Changing Time Orientations in Organizations: A Role for ICT?

Abstract

Despite its importance to temporal issues, research into the temporal impacts of information technology in organizations is still limited. On the other hand, organizational culture research shows that the way time is perceived and collectively organized reflects assumptions that are an expression of the specific organizational setting, underscoring that cultural assumptions are an important contributory factor to the strength and direction of organizational change. In this contribution, we have investigated the role ICT can play in promoting changes in the temporal dimension of organizational culture, and sought to assess whether temporal assumptions can affect the way a new system is used, thus facilitating/hindering the achievement of the expected results. Our case study covered the four types of ‘temporal performance’ management expected to see thanks to the introduction of a workflow system and showed that, after its introduction, the temporal dimensions of the organizational culture of the departments involved showed some significant changes, which confirm hypothesis 1 of the study, but also some contradictory effects that seem to confirm hypothesis 2.