Muhammad Rehan

BitF17m506
Assignment: Socialogy
Topic:
Analysis of "Information
the cultureTechnology" and
Submitted to : Ma'am Nimra Akram

1. Introduction:
 The concept of culture has been has been studied by
information systems (IS) researchers since the early days of the
discipline (Emery & Trist, 1960; Mumford, 1979). The beliefs
and values, regarding IT, that permeate societal groups have
been examined from a variety of perspectives such as national,
ethnic, organizational, and professional culture. Understanding
the relationship between IT and organizational culture (OC), for
instance, has challenged scholars from a range of disciplines for
nearly three decades. Beginning with some early field studies of
IT implementation (Bostrom & Heinen, 1977; Markus, 1983),
researchers have identified problems with successfully
leveraging IT – particularly systems that work ‘‘right’’ technically
but are resisted by their users. This issue has been labeled a
lack of system/culture fit, and explained in terms of
technologies having questionable ‘‘organizational validity’’
(Markus & Robey, 1983), despite adequate ‘‘technical validity.’’
Looking back on three decades of studies, implementation
researchers continue to cite OC as an often overlooked factor
that explains ‘‘why success didnt take’’ (Walton, 1975).
Researchers have increasingly recognized the importance of
articulating the cultural assumptions that are embedded into IT
and explicitly evaluating whether these assumptions are
congruent with potential adopters in other parts of the world
(Davison & Jordan, 1998; Walsham, 2002).
2.What is Culture?
Culture is a word for the 'Way of life' of groups of
people, meaning the way they do things. Different groups may
have different cultures. A culture is passed on to the next
generation by learning, whereas genetics are passed on by
heredity. Culture is seen in
people's Writing, Religion, Music, Clothes, Cooking and in what
they do.

