Book Description

Despite the waves of re-engineering, there is still a gap between the opportunities offered by information technology and the progress of business transformation. New forms of information technology offer an increasing variety of network-based applications that range from groupware to electronic commerce, but its applications lack a sound understanding of the link between organizational processes, information and technology. This book provides a new set of concepts and methods to design new forms of business organizations around the latest network infrastructures. Professor Ciborra uses the principles of institutional economics to propose reforms of the relationships with suppliers, customers, strategic partners, and internal work organisation, based on a different mix of three basic organizational forms: teams, markets and hierarchies. Information technology can indeed be harnessed to shape businesses and markets so as to increase the transparency of markets, the agility of hierarchies, and the effectiveness and quality of the working life of teams.