Technology, power, and structure: Developing a model of the effects of automation on liberal arts college libraries

摘要

Based upon theories of organizational structure and power, especially the strategic contingencies theory of intraorganizational power, a model of organizational power and technology within liberal arts colleges is developed, tested, and modified. The model includes measures of subunit (library) power, environment, extent of automation, organizational structure, and bases of power. Data on 487 liberal arts college libraries collected from the 1982 HEGIS survey, the 1990 IPEDS survey, and two mailed questionnaires provided limited support for the proposed model of intraorganizational power. Changes in the amount of library automation caused changes in several of the bases of power of the libraries. Analyses of a modified model of intraorganizational power and technology showed that as automation and the environmental variables increased, subunit bases of power increased, and all of these directly increased library power. Thus, automation can be a change agent within organizations, causing changes in structure, in the bases of power, and in power itself.