Management Consultants
Systems Development, Power and the Translation of Problems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3370105 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brian P Bloomfield (0000-0002-6006-6111, Manchester School of Management), Ardha Best (Manchester School of Management) |
| Year | 1992 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 533-560 |
| Publication date | 1992-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-954x.1992.tb00401.x |
| OpenAlex | W2075693112 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 19 |
This paper aims to shed light on the exercise of power during the development and implementation of organisational information systems. Considering the use of Information Technology (IT) to help solve organisational problems, we employ the concept of the 'sociology of translation' to theorise the process by which the organisational problem is constituted and for which the appropriate IT solution is proposed. Discussing the nature of the power relationship between external management consultants in IT and client or user organisations, the paper considers the role of symbolic resources such as managerial discourse, and the differential access to IT knowledge and skills, as important aspects of power in that relationship
Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Knowledge management · Power (physics) · Process (computing) · Sociology · Computer Science · Engineering · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Information Technology Governance and Strategy · Management and Organizational Studies
The case study approach
Is Actor Network Theory Critique
Learning to Cooperate
Consultancy State
The Invincible Character of Management Consulting Rhetoric
Theorizing the client—consultant relationship from the perspective of social-systems theory
Management as a (Self) Confidence Trick
The Osmosis of Ideas
Participation
A Case Study of Stakeholder Perceptions of the History, Management, and Decision-Making Approaches About Acid Mine Drainage in South Africa
Actor-Network Theory, organizations and critique
Gender and teleworking identities in the risk society
A power model of urban infrastructure decision-making
Transforming the public sector
Advice that resonates
BPR as ‘IT‐enabled organizational change’
The political process of inscribing a new technology
Knowledge, Identity and the Middle Class
The Discursive Structure of the Social-Technical Divide
Dialogical Principles for Qualitative Inquiry
Agency and Discourse
Power
Social Analyses of Computing
The Social construction of technological systems
On systematically distorted communication
Frameworks of Power
Following Scientists Around
Interests and Explanation in the Social Study of Science
On Interests and their Transformation
Information society
Changing Organizations
Power and Identity in Theory and Practice
Automating bias
On Speaking about Computing
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,66 |
| Citation span | 1994 - 2026 (33) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 21 |