Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> A phototaking camera having light emitters includes an electro-optic, light-emitting display assembly provided on its form surface side, which includes a light-emitting display unit that emits light to display a pattern as if the displayed pattern were rotated, or enlarged or contracted or moved forward or backward by lighting-up or blinking of an array of light emitters, and a light-emitting display control circuit far driving said light-emitting display unit. With a power switch put on for shooting, the light emitters are lit up or blinked as mentioned above. Since a subject such as a figure directs attention to the lighting-up or blinking of the light emitters, there is no risk of a failure in shooting. <s> BIB001 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> This book is still of practical value and remains an important starting point for the study of all contributions to organizational theory since the mid-sixties. Woodward tested current theories of organization and looked into why some organizational structures appear more successful than others. <s> BIB002 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> Complex organizations are conceptualized in terms of their technologies, or the work done on raw materials. Two aspects of technology vary independently: the number of exceptions that must be handled, and the degree to which search is an analyzable or unanalyzable procedure. If there is a large number of exceptions and search is not logical and analytic, the technology is described as nonroutine. Few exceptions and analyzable search procedures describe a routine technology. Two other types result from other combinations-craft and engineering technologies. Task structures vary with the technology utilized, and are analyzed in terms of control and coordination and three levels of management. Social structure in turn is related to technology and task structure. Finally, the variations in three types of goals are weakly related to the preceding variables in this conceptualization. The perspective provides a basis for comparing organizations which avoids many problems found in other schemes utilizing structure, function or goals as the basis for comparison. Furthermore, it allows one to selectively utilize competing organizational theories once it is understood that their relevance is restricted to organizations with specific kinds of technologies. The scheme makes apparent some errors in present efforts to compare organizations. <s> BIB003 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> Although managers tend to assume that the introduction of new technologies will result in a reduction of skill requirements, this is not always the case. In fact, there is often an upgrading effect. An examination is made of bank computerization to help identify useful generalizations about the new types of skills that will be required for effective automation. It is demonstrated that a careful assessment of the type of responsibility, degree of abstractness, and nature of interdependence will prove valuable for the manager. If, however, the assessment is clouded by uncertainty, then a guiding assumption is needed. The most useful guiding assumption is that optimal performance demands more responsibility for results, more intellectual mastery and abstract skills, and more carefully nurtured interdependence. <s> BIB004 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> New medical imaging devices, such as the CT scanner, have begun to challenge traditional role relations among radiologists and radiological technologists. Under some conditions, these technologies may actually alter the organizational and occupational structure of radiological work. However, current theories of technology and organizational form are insensitive to the potential number of structural variations implicit in role-based change. This paper expands recent sociological thought on the link between institution and action to outline a theory of how technology might occasion different organizational structures by altering institutionalized roles and patterns of interaction. In so doing, technology is treated as a social rather than a physical object, and structure is conceptualized as a process rather than an entity. The implications of the theory are illustrated by showing how identical CT scanners occasioned similar structuring processes in two radiology departments and yet led to divergent forms of organization. The data suggest that to understand how technologies alter organizational structures researchers may need to integrate the study of social action and the study of social form. <s> BIB005 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> The article examines Woodward's typology for classifying technology that distinguished between batch, mass and continuous-process production systems. A discussion is presented about the impact of revolutionary changes in batch production technologies. The author's present a revision of Woodward's typology of production system. Details related to the methods used in the study are presented. A discussion about the results of the comparison between traditional and technical batch operations is presented. <s> BIB006 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> A model of the organizational conditions of effective implementation of integrated CAD/CAM is developed. The central proposition is that the conditions of successful implementation cannot in general be created concurrently with the technological effort of CAD/CAM integration. The model proposes that integration effectiveness is principally a function of the skills, procedures, strategies, and culture which preexist the integration of CAD and CAM systems. In this model, technological characteristics and project management methods play a subordinate role. <s> BIB007 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> 49.1 Abstract ::: New kinds of information technology (IT) are increasingly affecting the ways in which people work. In this chapter, we discuss the relationship between IT and work organization. We first discuss theories about technology, organizations and the link between the two. We suggest four perspectives on organizations-rationalist, information processing, motivational and political-which can be used to interpret organizational structure. Using these four perspectives, we review the results of empirical studies of the use of IT to suggest what changes have been seen in the past and can be expected in the future. We conclude with some suggestions about the kinds of future research that will be useful and some implications for the design of systems, work and organizations. <s> BIB008 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> This article concerns theories about why and how information technology affects organizational life. Good theory guides research, which, when applied, increases the likelihood that information technology will be employed with desirable consequences for users, organizations, and other interested parties. ::: ::: But what is a good theory? Theories are often evaluated in terms of their content-the specific concepts used and the human values served. This article examines theories in terms of their structures-theorists' assumptions about the nature and direction of causal influence. Three dimensions of causal structure are considered-causal agency, logical