Organization's Workspace Shapes Shaped Information Technology Choices

¶ … organization's workspace shapes shaped information technology choices organization makes. To focus thoughts question, read article: Mary Colette Wallace (2000) Complexity New Office Designs: Thinking Through Your Future Workplace. Office complexities -- the role of Information Technology within the organizational workspace The IT community is undoubtedly the fastest evolving field within the modern day society and it has come to impact all aspects of the personal and professional lives. Within the professional climate, IT plays a predominant part.

It for instance influences the means in which the company interacts and communicates with the customers, the means in which it produces the items and delivers the services or the means in which it manages all administrative processes. At a more specific level of the workplace, Information Technology generates numerous impacts. Some examples in this sense would include: IT Changes the nature of the work by creating new complexities or by reducing specific complexities.

Technologies have to be continually updated and this would mean that the employees have to be trained. IT changes the means in which the employees interact, generically by supporting efficiency of communication by reducing response time and easing data collection, but it also reduces the sense of trust and the feeling of human interactions. IT changes the functionality of offices by shifting responsibilities and tasks, and it also creates new designs. Modern day workplaces for instance possess conference rooms for direct communication purposes, or for holding teleconferences (Wallace, 2000).

But aside from the fact that Information Technology shapes the workplace, it must also be recognized that the workspace itself influences IT. Relevant examples in this sense would include: The nature, level of development and applicability of the IT systems integrated within an entity would be influenced by the resource availability of the organization, namely by the financial resources available for the integration of the IT applications. The success of the IT applications would depend on the employees' responses to the IT applications.

For instance, high levels of reticence would indicate low success rates, whereas openness and interest towards the new technologies would generate higher success rates. The topic of Information Technology within the workplace is however a more complex situation and should be analyzed through more lenses. A relevant scenario for the analysis of IT within the organizational climate is offered by Oticon, a leading hearing aid device retailer in Denmark.

Throughout the recent past, the organization has been faced with tremendous problems, such as a large and inefficient construction, high levels of bureaucracy and overall decreased operational productivity. Communications were also relatively poor and the use of information was ineffective. In order to address the problems, the newly appointed chief executive officer Lars Kolind, committed to a complex process of organizational restructuring, in scopes of increasing flexibility, productivity, and also morale.

The focal points of the change strategy were those of shuttering the physical boundaries, such as the walls separating the offices, eliminating bureaucracy and emphasizing on efficient communication (Lagace, 2003). While Information Technology played an essential role in the entire process of restructuring, its role was mostly obvious in respect to information manipulation as Kolind focused on reducing the use of paper and focusing on electronic means of delivering, assessing and generally manipulating information.

"A global corporation now, Oticon founders early on decided to change the way work is done, and among those changes is the "Mail Room." Here employees receive, read, and shred their mail after scanning it into a computer database for perpetuity" (Wallace, 2000). The initial reaction of the staffs was rigid, but Kolind placed an increased emphasis on engaging all players in the change process, and in doing this, he made use of less traditional methods.

The managers were for instance informed that the change process would be set in motion and if they would not be on board with it, they might as well leave the firm. The approach of the employees was different and it included the involvement of the media in the change process. Under these circumstances of added pressure, the managers and the employees became actively engaged in the change process.

Based on textbook evidence, the approach taken by Lars Kolind could be perceived as inadequate as he based employee and manager involvement in the change process on fear and pressure. In a traditional setting, managers are indeed advised to generate active involvement in the change process by the staffs in order to reduce their reticence to change, but this is often to be created through incentives and motivation, rather than threats and pressure.

Nonetheless, in spite of this approach taken by Kolind, the overall success of the change process is indubitable and it can as such be argued that Oticon is indeed a good model for integrating information technology into the office. From the case of Oticon, it is deduced that Lars Kolind has comprehended the true importance of Information Technology and the need to quickly adopt it within the organizational climate.

In a different scenario, in which the firm would not focus on IT, it would risk losing its competitive position and would as such be facing demise. Overall then, the importance of integrating Information Technology within the modern day business climate is pegged to the multiple roles that IT serves within the organizational climate. In a context in which these roles continually change and develop, the construction of a comprehensive list is virtually impossible.

Nevertheless, the lines below do point out to some examples of the roles of IT within the workplace: Information Technology supports the personal and professional development of the staff members, through ongoing learning process Information Technology reduces the amounts of energy consumed by an economic agent Information Technology supports and enhances organizational efficiency Information technology improves employee morale, to subsequently improve their levels of performance, creativity and commitment By supporting energy efficiency, Information Technology supports environmental sustainability and protects the environment (Griscom, 2009).

There are numerous other entities which have been changed by the integration of Information Technology at a higher extent. One example in this sense would be represented by Dell Inc., a computer manufacturer which sells its products through a direct distribution channel. It as such uses IT to manage orders and to directly interact with the.