Information Technology and Organizational Transformation

Information Technology and Organizational Transformation is arguably the key challenge facing corporate executives and business school academics alike as we approach the millennium. Much that is superficial has been written on the topic in recent years. The siren call of the more popular literature in this area — seductive in the simplicity of the message of radically improved business performance brought about by IT and process re-engineering — has led to the unwary foundering on the rocks of the realpolitik associated with organizational change. But organizational innovation is possible — as the case studies included in this book amply demonstrate. While ‘best practice’ solutions may be illusory, the examples given herein, taken together with the fruits of research undertaken by leading academics from Continental Europe, Scandinavia, North America and the UK, provide key lessons that one ignores at one’s peril. This is a highly important contribution to knowledge. Bringing together such key themes as organizational learning, knowledge management, IT and business strategy alignment, the management of change, inter-organizational communications, corporate innovation and business process change, this book provides significant learning for those willing to challenge much of the received wisdom on this fascinating topic.