The Information Organization: On Changes in Information Technology and Organizational Design
本文从组织作为知识处理器的视角出发，区分信息通信与信息处理技术，分析信息技术如何通过改善协调或激励影响组织分权程度，并指出其效果存在模糊性，但先进IT可降低代理成本。适合研究组织经济学、信息管理与知识管理的学者阅读。
In this monograph, we adopt the perspective of organizations as processors of knowledge that collect, create, combine and/or analyze data through information technology (IT) to locate and coordinate decisions, improve performance evaluations, and enhance interest alignment. We distinguish between information communication and information processing technologies. Pivotal to our framework is whether IT improves coordination or improves incentives, and thereby the extent of (de)centralization. We document that evidence on IT’s effect on (de)centralization is ambiguous, but reconcile how advanced IT may improve decisions and lower agency costs. Complementarities thus feature strongly in our rendering of IT’s effects on organizational design. We end with some suggestions, such as the need to consider the lifecycle of IT effects, acknowledging the slow and complex, though pervasive, nature of technology adoption in organizations.