Hydro-Quebec Efforts to Restructure and Reorganize IT Support Management Function Line Demands Business Models

This article makes up Chapter 1 of the free, open access book titled, Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology, by John Gallaugher. Please ensure that you read the entire Chapter 1 of the book consisting of 3 parts (Part 1 Introduction; Part 2 Don’t Guess, Gather Data; and Part 3 Moving Forward).

  What are its management, organization, and technology  components? • What are complementary assets?  Why are complementary  assets essential for ensuring that information systems provide  genuine value for an organization? • What is a sociotechnical systems perspective? Alexander Nikov 2 1-2

Social awareness has been heightened over the past several decades because of the rapidly changing environment and technical information here in the United States and overseas. This change has accelerated the way we think and the way our decisions are based (Thomas, Fleck & Snipes, 2000). This is the reason that organizations that encounter information overload are better off when they are able to come up with solutions through technical and social systems. Because of some organizations inability to adapt innovative advances, they hamper on the negative impact of information overload.

There is considerable organizational resistance to new information systems because they change many important organizational dimensions, such as culture, structure, politics, and work. Leavitt puts forth a model that says that changes in technology are absorbed, deflected, and defeated by organizational task arrangements, structures, and people. In this model the only way to bring about change is to change the technology, tasks, structure, and people simultaneously. In a second model, the authors speak of the need to unfreeze organizations before introducing an innovation, quickly implementing the new system, and then refreezing or institutionalizing the change.

The Case for this module centers on an organization implementing a new computer-based information processing system. Thousands of organizations go through the same kind of process every day—you yourself may have been involved in one or more such "technology transformations." Despite this body of experience; the advice of thousands of consultants, researchers, and computer gurus; and the leverage of multibillion-dollar corporations such as Microsoft, Google, and Oracle; a large proportion of these

Information technology has advanced in multiple ways in society, where organizations has implement the structure into their work environment. Industries have outsource their manufacturing to other places in the world and rely on telecommunication to keep the marketing. The geographic distribution has changed significantly by reducing the distance it takes to complete an operation, due to information technology. These are just a couple of examples of how this advanced technology has reshape our society and continuing.

Sociotechnical systems theory is a contemporary approach to management that says that a proper combination of workers (the social system) and their knowledge, training and tools (the technical system) leads to organizational effectiveness in satisfying customers. Emphasis: Social + Technical

The “IT Doesn’t Matter” article by Nicholas Carr, states an unrealistic view of the importance of IT in today corporate world. Carr tries to explain that due to the vast amount of advances in the technology field, IT has been rendered mundane. He states that IT has become as common place as a telephone or a typewriter before the beginning of the PC age. The article attempts to explains that due to the ability of most people to obtain computer systems that have capabilities that normal users will never need or use makes high end computers unable to provide the advantage that bigger companies once held over smaller ones.

Information technology is defined as shared technology resources that provide the platform for an organization's specific information system applications. IT deals with the technology involved in the systems themselves. According to our book, it consists of all the hardware and software that a company would need to use in order to achieve its business objectives. This includes not only computer machines, storage devices, and handheld mobile devices, but also software, such as the Windows or Linux operating systems, the Microsoft Office desktop productivity suite, and the many thousands of computer programs that can be found in a typical large firm.

The mini-case starts with “IT is a pain in the neck,” which is a wrong notion that most of the business managers have in an organization. The history of IT-business relationships in most of the organizations shows that there is a huge gap between both sides which is getting better over a period of time. Today, managers know the fact that it is the people, technology and information that realizes the value of a company and everytime IT cannot be blamed for everything. The days have gone when IT was looked at as the sole responsibility for a company’s growth or downfall. IT processes along with the

Frequently, organizational leaders introduce technology as a method to improve overall performance (Kapoor & Lee, 2013; Yukl, 2013). Technological changes are often seen in areas such as information systems, inventory and order processing, sales, and workstations. Although technology may be necessary for an organization to remain competitive, without modifications to the roles, attitudes, and values held by members of the organization the introduction of technology can be challenging and offer limited success (Kapoor & Lee, 2013; Yukl, 2013).

Socio-technical meaning that there is a recognition of the interaction that is made between people and technology in the workplaces. The NSF defines this new work culture as being dispersed geographically, but still able to remain as one unit through the use of the Internet. They themselves focus more into virtual organizations because they find that in the current age they have become necessary to widen learning and their knowledge base. According to their article, “virtual organizations can enable and enhance scientific, engineering, and education production and innovation” (NSF). The social and technical interactions are creating this alternative form of organizing which allows for the change from the formal structure of human organizing to something much more loose, and yet, still

The impact of information technology on business, economy and society cannot be examined without an analysis of the profound changes in the productive

The concept of sociotechnical systems was created in the 1960’s as a part of organizational development research by E. Trist and F. Emery. Ranging from a small system between you and your phone, to the interaction between human behaviors with massive technical infrastructures society has developed in hopes to boost performance and quality for both the societal and technical side of the system (Fischer).

CHANGE is the only constant in the relationship between information systems and organizations. As technology evolves and changes, its introduction into organizations requires changes in the firm 's infrastructure and the services it can provide to its employees, customers, and suppliers.