Social audit and accountability in IT management

Abstract

A characteristic of the electronically operated global capitalism is that it is structured with the help of information networks integrating capital interests at the global level. The environment in which the selfness realises itself in the informational society is the global networks and computer communications, creating a wide range of virtual communities imposing a new type of logic – the network logic. In the new network landscape, information technologies, including the Internet, provide a technical support for a greater justice and equality on the virtual highways, thus affirming the voice of an individual. In this way, Foucault’s thesis that power relations are rooted into the entire network of society comes into realization. Corporate behaviour is in line with the dominant social norms, values and expectations, but at the same time it can be significantly modified by social pressures and changes. The same goes for the ways in which information technologies are implemented within organisations, which means that a continual evaluation of IT management programmes is needed, not only from the point of view of its technical effectiveness but also from the point of social audit and accountability in management.