3. Research on Culture and Information Technology

Several studies in the past few years have discussed
the impact of culture on information technology diffusion,
adoption, and usage, as well as the potential impact of
information technology on culture. These studies are divided
into two groups: (a) the effect of national culture on IT (Eindor,
Segev, and Orvad, 1993; Neko, 1990; Straub, 1994) and (b) the
effect of organizational culture on IT (Burkhardt, 1994;
Burkhardt and Grass, 1990; Cooper, 1994; Grote and Baitsch,
1991; Pliskin et al. 1993; Robey, Gupta, and Rodriguez-Diaz,
1992; Romm et al., 1991). In addition, other research looks at
organizational culture in relationship to IT and other technology
at the same time (Barley, 1986 and 1990).
Because the focus of this paper is on organizational culture,
national culture research will not be discussed, other than to
say that differences in culture across national boundaries have
been shown to cause significant differences in IT
implementation (Eindor, 1993; Straub, 1994).
Romm et al. (1991) focus on whether or not it is worth trying to
discover when identifying potential culture clashes is valuable.
Using a series of mini-cases, the authors argue that
organizational culture can be defined has having a "high
content" or "low content." Content is defined as the "degree of
cultural relevance and its visibility in terms of familiar artifacts"
(p. 103). This means that an MIS that will affect few people, or
affect few cultural attributes is "low content," with the opposite
being "high content." They also state that the "predictability of
outcome" of the proposed MIS system is important, and can be
classified as "low" or "high." Predictability is defined as "the
extent to which the outputs of the MIS are predetermined" (p.
103). This gives a two by two matrix, with four possible cells
where new MIS systems may be found. The authors argue that
when a culture has high content, and there is little predictability
of the outcome of the MIS system, evaluating the organizational
culture is important, since the system is deemed to be "high-
risk." The opposing cell in the matrix, where the culture has
"low" content, and there is a "high" predictability of outcomes,
leaves little need to evaluate the culture, since there cannot be
much conflict.
4. Relation of Culture with IT in Everday Life:
We should take a gander at our every day timetable to perceive
how innovation shapes culture. You get a notice on your cell
phone or work area, and you stop what you are doing to check
it.
• You are out with companions and somebody in the
gathering snaps a picture, transfers it and labels you in it.
• You request your week by week nourishment shop online
instead of face the lines coming up.
• You need to go out for a supper, thus you check surveys on
the web.
• You know about a decent television program, thus you
watch the entire arrangement on-request without
submitting or trust that the week after week show will be
publicized.
We can interface with individuals on a far more prominent
scope than any time in recent memory. Significant distance
connections can be kept alive through screen up close and
personal innovation applications, for example, Skype and
Facebook. Connections are created through applications, for
example, Tinder, and with internet dating locales. It isn't just
our own lives that have been formed by innovations, obviously,
however our working lives have likewise changed as well.
The innovation scene for organizations has changed to the point
of being unrecognizable in the course of recent years. Here are
5 different ways that innovation has changed the way that we
work.
5. VR and AR Innovation:
Advances in innovation have given a lot of creative ways for it to
be utilized past its underlying use. On the off chance that you
think about computer generated simulation as one model, you
can perceive how it has been created from its gaming
commencement to develop and be adjusted across various
ventures.
Augmented reality imaging is presently utilized via student
specialists with the goal that they can rehearse methods in a
protected situation that won't damage to patients. Creators can
utilize computer generated reality to make intuitive VR
encounters for their London customers, so changes can be
made effectively at the structure stage, instead of at a costlier
and later time. The eventual fate of configuration begins with
computer generated reality UK, and VR organizations, for
example, Lucas Studios have saddled this innovation and made
it open for use over an assortment of stages, including for VR
engineering structure and liveliness. Innovation has
demonstrated a culture of incredible advancement and
inventiveness.
6.Hofstede’s National Model:
Like all human activities, culture influences on development of
information system in different ways. Because of numerous
aspects of culture has received particular attention. Hofstede’s
main research on national culture is principally describe in
“culture’s consequences. The work of Hofstede stands out for
the connection of design activities to national culture and
organizational forms. His primary data were extracted from a
pre-existing bank of employee attitude surveys undertaken
around 1967 and 1973 within IBM subsidiaries in 66 countries is
the basis for a significant theoretical explanation of the
influence of culture on information system design. Geerd
Hofstede developed four dimensions of culture such as
uncertainty voidance, masculinity, power distance, and
individuality influence in information system design. In addition,
he compared the designs of geographic information systems in
German and US countries.
Because of the wealth of data and deep theoretical
interpretation, his work has received much attention in the field
than other fields Hofstede tried to examine the role of national
culture in information system design. He constructed his model
on review of sociological theories and work including Kluckhohn
HN (1952, 1961), Parson (1951), Parson and Shils and Weber. In
addition, Hofstede’s model has been widely used in
management research. Hofstede’s four dimensions of national
culture including:
Uncertainty avoidance: The extent to which future possibilities
are defend against or accepted
Power distance: The degree if inequality of power between a
person at a higher level and a person at a lower level.
Individualism: The relative importance of individual goals.
Compared with group or collective goals.
Masculinity: The extent to which the goal of men dominates
those of women.
7.Social Impact:
Toward the beginning of this article, the connection among
culture and innovation was raised, and one part of culture is to
be sure the social effect. Organizations can no longer bear to
overlook the social effect that their items or administrations
cause. On the off chance that you procure an awful notoriety,
there is no uncertainty that it will frequent you as your
advanced impression is a mark by which your image and
business will be perceived by. A terrible audit on your Facebook
page, or a sassy remark on Twitter, can be inconvenient to the
drawn out accomplishment of your business, and must be
managed properly. Straightforwardness is presently preferred,
and there is currently a bad situation for organizations to cover
up.
It's not all awful however, organizations are presently ready to
effectively advance the positive social effect that they have in
networks, and they realize this is the thing that shoppers need
to see. Network raising support, green accreditations and
economical practices, flexi-time, and working from home are
progressively open to representatives, which surely influences
culture.
Conclusion:
To conclude, Culture and It go hand to hand . One can not be
accepted without the other being there. It lays down the
patterns forth usage of information. Thus, it helps identify
which information is important, where it may be obtained and
above all, to whom it must be supplied.