Teams, Markets and Systems
Business Innovation and Information Technology

Shows how information technology can be put to work to transform business organizations.

Claudio U. Ciborra (Author)

9780521574655, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 November 1996

272 pages, 15 b/w illus. 4 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.3 cm, 0.44 kg

"...the book offers a novel approach to system development for those interested in the organizational implications of information systems." Vijay R. Kannan Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization

Despite the waves of re-engineering, there is still a gap between the opportunities offered by information technology and the progress of business transformation. New forms of information technology offer an increasing variety of network-based applications that range from groupware to electronic commerce, but its applications lack a sound understanding of the link between organizational processes, information and technology. This book provides a new set of concepts and methods to design new forms of business organizations around the latest network infrastructures. Professor Ciborra uses the principles of institutional economics to propose reforms of the relationships with suppliers, customers, strategic partners, and internal work organisation, based on a different mix of three basic organizational forms: teams, markets and hierarchies. Information technology can indeed be harnessed to shape businesses and markets so as to increase the transparency of markets, the agility of hierarchies, and the effectiveness and quality of the working life of teams.

Introduction
Part I. Foundations: 1. Cognitive models of man, organization and information
2. Teams
3. Mediating technologies
4. Team-support systems
Part II. Design: 6. Transaction-cost analysis information systems
7. Analysis costs and benefits
8. Systems development: a contractual view
9. Tactical information systems
Part III. Applications: 10. Creating electronic markets: the case of fixed income bonds
11. Groupware, teams and markets in an airline
12. Networks and markets in public administration
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ]