e level, type, and effectiveness of organizational communications (Luthans, 1990). Organizational structure is heavily influenced by the ability of managers at different hierarchical levels to control subordinate levels of the organizational hierarchy effectively (Sisk, 1989).
The application of computer technology within an organization can, and typically does, have dramatic effects on organizational communications, organizational control (Boyd, 1989), and decision making processes (Ulvila and Brown, 1982). By extension, therefore, the application of computer technology in organizational environments will also affect in a significant manner both behavior within organizations and the structures of those organizations. By learning how organizational behavior and organizational structure may be affected by the introduction into the organizational environment of computerization, organizational managements will be better positioned to deal with both the human and the organizational side effects of computerization.
The decade of the 1980s was referred to as the time of the "birth of the information environment" (Zuboff, 1982, p. 142), and, in the decade of the 1990s, the effective organization will be the information based organization. Information based organizations are highly dependent upon the appliction of computer technology to all facets of management and operations.
New technological developments, however, "always have economic and social consequences, and, hence, political and ideological implications, which pose problems for society. Computerization has been no exception to this rule, particularly since its applications impinge on every field and open up breathtaking prospects in every sector of society" (Gallouedec Genuys, 1978, p. 219). Thus, while computerization within organizations promises remarkable improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, the practice may also sow the seeds of discord, as establishe...