Principles of Info
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Please read the following article:
Mary Colette Wallace (2000) Complexity of New Office Designs: Thinking Through Your Future Workplace. Searcher 8(10) http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/nov00/wallace.htm
An interesting case of the interaction of information technology and structure is provided by Oticon Corp., a Danish-owned company specializing in hearing aids and other related devices, that has been one of the "poster children" for information technology-driven change. They have been written up in many places. One reasonably complete and largely non-technical report on this effort is:
Lagace, M. (2003). Stuck in Gear: Why Managers Don't Act. Harvard Business School - Working Knowledge For Business leaders - Research & Ideas, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3501.html.
Once you have read both articles and had a chance to examine some of the background materials and/or any other information bearing on this question that you can find, please prepare a 3 page paper addressing the question:"Is Oticon a good model for effectively integrating information technology into the office?. What is the role of IT in organizations? What initiatives would you promote? Why? Would you enjoy working in such environment?"
you want to consider the points raised in Ms. Wallace's article about office design and the degree to which IT can or should drive decisions about the structure and functioning of workplaces. You'll also want to consider some of the points discussed in the background readings regarding technology choices. At some point in your paper, you should also consider the question of whether you yourself would enjoy working in a company like the restructured Oticon. Be sure to justify your answer with appropriate references to the readings or other sources you locate.
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The Oticon model is not limited to effectively integrating information technology into the office but related to restructuring the organization so that it supported the new strategy of the company. Oticon has been involved in old technology hearing aids. it was selling behind the ear products and the firm did not change over to inside the ear products. The bureaucracy at Oticon was not willing to change. The organization were not innovative enough. What Kolind did was that he restructured the organization and changed a bureaucratic organization into a team based organization focused on innovation.
To support this transformation, Kolind changed the office. He disposed off hardwood furniture and instead purchased desks, chairs, and cabinets on wheels so that these could be drawn together into temporary project based teams. The large beer factory provided workspace where temporary and multifunction teams could gather complete their projects and then move on.
Essentially Oticon is a good model for integrating information technology into the office for those organizations that are transforming their organizational structure from a vertical structure to a flat structure.
The use of IT in office should be determined by the analysis and design of workflows and processes within the firm. A business process is a set of locally related tasks performed to achieve a defined business ...
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