Sociotechnical Constituencies as Processes of Alignment: The rise of a Large-Scale European Information Technology Initiative
In: Technology in Society, Vol. Vol. 17, No. N. 4, 1995, p. 385-412.
Abstract
The author discusses the recent emergence of The Open Microprocessor Initiative (OMI), a large-scale European information technology project and draws general lessons from the experience. The target of the initiative, in which many different organizations and nationalities participated, was the development of an autonomous European microprocessor capability. Using the sociotechnical constituencies approach of Organizational Behavior theory, the author describes how initially misaligned players generate the programmatic alignment of a capability-building initiative. He highlights the elements of a process of alignment that gradually and programmatically integrates the attitudes of different organizations, and shapes technology. He uses the concept of diamond of alignment to account for the several directions of social and technical alignments required in the formation of large-scale technological initiatives.
