The Role of Spaces and Occasions in the Transformation of Information Technologies - Lessons from the Social Shaping of IT Systems for Manufacturing in a Danish Context

Abstract

This article takes as its point of departure the view that technological change is a social process involving negotiations between networks of players. The paper aims to inform the debate on technology management by identifying the dynamics of spaces and occasions where technological change is addressed and politicized. It takes as its focus the development of the information technology (IT) systems for manufacturing, known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in Denmark. These systems, which started out 30 years ago as a visionary concept in the US, are now in daily use in Danish firms. This technology has been moulded by the twin forces of stability and negotiability, with the interplay of supplier and user constellations set out in the context of the relative stability of company social systems. The article discusses three spaces within which the social shaping of IT takes place: the user producer segments, the company internal scene and technological context with the competing pull of mass production of software and company customization. Strategic possibilities are shown to be of a shifting nature with the occasions shaping technology appearing both as ruptures and emergent options which are restricted by the strategies of participating players. Consequently no single player has a natural position to manage technological change and it is suggested that technology strategies should be subject to open debate and exchange of experiences from a multiplicity of positions and perspectives.