Organizational Change in the Information Society

Abstract

The ‘Information Society’ (IS) is a nebulous and an insidious concept. It refers to our current society in which new technology provides an ‘information superhighway’ and emerging applications like e-mail, videoconferencing, and electronic commerce provide a context. It is a society in which the communication of information and knowledge is being revolutionized so dramatically that it changes not just work but the context of work and living. Indeed, the very nature of society itself is changing. This paper considers the impact of the IS on organizations and the implications for people who work in them. The effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) will also necessitate a change in the skills needed at work and within the developing society. Training and education will need to address such skill shifts. Further changes to society are likely to arise from increased Internet-based commerce, reduced commuting time, and altered leisure time that will itself drive an increase in the leisure market. Data are presented arising from trans-European work as a result of which a model of change has been developed following the introduction of IS-based technologies and applications into organizations. This can be used to predict the impact of such changes on the future skills likely to be needed by a range of organizations.