Information Technology, Work Organisation and Social Interactions

Abstract

The complementarity between the use of information technology and innovative organisational practices, on the one hand, and the selection principles that guide their diffusion at the work post level, on the other hand, must be analysed in a unified framework. The common selection principles governing the allocation of information technology and the organisational design of the work posts are connected to the choice of the network configuration of social interactions within the company. This interactive social structure is analysed with reference to the concept of social capital (human capital which an individual can access when interacting with others). Therefore, in the complementarity between technology and organisation we can distinguish between that which derives from a pure coordination of choices in these two dimensions from that which derives from the selection process of workers. The tests are conducted within the labour force section of the 1997 survey Organisational Change and Computerisation.Computerization, Work Organization, Complementarity, Social Capital