Paper Info
Title
Bridging social and technical interfaces in organizations: An interpretive analysis of time-space distanciation
Abstract
Contemporary organizations increasingly rely upon information technologies as platforms for their core work processes. The Internet age has witnessed the creation of new business models based almost entirely on electronically-mediated business processes involving multiple organizations. Information systems link suppliers, manufacturers, logistics companies, and other partners, allowing organizations to add value using smaller investments in physical assets. The creation of these linkages establishes both technical and social interfaces between organizations and their business partners. We apply Giddens' concept of time-space distanciation to analyze the interfaces in iTalk, an organization in Silicon Valley hosting Internet voicemail services. iTalk achieved initial success in bridging external social and technical interfaces with the major regional telephone companies in US, allowing their voicemail service to attract millions of subscribers. In effect, iTalk used information technologies to dis-embed social and technical elements from global systems (the telephone companies) and re-embed them as part of iTalk's local organizational presence. However, iTalk was unable to provide a sufficiently reliable service to customers as volume increased. Ironically, bridging external interfaces created internal interfaces within iTalk, which in turn produced technical problems and social conflicts that were not satisfactorily resolved by the time iTalk was acquired by a larger media company in 2001. The study provides theoretical understanding of the challenges associated with creating and sustaining social and technical interfaces in organizations that rely heavily upon electronically-mediated business processes that cross organizational boundaries.
Year
DOI
Venue
2008
10.1016/j.infoandorg.2007.12.001
Information and Organization
Keywords
Field
DocType
time-space distanciation,time italk,social conflict,business partner,technical element,technical problem,technical interface,social interface,interorganizational relationships,electronically-mediated business process,information technology,electronically-mediated business,interpretive analysis,virtual organizations,iron,business model,information system,business process
Information system,Business process,Sociology,Information technology,Bridging (networking),Social conflict,Knowledge management,Business model,Voicemail,Management science,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
18
3
Information and Organization
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
9
0.52
9
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Leigh Jin1727.56
Daniel Robey256227.66