Think before you act: organizing structures of action in technology-induced change

The transformation of work in digitized public sector organizations

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine what the authors can learn from organization studies of digital technologies and changes in public organizations, and to develop a research agenda that allows us to produce systematic knowledge about how work practices in the public sector change with digitization.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an analysis of the organizational studies literature on how digital technologies lead to changes in public sector organization. The literature comprises a wide range of different case studies, and they are analyzed with a specific focus on the insights they offer regarding bureaucracy, accountability and professionals.

Findings

The paper identifies various examples of how digital technologies change important aspects of public sector organizations relating to bureaucracy, accountability and professionals. It is a main finding that no systematic account exists in the organization literature of changes due to digitization specific to the public sector.

Practical implications

The knowledge produced by current and future research in this area is directly applicable for change management. To react productively on the digitization imperative, public managers need to deepen their knowledge of the organizational dimension of digitization.

Originality/value

The paper proposes an agenda for future research, which has the potential to produce both systematic and useful knowledge of how digitization changes central aspects of public sector organizations.

Optimal levels of (de)centralization for resilient supply chains

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how centralization and decentralization of supply chains (SCs) play a major role in creating organizational resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

Starting with the basic tenets of contingency theory and applying a grounded theory approach, results from exploratory qualitative and quantitative studies are combined to investigate the impact of (de)centralization on SC resilience capabilities.

Findings

The findings from a comprehensive literature review combined with two empirical surveys indicate that four important organizational capabilities are needed in order to cope with internal and external disruptions: fast reactions to unforeseen disturbances, reducing the number of negative external forces, reducing the impact of negative external forces and the quick return to normal operating processes. Furthermore, it is illustrated how (de)centralization activities can support these capabilities and thus maximize the SC resilience.

Originality/value

This paper presents 12 measures for (de)centralization and shows how they can support the four major capabilities of resilient companies. The results from qualitative and quantitative surveys allow for a holistic understanding of the organization and provide a basis for future SC resilience research.