structure, and level of analysis. Causal agency refers to beliefs about the nature of causality: whether external forces cause change, whether people act purposefully to accomplish intended objectives, or whether changes emerge unpredictably from the interaction of people and events. Logical structure refers to the temporal aspect of theory-static versus dynamic-and to the logical relationships between the "causes" and the outcomes. Level of analysis refers to the entities about which the theory poses concepts and relationships-individuals, groups, organizations, and society. ::: ::: While there are many possible structures for good theory about the role of information technology in organizational change, only a few of these structures can be seen in current theorizing. Increased awareness of the options, open discussion of their advantages and disadvantages, and explicit characterization of future theoretical statements in terms of the dimensions and categories discussed here should, we believe, promote the development of better theory. <s> BIB009 </s> Impacts of Programmable Manufacturing Technology: A Review of Recent Studies and Contingency Formulation <s> "Main effects only" models versus contingent social impacts <s> Thank you for reading designing effective organizations the sociotechnical systems perspective. As you may know, people have search hundreds times for their chosen books like this designing effective organizations the sociotechnical systems perspective, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some infectious bugs inside their computer. <s> BIB010
The notion of uniform social impacts of technology typically implies a simple causal relationship: technology is implemented and a set of direct impacts follow. This view is sometimes referred to as the technological imperative perspective which "views technology as an exogenous force which determines or strongly constrains the behavior of individuals and organization" (Markus and Robey, 1988, p. 585) . In fact, there are strong theoretical reasons for believing that the predominant impacts of PMT will be to encourage more organic organizations characterized by broader, more flexible roles, greater multi-way communication, fewer rigid standard operating procedures, and the like. For example, building on the research stream launched by Joan BIB002 classic study of three types of manufacturing systems, researchers have recently provided evidence that there is a "fourth type"-high-technology batch production-which is based on the flexibility offered by programmable automation BIB006 . In keeping with Woodward's technological imperative paradigm the suggestion is that, as we move to programmable automation, there is a particular best way to organize-in this case to more flexible, organic organizations. Programmable automation enables firms to economically make small lots of customized products reaping some of the cost advantages previously possible only in mass production systems and the flexibility of small-batch customized production. But to capitalize on this flexibility, firms must have flexible, i.e., organic, organizations. While it is possible for firms to use programmable automation strictly to automate mass-production single-product lines, they will get limited benefits from the programmability and may incur higher costs for the technology. The observation that effective use of PMT requires more organic organizations was strongly echoed in the NRC case studies, as summarized by . They argued, based on their observations of plants using PMT, that the most effective industrial plants that implemented programmable automation had "people policies" that em-phasize teamwork, training, employee involvement, flat management hierarchies, and the like. Nonetheless, when we look at the various case studies of technological change in the literature, the technological deterministic perspective appears too simplistic to account for the varied effects of technology across cases  BIB008 . For example, research on the effects of computerized technology on skill levels finds that skill upgrading or deskilling has less to do with the technology per se than it does with management discretion in designing jobs around the technology BIB004  . It is precisely this variation that would be expected and accounted for by a contingent-impacts perspective. If we think about main effects in graphical form, plotting social impacts on the Y-axis and looking at the trend on the X-axis as we move from before PMT to after PMT we can think of three scenarios. What we will call in this paper a positive slope would mean a net upgrade in the jobs and quality of worklife. For example, if the "impact" of technology is to create more jobs, we would expect a positive slope from before PMT to after PMT. We would classify as a negative slope a scenario where the predominate consequence of PMT is to eliminate jobs. A finding of no main effects would be represented as a zero slope, e.g., the effect of PMT is no net gain or loss of jobs. Note that there will be variation around the central tendencies in each of these cases. For example, if the unit of analysis is the manufacturing plant, one might find that each plant has a different trend, but the average trend is either positive, negative, or no main effects. The main-effects model can be represented by a simple additive model in which the implementation of technology is the independent variable and measures of social impacts are the dependent variables. Any variation not explained by the technology variable is represented either as systematic effects of control variables or random variation reflected in an error term. In the case of a finding of no main effects, one would conclude that PMT does not effect organizational variables. What is not considered under this model is that programmable automation might have systematically different consequences for subsets of the cases for the same social impact measure (e.g., some cases may experience raised skill levels while other cases may experience lowered skill). As discussed earlier, equations for contingent impacts can take varying forms ranging from zero average effects to positive or negative average effects. One scenario is that under two different conditions the technology has different degrees of positive impacts. For example, BIB005 studied the same CT scanner technology introduced into two hospitals. In both cases, the traditional social distance between radiologists and lower-status radiological technicians was reduced, but it was reduced to a much greater degree in one hospital compared to the other. The difference seemed to be due to the initial skill levels of technicians-the traditional, hierarchical authority relationship was re-duced by the technology to a greater extent when technicians were already highly skilled radiologists prior to the introduction of the technology, as compared to when the technicians were relative novices. A second case is when the impacts of the technology are negative under two conditions, but to a different degree. For example, two companies might experience job losses as a result of implementing PMT, but the percent of the workforce laid off could be lower in one plant that had relatively lean staffing to begin with. A third example is the most dramatic, showing mixed positive and negative slopes. In this case, the technology has a positive effect under one condition, but a