Applying Information Technology to Organization Design

The normative theory of organization traditionally paid special attention to two problems: how to divide up the work for its efficient performance and in such a way as to keep the needs for coordination of the parts within manageable bounds.

Abstract

In the past, theory has been mainly concerned with what might be called organization for production-that is, with systems that use the services of substantial numbers of employees to generate, more or less continuously, some kind of output or product.' The normative theory of organization, aimed at enhancing organizational efficiency and effectiveness, traditionally paid special attention to two problems: how to divide up the work for its efficient performance and in such a way as to keep the needs for coordination of the parts within manageable bounds; and how to construct and maintain mechanisms for coordinating the several organizational parts-especially authority mechanisms.