‘Mapping the European knowledge base on socio-economic impact studies of IST Chapter 2 By Utrik Jorgensen — DTU-IPL DRAFT VERSION —Not to be quoted nor distributed 64“Mapping the European knowledge base of socio-economic impact stusles of IST Chapter 2_ ISTs, Organisational Change and Work Processes 1. Schools of Thought 14. Social roles and the politics of relations: Coming from sociology and especially the sub disciplines of industrial sociology and labour relations this school of thought has been involved in this field of research for several decades. Its focus is on the changing roles, values, divisions of labour and power relations coming from the interaction between technologies on one side and the organisation and economics structuring the conditions for jobs and working conditions on the other side. The interest for the impact of technology on working conditions and the need for skills and ‘competences has been integrated in this research from the very beginning, and following this the impact of new production systems and new ways of structuring production and management processes using ISTS was targeted early in the history of this field of research (Clausen & Williams 1997). Due to its sociological origins the interest in power rotations and influence on working conditions and the introduction and adjustment of new technologies has been at the core of this school, as has the role of skills and competences for the influence of workers and technicians on the use and design of production and management tools and technologies. Especially coming from the northern European countries the role of labour market cooperation and union involvement in negotiating the conditions and ways of introducing new technologies has led to @ number of research activities and perspectives also focussing on design strategies and the role of user involvement and influence 07 new technologies and their specific adaptation in industry and organisations (Sandberg 1992). These perspectives are partly covered also by other reports from this study. Newer developments into this field of research has been the introduction of the concepts of social contracts in company and labour market relations and the connected concept of political processes in organisations (Clausen, Dawson & Nielsen 2090). They are explaining and analysing the strategies and controversies coming from introducing new technologies in companies and changing traditional management structures and labour market relations (Hildebrandt & Seltz 1989; McLaughlin & Clarke 1994) Following the brief introduction to this school of though it is rather obvious that it has had a special focus on and interest in the later introduced problematique of ‘Computer integrated production systems’ (1), ‘Computer supported cooperative work’ (2), and ‘E-commerce and outsourcing of digital services’ (4), where in the last problematique especially the perspectives on working conditions and skills following the vast outsourcing of telephone based and other networked services for sales, support and distribution have been in focus. JOURNALS, ORGANISATIONS, ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS Examples of relevant journals where contributions from this school of thought may be found are ‘New technology, work and employment’ and ‘Human relations’. A list of researchers and institutions, who have contributed to this field would include: Eckardt Hildebrandt, Berlin, Germany — Amdt Weber, Institut far Sozialforschung, Frankfurt, Germany ~ lan McLoughlin, The Business School, University of Newcastle, UK — Rod Coombs, David Knights, and Hugh Willmott, Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK - Christian Clausen, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Management, Technical University of Denmark — H. Scarbrough, Warwick Business School, Warwick, UK — Fred Manske, Universitat Bremen, Gesmany ~ Richerd Badham, Department of Management, University of Wollongong, Australia. Some of the mentioned institutions may DRAFT VERSION Not to be quoted nor distributed 65Mapping the European knowledge base of socio-economic impact studies of ISTs Chapter 2 have become less active in the later years, but are included for their role in the establishment of the field 1.2. Economic structure and performance This school of thought has its roots in studies of industrial economics, innovations and economic transformation. As such this school of research has a lcng history in discussing and creating controversies about the role of technical change in sociely. Especially from the studies of technical innovations and the contributions from both Schumpetarian perspectives on innovations and changing industrial structures and the contemporary evolutionary theory ‘of economic change an interest has been shown in both describing and giving policy advice for societies’ support for and regulation of new technologies and their use and impact on industry and business, even with some broader outreach to research policies and societal impacts of these transformations. It is quite common in this fied of research that the ‘empirical foundation in studies of innovations and structural changes in societies’ economy from the outset are complemented with assumptions of a basic change in the characteristics of societies’ economic structure and conduct. A transition is taken fcr granted to appear over one oF several decades, and the transformation is identified through general labels characterising the existing economic structure as industrial, post-industrial or service and assigning terms like knowledge, global, networked and digital to the anticipated future. Whether or not the need for sustaining the economic future based on new forms of growth is complemented by notions of sustainability in social and environmental terms may differ, but it seems to be a common perspective and assumption that the policy issue that follows the studies of the economic potentials and needs for transformation plays the role of supporting these changes and removing reversing social or institutional structures. The discussions on the perspectives and potential flaws of these new economic and technological trends has supported the creation of phrases like ‘digital economy’, ‘burn rate’, ‘bubbles’ and ‘bursts’ but in fact has a rather specific take on the research methodology by ‘combining stories of industrial development and success with general discussions building ‘on arguments of what the contemporary drivers and renewal mechanisms of economic growth and dominance are or could be. Also discussion on falling tehind ~ catching up has been part of this perspective as has the interest for (national) systems of innovation (Lundvai! 1992) Forecasting of market growth and market potentials is one of the major contributions from this strand of research although the methodology underlies some restrictions as they on one hand anticipate social and structural changes and transformations and on the other hand typically build on market estimates and projections based on the already known structures of providers, suppliers and users. The main focus in this school of thought may be on the development of ‘E-commerce and outsourcing of digital services’ (4), but also the implications of ‘Computer integrated production systems’ (1) on productivity and the discussions about the role of generic technologies in the productivity paradox following the significant and non-linear (even ‘counterproductive) impact of investments in ISTs in production and management has been taken up in this school of thought. Besides this contribution to the role of competition versus ‘cooperation and the impact on the creation of dominant market positions and its potential impact has been seen in the problemative of ‘Standards and market structuration’ (6), as has the impact of efficient and reliable information and trading system in the problematique ‘Electronic transactions and telematics’ (6) JOURNALS, ORGANISATIONS, ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS Journals * Research Policy "= Joumal of Industrial Innovation DRAFT VERSION Not fo be quoted nor distributed 66