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Attempts by organizational researchers to conceptualize and explicate the concepts of technology and structure have been subject to inconsistencies and misspecifications. These problems stem from the absence of an integrative framework that considers these concepts simultaneously. Such a framework is developed here, rooted both in the theoretical work on technology and structure and in systems theory. This framework specifies the qualitatively different components that constitute technology in organizations, the hierarchical arrangement of these components, and the nature of organizational structuring. The components considered are those associated with the concrete (living and nonliving), the abstract, and the activity systems that characterize organizations. These system components are integrated into a model of technology and structure. Implications of this model for the management of technological and structural change are discussed.
Rousseau et al. (Sat,) studied this question.