Computers and Management Structure: Some Empirical Findings Re-examined

This paper re-examines empirical literature which relates computerization to organization structure. Explanations are sought for the conflicting findings regarding the effects of computer adoption on centralization and decentralization. A review of the literature suggests that: (1) computers do not cause changes in the degree of delegation, (2) computerized systems are sufficiently flexible to facilitate either centralized or decentralized structures, and (3) the degree of delegation in these studies is related to task environmental conditions of the organizations studied. Certain conceptual and methodological issues pertaining to this line of research are discussed, including the meaning of centralization, the perceptual bias in interviewing affected managers, the lack of adequate effectiveness measures in most studies, and the very basic problem of treating computerization as a variable. Further research on computerization should focus away from the present confining framework to look at environmental conditions as the more likely determinants of structural variation.