The impact of information and communication technology on decentralization: The role of organizational culture

Abstract

The paper explores the impact of organizational culture on the effects that the implementation of information and communication technology has on decentralization of organization. The starting assumption is that the implementation of information and communication technology does not have a predetermined and unique impact on centralization or decentralization of organization, but this impact rather depends on the context in which the implementation is performed. Organizational culture has a considerable influence on thinking and behavior of employees and managers since it shapes their interpretive schemes through assumptions, values, and norms that it contains. Therefore, organizational culture must be considered as one of the possible elements of the context on which the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on structure decentralization depends. Starting with Handy's classification of organizational culture types, hypotheses on different impacts that ICT might have on decentralization in each of the culture types are generated. The conclusion is the following: ICT implementation in people culture will lead to a high decentralization, ICT implementation in task culture will lead to a moderate decentralization, ICT implementation in power culture will lead to a moderate centralization, and ICT implementation in role culture will lead to a high centralization.