of technology shaped at meso and macro political level and (II) the social relations at organisational level.

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相同但不同：了解类似技术成果的差异性和相似性。比利时三家中小企业部署制造执行系统的比较案例研究

目前关于技术创新的研究似乎专注于研究技术创新对工作和组织产生的不同结果。要理解这种差异并解释为什么技术创新会导致特定的结果，就必须仔细研究技术创新的过程。我们开展了一项比较案例研究，考察了比利时三家中小企业设计、实施和使用相同技术（制造执行系统（MES））的情况。我们通过分析制造执行系统的选择、设计、实施和使用过程中的战略选择，以及技术创新过程中员工、管理层和技术开发人员之间的分工，解释了制造执行系统部署的组织和劳动力相关结果。我们的研究结果表明，各种战略选择和不同的分工如何导致总体上的相似性（如加强集中化、标准化和员工控制）以及技术成果上的重要差异（如（去）集中化、标准化和员工控制的程度）。这些结果说明了组织在塑造技术成果方面的相对自主性，同时也表明了它们所面临的局限性，这些局限性来自于（I）在中观和宏观政治层面上塑造的技术的物质特征，以及（II）组织层面上的社会关系。

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来源期刊

Information and Organization Multiple-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

1.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： Advances in information and communication technologies are associated with a wide and increasing range of social consequences, which are experienced by individuals, work groups, organizations, interorganizational networks, and societies at large. Information technologies are implicated in all industries and in public as well as private enterprises. Understanding the relationships between information technologies and social organization is an increasingly important and urgent social and scholarly concern in many disciplinary fields.Information and Organization seeks to publish original scholarly articles on the relationships between information technologies and social organization. It seeks a scholarly understanding that is based on empirical research and relevant theory.