NEW TECHNOLOGY AND THE EMERGING ORGANIZATIONAL PARADIGM

This paper describes an empirical assessment of several hypotheses ass ociated with organization design in the context of new and flexible te chnologies. Three distinct technologies were examined in four differen t geographical locations in Sweden, France, and Canada. The hypotheses illustrate how workplaces are being organized within the context of f lexible, new technology, and the movement toward an emerging new parad igm of work. Flexible, new technologies and this paradigm are entering organizations at the same time. The former are changing the ground on which assumptions underlying the emerging paradigm of organization ha ve been built. Several of the hypotheses examined have been revised as a consequence. The data from twelve companies are plotted on a matrix of organization design principles against organization design impleme ntation to illustrate changing organization design patterns as well as geographic differences between the companies.