A Human-Information-Processing Approach to Strategic Change

Abstract

The information-processing view has become an integrative framework for organizational design (Tushman and Nadler, 1978). Galbraith (1972, 1977) developed a comprehensive contingency model in which organizational design is conceptualized as the means for matching the information-processing capacity of the organization with the information-processing requirements of the situation that it faces. By unifying environmental, technological, and size variables in terms of their impact on organizational structure, this approach effectively positions information processing as the core of the organization's strategic realignment to its situation. The rapid development of information technology has radically changed the possibilities for organizations to increase their information-processing capacity. The capacity of a computer has increased at the same time as the weight, space, and cost per capacity unit have