Implications of New Technologies on Modern Organizations
Implications of New Technologies on Organisation
Technology may be broadly defined as the methods, procedures, systems, equipment, and or machines employed in producing a desired output. This may be a particular product or service. As Child, (2005), explains organisation can be viewed as the end result of the process by which a team of people consistently put together their efforts in an orderly fashion so as to successfully reach a desired goal.
New technologies have many interesting implications on the organisation some of which may be favourable to the organisation while others may have undesirable effects. The kind of effect or impact a new technology is likely to have on an organisation will be largely dictated by how the organisation responds to or manages the new technology (Christensen, 1997). The world over there are numerous examples of firms that have either been built or destroyed as a result of new technologies. In this discussion I will attempt to examine both good and bad effects of new technologies on the organisation.
Some of the favourable things that new technologies may bring to an organisation include greater market share, efficient and cost effective systems of management, better motivated and satisfied workforce as well as better time management. It is also important to note that new technologies are often the result of innovation aimed at solving certain problems in the market place. A prime example of an organisation that has benefited greatly from new technology is found in Safaricom Kenya a mobile telephony company, and a member of the Vodafone group through their ‘MPESA’ product which is a cheap 24/7 money transfer service offered through mobile phones (Hughes and Lonie, 2007). This product answered to the needs of many customers in the Kenyan mobile telephony market, the unbanked, those who needed instant money transfer services, as well as those who were looking for an alternative to the expensive and bureaucratic bank based money
Technology may be broadly defined as the methods, procedures, systems, equipment, and or machines employed in producing a desired output. This may be a particular product or service. As Child, (2005), explains organisation can be viewed as the end result of the process by which a team of people consistently put together their efforts in an orderly fashion so as to successfully reach a desired goal.
New technologies have many interesting implications on the organisation some of which may be favourable to the organisation while others may have undesirable effects. The kind of effect or impact a new technology is likely to have on an organisation will be largely dictated by how the organisation responds to or manages the new technology (Christensen, 1997). The world over there are numerous examples of firms that have either been built or destroyed as a result of new technologies. In this discussion I will attempt to examine both good and bad effects of new technologies on the organisation.
Some of the favourable things that new technologies may bring to an organisation include greater market share, efficient and cost effective systems of management, better motivated and satisfied workforce as well as better time management. It is also important to note that new technologies are often the result of innovation aimed at solving certain problems in the market place. A prime example of an organisation that has benefited greatly from new technology is found in Safaricom Kenya a mobile telephony company, and a member of the Vodafone group through their ‘MPESA’ product which is a cheap 24/7 money transfer service offered through mobile phones (Hughes and Lonie, 2007). This product answered to the needs of many customers in the Kenyan mobile telephony market, the unbanked, those who needed instant money transfer services, as well as those who were looking for an alternative to the expensive and bureaucratic bank based money
References: Anyanzwa J., 2012 “Safaricom pockets Sh11b half-year profits” Standard Digital Online [Online] 9 November. Available at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000070237&story_title=Kenya-Safaricom-pockets-Sh11b-half-year-profits [Accessed on 29th December 2012] Child, J 2005 Organization: Contemporary Principles and Practice Blackwell Publishing [Online] Available at: http://www.amazon.com/reader/1405116587?_encoding=UTF8&page=444 [Accessed on 29th December 2012] Christensen, C.M 1997 The Innovator’s Dilemma Harvard Business Press, [Online] Available at: http://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SIexi_qgq2gC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Innovator%27s+Dilemma&ots=AiwRjGGcDo&sig=8qPNQUxoHkzTFOTKT0FPfJqwhqU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Innovator 's%20Dilemma&f=false [Accessed on 29th December 2012] Hughes, N., Lonie S., 2007 M-PESA: Mobile Money for the “Unbanked” Turning Cellphones into 24-Hour Tellers in Kenya Winter/Spring 2007, Vol. 2, No. 1-2, Pages 63-81 Posted Online June 12, 2007. (doi:10.1162/itgg.2007.2.1-2.63) © 2007 Tagore LLC Kinyanjui K., 2010 “Telkom Kenya revenue falls in cut-throat market” Business Daily Africa Online [Online] 30 April Available at: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Telkom-Kenya-revenue-falls-in-cut-throat-market/-/539550/909136/-/sxd62b/-/index.html [Accessed 29th December 2012] Ogembo J.G, Ngugi B., and Pelowski M., 2010 M-Pesa: A Case Study of The Critical Early Adopters’ Role In The Rapid Adoption of Mobile Money Banking In Kenya. The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, 43, 3, 1-16. [Online] Available At: http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs2../index.php/ejisdc/article/viewFile/713/331 [Accessed on 29th December 2012]