Organisation, Work & Technology
Organisation, Work & Technology (formerly known as Behaviour in Organisations) is a multi-disciplinary department of psychologists, sociologists, knowledge management, employment relations, information systems and HRM specialists. It was founded in 1969 in response to a growing recognition of the importance of the study of behaviour in organisations and of the significance of multi-disciplinary approaches within it. In common with a number of Lancaster Management School departments, the establishment of the Department in the form that was chosen was both innovative and far-sighted.
Since then, the Department with its distinctive ethos has flourished. Under the leadership of a number of well-known academics - Brian Bloomfield, Stephen Ackroyd, Frank Blackler, Gibson Burrell, Robert Cooper, Karen Legge and Mike Reed among them – the Department has prospered and now commands an international reputation. With the present Head of Department, Lucas Introna, the Department has developed a strategy which encompasses research interests across the interconnected areas of organisation, work, and technology. The traditional emphasis on a high level of conceptual awareness and especially interest in organisation theory continues to be an identifying feature of the Department but has been supplemented by the deployment of ideas and theories from the area of science, technology and society studies (STS) and ethical philosophy. The Department also continues to develop its involvement in the critical analysis of applied areas of the field such as human resource management and employment relations. Departmental expertise in these areas supports collaborative work being undertaken in the Management School (LUMS) and in the wider University.
As a group we are concerned with the development of sound social science concepts that can be applied and tested in the analysis of behaviour in a wide diversity of organisational settings. The distinctive approach developed during this period has earned the Department international recognition. The distinctive approach the Department has pioneered rests on three pillars which underpin our research and teaching:
An integrative approach
The Department emphasises an integrative approach, which recognises the interdependence of people, tasks, technology, organisations, cultures and society.
Inter-disciplinary understanding
The study of Organisation, Work & Technology is an inter-disciplinary endeavour, drawing primarily on the disciplines of psychology, social psychology, sociology, law, philosophy, economics, history, political science, social anthropology and other social sciences. Understanding the inter-relationship between these disciplines and applying their distinctive perspectives is central to the Department's work.
Analysis, not techniques
Management students often want to learn techniques for organising and managing. However, management history is littered with techniques that were once popular and then were discarded because they failed to fulfill what was expected of them. The emphasis in the Department is, first and foremost, on analysis and understanding of the dynamics of organisations. Good practice, and knowing when a technique will and will not work, follows from a thorough appreciation of the complexity of many problems and issues.
