The social shaping of interorganizational IT systems and electronic data interchange

Directorate-General For Research And Innovation European Commission

Description

Information technology and telecommunications
Social policy

Sujets

• Information technology
• Social sciences
• Technological change
• Telecommunication
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-RESEARCH-AND-INNOVATION-EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 19
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

COST
:>·'.'
social sciences
The social shaping of interorganizational IT systems
and electronic data interchange
Proceedings of the PICT/COST A4 International Research Workshop
Edinburgh University, Edinburgh
15 and 16 April 1993
Edited by Robin Williams
European Commission
Directorate-General
Science, Research and Development
1995 social sciences
COST A4
Volume 3
The social shaping of interorganizational IT systems
and electronic data interchange
Proceedings of the PICT/COST A4 International Research
Workshop
Edinburgh University, Edinburgh
15 and 16 April 1993
Edited by Robin Williams
COSTA4
European research collaboration on the social shaping of technology,
and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
programme on information and communication technologies (PICT)
1995 Published by the
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General XII
Science, Research and Development
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting
on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of
the following information
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1995
ISBN 92-827-4519-8
© ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1995
Reproduction is authorized, except for commercial purposes,
provided the source is acknowledged
Printed in Spain The Social Shaping of Inter-Organisational IT Network Systems & EDI
FOREWORD
These papers were originally presented at a COST A4 workshop on
The Social Shaping of Inter-Organisational IT Network Systems
(IONS) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), held in Edinburgh on
15-16 April 1993. COST A4 is a collaborative programme on 'the
social shaping of technology' within the European Cooperation and
Coordination in the field of Scientific and Technological Research
(COST). The workshop was co-funded by the UK Economic and
Social Research Council Programme on Information and
Communications Technologies (PICT). It was further strengthened
by the participation of a Europe-wide team, studying the economic
and social implications of EDI for the European Commission Trade
and EDI Systems initiative. In this way it was possible to bring
together an impressive range of researchers and practitioners, with
diverse disciplinary backgrounds and concerns, to explore a single
phenomenon - the implementation of EDI/IONS.
Unlike the plethora of commercial EDI conferences which are
dominated by the particular visions of EDI promoters, this workshop
sought to improve theoretical understanding of the social character
and implications of EDI/IONS, drawing upon the social shaping of
technology perspective. It is part of a series of COST A4 research
activities concerned with information technologies, which also
addresses social shaping at the level of corporate computer systems
(the social shaping of Computer-Aided Production Management and
Computer Integrated Manufacture CIM) and at the societal level (in
the Social Shaping of Information Highways).
In organising the workshop I wish to particularly acknowledge
the enthusiasm and hard work of Barbara Silander our research
administrator, and the helpful advice of my colleagues Ian Graham
and Graham Spinardi. James Stewart has played an invaluable role in
the technical production of this collection, both in assisting non-native
writers with colloquial English usage and in the arduous task of
grappling with text and diagrams produced on a range of more-or-
less compatible computer systems.
m The Social Shaping of Inter-Organisational IT Network Systems & EDI
A list of participants and details of all the papers presented/tabled
at the workshop are included in the workshop report in the appendix.
Some of the presented papers have been published elsewhere and
could not be included in this collection. The ten papers published have
been subject to minor editing since their original presentation - apart
from the introductory chapter which is substantially new and seeks to
pull together some of the themes and strands of discussion at the
workshop.
Edinburgh Spring 1995
Robin Williams
IV The Social Shaping of Inter-Organisational IT Network Systems & EDI
CONTENTS
Foreword m
Table of Contents V
1 Robin Williams, Ian Graham and Graham Spinardi, The
Social Shaping of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 1
2 Juliet Webster, Networks of Collaboration or Conflict?
The Development of EDII 17
3 Mogens Kühn Pedersen, Explaining the Diffusion of
EDI: Enter EDI - Exit the Technical Determination
Thesis of Inter-Organisational IT Networks. 43
4 Herbert Kubicek, The Organization Gap in Large-Scale
EDI Systems 75
5 Kurt Monse and Kai Reimers, The Development of
Electronic Data Interchange Networks from an
Institutional Perspective 109
6 David R Charles, EDI Implementation and Regional
Development 12
7 Florian Nemeti, Inter-Organisational Network Systems
(IONS) and Regional Innovation Networks 147
8 Ed Rhodes and Ruth Carter, EDI and Supply Chain
Innovation: Emerging Production Options in Textiles,
and the Implications for Changing Patterns of Gender
and Skill in Apparel Manufacture 161
9 Norbert Reekers, EDI Use in German and US
Organisations 179
10 Graham Spinardi, Threat or Opportunity? A
Preliminary Assessment of the Issues Raised by
Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistic Support
(CALS) 19
APPENDIX: Report of Research Workshop 211 THE SOCIAL SHAPING OF ELECTRONIC DATA
INTERCHANGE (EDI)
Robin Williams, Ian Graham and Graham Spinardi1
University of Edinburgh
Introduction
Electronic Data Interchange is perhaps the leading current example of
Inter-Organisational Network Systems (IONS) in which Information
Technology is applied to integrate activities between different
organisations. EDI increases the speed and accuracy and reduces the
cost of processing information exchanges between firms. It holds out
the more radical prospect of closer linkages between the internal
information and administrative systems of firms - leading to
qualitative shifts in relationships between organisations (eg electronic
trading, exchange of technical design data, electronic markets).
The topic of the social shaping of EDI potentially draws our
attention to two sorts of questions. Most immediately it prompts us to
ask how the social shaping perspective can improve our
understandings of an emerging technology. However it can also
provoke examination of how empirical study of EDI/IONS can enrich
our understanding of the social shaping of technology (SST),
regarding the social character of technology, and the nature of the
socio-economic forces shaping its evolution and outcomes. Whilst
our main concern is the former - it is perhaps useful to start with an
examination of the latter.
EDI and the analysis of the social shaping of technology
The study of EDI contributes to social analysis ofy in at
least three ways. The first relates to the general question of how we
1 Robin Williams and Graham Spinardi are, respectively. Senior Lecturer and Senior
Research Fellow at the Research Centre for Social Sciences; Ian Graham is a lecturer in
the Department of Business Studies at Edinburgh University. The Social Shaping of Inter-Organisational IT Network Systems & EDI
conceive technology, and in particular the relationship between 'the
social' and 'the technical'. Second it raises specific questions about
which are the main social shaping forces - where studies of EDI from
different disciplinary perspectives provide an opportunity to integrate
economic and sociological/political accounts. The third aspect is
closely related and concerns the levels of analysis required. The need
to simultaneously address both micro- and meso- levels of EDI
development throws light upon debates within SST - notably about
actor-network (AN) perspectives.
the social and the technical
SST research started from the observation that technology does not
develop as a result of a simple technical rationality (or other single
determining force such as economics); a range of 'technical' choices
are available at every stage in the development and use of a
technology; and various social, economic, cultural and political
factors, as well as narrowly 'technical' considerations influence which
are selected (MacKenzie and Wajcman 1985, Williams and Edge
forthcoming). More recent SST work calls into question the very
dichotomy between 'the social' and 'the technical'. For example, as
discussed below, work on industrial automation has highlighted the
close interaction between technology and work organisation.
Industrial technologies are underpinned by particular historical
models of work activities, divisions of labour etc., together with
visions of how these might be transformed. Rather than see
technologies as an external force, transforming work, it was
necessary to analyse the development of technology and work
organisation