Understanding the Implementation of Office Technology

This Note, which originally appeared in Technology and the Transformation of White-Collar Work, Chapter 9, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1987, considers the factors that lead to the successful introduction of new office technology in an organization. It is based on a survey of 55 work groups using advanced office technology in 26 organizations. Success includes the extent to which the technology is used, the users' satisfaction with it and with the jobs they perform using it, and improvements in organizational performance. Features of the organization itself, features of the technology, and the way the technology is introduced into the organization all play a role. For example, work groups in which the implementation used a balanced social and technical approach and encouraged worker participation in the introduction process all had more successful implementations. The Note concludes with observations about areas where technology, implementation process, and research all need improvement.