Hola

INFORMS http://www.jstor.org/stable/2635280 .

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use informationtechnology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

INFORMS is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Organization Science.

http://www.jstor.org

ORGANIZATION SCIENCE Vol. 3, No. 3, August 1992 Printed in U.S.A.

THE DUALITY OF TECHNOLOGY: RETHINKINGTHE CONCEPT OF TECHNOLOGY IN ORGANIZATIONS*
WANDA J. ORLIKOWSKI Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive (E53-329), Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
This paper develops a new theoretical model with which to examine the interaction between technology and organizations. Early research studies assumed technology to be an objective, external force that wouldhave deterministic impacts on organizational properties such as structure. Later researchers focused on the human aspect of technology, seeing it as the outcome of strategic choice and social action. This paper suggests that either view is incomplete, and proposes a reconceptualization of technology that takes both perspectives into account. A theoretical model-the structurational model oftechnology-is built on the basis of this new conceptualization, and its workings explored through discussion of a field study of information technology. The paper suggests that the reformulation of the technology concept and the structurational model of technology allow a deeper and more dialectical understanding of the interaction between technology and organizations. This understanding providesinsight into the limits and opportunities of human choice, technology development and use, and organizational design. Implications for future research of the new concept of technology and the structurational model of technology are discussed. (ORGANIZATIONS; STRUCTURATION THEORY; STRUCTURATIONAL MODEL OF TECHNOLOGY; TECHNOLOGY)

Technology has always been a central variable in organizational theory,informing research and practice. Despite years of investigative effort there is little agreement on the definition and measurement of technology, and no compelling evidence on the precise role of technology in organizational affairs. I will argue that the divergent definitions and opposing perspectives associated with technological research have limited our understanding of how technology interactswith organizations, and that these incompatibilities cannot be resolved by mutual concession. What is needed is a reconstruction of the concept of technology, which fundamentally re-examines our current notions of technology and its role in organizations. In this paper, I undertake such a reconstruction and present a view of technology that draws on Giddens' (1976, 1979, 1984) theory ofstructuration. My re-examination leads to a model for analyzing the nature and role of technology in organizations, which I term the structurational model of technology. Before proceeding to the premises and components of this model, prior views of technology are reviewed to serve as background and motivation for the alternative proposed here. Rethinking Prior Conceptualizations of Technology

Priorconceptualizations of technology have each focused selectively on some aspects of technology, at the expense of others, with the result that the current state of knowledge about technology in organizations is ambiguous and conflicting (Attewell and Rule 1984; Barley 1990; Davis and Taylor 1986; Hartmann et al. 1986; Scott is defined 1981). Two important aspects of the technology concept are...