negative effect under a second condition. For example,  observes cases in which programmable automation raises skill levels when NC programming is assigned to machinists and others where skill levels are reduced when NC programming is assigned to specialist programmers. He argues that this is the result of management discretion in designing jobs. What is interesting about the third example is that a pure main-effects model would find no impact of technology, whereas, by formulating the model based on the proper contingency formulation we find that there are positive impacts which on average cancel out negative impacts. In this paper we will use the term "mixed impacts" to refer to findings that the impact of technology varies with some specifiable contingency variable. Thus, we would refer to all three of the examples given here as mixed-impact models. A contingency model does not necessarily imply that technology has a mechanistic impact that will always vary in predictable ways under different circumstances such as the impact of a billiard ball under different gravitational forces. In fact, there would undoubtedly be individual cases that vary around each of the slopes. The goal is not to explain 100 percent of the variance. There is a danger in viewing technology as contingent on so many variables so that each and every case of technology introduction would be completely unique. In this case there would be no point in speaking of any systematic "impacts" of technology whatsoever. BIB005 has attempted to reconcile interactionist perspectives on technology, which suggest highly particularistic impacts of technology, with structural perspectives, which assume systematic effects, through the use of Gidden's (1979) concept of structuration. BIB005 argues that technology presents "an occasion for structuring". Structure in this sense is viewed as a process rather than a static configuration; technology is viewed as having a reality which can bring about patterned social interaction. So, for example, when he observes that the introduction of CT scanners into radiology departments in two hospitals had similar effects on role relationships, but to different degrees, he argues that specific features of the technology brought about new patterns of role interaction, albeit to different degrees in different social contexts. As another example,  views technology as delimiting organizational choices. Majchrzak (1991, p. 6) argues that "certain identifiable changes in organizational and human factors (such as tasks that need to be performed) can be directly attributable to technology". Based on an opensystems model she argues that certain organizational and job designs will tit with certain technology attributes, contingent upon the environment and strategic goals of management. This perspective does not assume that all managers will be aware of the need to change their organization to utilize the capabilities of new technologies, but that certain combinations of organization and technology will be more effective than others.  argues that technology does not cause organizational change, but rather particular features of technology delimit the range of effective organizational design choices in three different ways. The technology may require organizational changes for the technology to be used effectively (e.g., to prevent downtime), the technology may create new opportunities for organizational design such as new patterns of work (e.g., create opportunities for self-managing teams rather than purely sequential interdependence), and technology may eliminate certain design options (e.g., self-managing teams may become impossible when the technology creates sequentially interdependent work and workers are spaced far apart). For example, one might imagine a scenario in which the use of CAD/CAM provides a stimulant to greater social interaction between product designers and manufacturing. Users of the technology quickly discover that in order to effectively prepare and translate the product data so they are useful for manufacturing purposes, design and manufacturing must arrive at a set of agreements and must communicate about the transfer of data. Thus, while implementors of the technology may not envision greater social interaction when they introduce the technology, to make the technology work may require such communication, in effect delimiting their social choices. In fact, BIB007 speculate, contrary to this hypothetical example, that effective CAD/CAM use requires social integration between design and manufacturing prior to implementation of the technology (ex ante), and attempts to use CAD/CAM to facilitate organizational integration (ex post) will be unsuccessful. Open-systems theorists have long argued for a contingency perspective. For example,  argue that effective organizations must find a fit between their core tasks/technology, formal organizational arrangements, informal organization, employee characteristics, and the external environment of the firm. Socio-technical systems (STS) theory, which is based on open-systems theory, focuses particular attention on the social systemtechnical system fit   BIB010 . They argue that joint optimization of the social and technical system will bring better results than optimizing either the social or technical system alone  . STS and organizational design theorists emphasize in particular the need for a fit between the external environment of the firm and the internal organizational design BIB001 BIB010 . For example,  compared different industries whose environments ranged from highly stable to highly dynamic and found that more "organic" forms of organization were most effective when the environment is dynamic and more mechanistic organizations were most effective when the environment is stable. However, they have less to say about the social system characteristics which "fit" with different types of technology within the same industry facing a similar environment. A seminal formulation by BIB003 suggests that when the technology is less routine (i.e., there are greater number of exceptions as hardware and software systems break down in unpredictable ways), more organic organization structures will be more effective, while more routine technologies fit with more mechanistic organizational designs. Despite the power of this formulation, there are clearly more ways to characterize technology and its context of use than technological uncertainty. Like  formulation, the STS theorists seem to view technology as delimiting choices associated with organizational effectiveness. There is no law of nature driving managers to find the right fit between the technology and organization. In fact many seem to fail to understand the social system implications of technology  . Nonetheless, if a substantial number of managers understand the fit issue, one would expect to see patterned "impacts" of technology. However, the impact of technology will vary with a whole host of conditions that effect the fit between technology and organization (e.g., the external environment). In sum, there appears to be general consensus in more recent theoretical formulations that assumptions of purely additive "impacts" of technology, as represented by main-effects models, are overly simplistic BIB005   BIB009 ). Yet, as we will see when we look at the existing literature, a surprising number of recent studies fail to even consider contingent relations.