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Technology and Organizational Boundaries
Technology and Organizational Boundaries
Charles McCutchen
School of Business, Liberty University
BUS 735 – Understanding the Organization
Dr. Cline
November 21st, 2021
Author Note
Charles McCutchen
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Charles McCutchen
Email: cmccutchen4@liberty.edu
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Technology and Organizational Boundaries
Jorge Bellido
For citing religious texts include the translation (in italics), original translation date/republished date, and the
passage reference (e.g., (New American Standard, 1960/1995, 1 Peter 1:1)), (Chapter 8, 8.13).
Structure and Sustainability
You used the term structure, and to provide another definition, the term itself describes
the growth inside a company and what can be produced by using the processes set forth
(Soderstrom & Weber, 2020). Every organization must utilize a structure, or chaos ensues. The
reporting that comes out for an organization gives details as to what metrics are being met and
which ones still need to be leveraged so companies can better handle the outside pressures they'll
face (Soderstrom & Weber, 2020). The conflict between the sustainability of the environment
and the social aspect of an organization. (Soderstrom & Weber, 2020). Organizational structures
take away individuality and view the organization entirely (Soderstrom & Weber, 2020).
Sustainability focuses on how the organization's resources are being used and knowledge is a
means to an end to help teak in the company's resources and use it effectively (Leon, 2018).
Managers
You brought about managers and employee’s levels being essential, and to add to that,
managers have to make the hard decision, and whatever the result, they have to live with the
thought of possibly losing the company money (Eleftheriou, et al., 2018). There is a push and
pull effect as managers work to ensure the company can continue to focus on development. On
the other spectrum, some managers want to ensure the knowledge to use the latest technology
(Leon, 2018). Knowledge management specialists target all aspects of an organization's phases
dealing with boosting the profitable side of a company dealing with multiple economic, external,
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Technology and Organizational Boundaries
and social issues (Leon, 2018). Organizations have to create a safe working environment, and
within any company, there will be differences.
Technology
You brought up a great point about different generations and the impact that will happen
with new technology. As we move into using technology, you’ll see that the older generation has
to learn more than those already engaged in technology. It would be like going back to school,
taking time away from their jobs (Jarrahi & Eshraghi, 2019). With new technical advances,
organizations will have to flex to keep up and develop new ways to assimilate the knowledge
(Eleftheriou, et al., 2018). Technology removes the number of people needed to do a job, which
nothing is wrong with a small organization. Still, it adds to the environmental forces that society
faces in that there will be fewer jobs available.
Social Media
You spoke about forming workplace relationships, and due to the diverse nature of
having compatibility in the workforce, that will create issues (Kling & Lamb, 1999). You spoke
on social media and its role in the workplace, and I want to expound on what you wrote.
Demanding studies of technology call for a spatial viewpoint on how social media is used for
working relationships (Ford and Mason, 2013). Social media is one of the significant successes
organizations can use to share knowledge about their industry and market to gain new customers
(Leonardi, 2017). This new technology I want to address involves social media. It hasn’t been
out there that long, and it’s called the Metaverse. As you may know, Facebook is working to
change its name to Meta. The Metaverse is a virtual world where people can go and create their
worlds. I know of a few companies in the real estate space to make your avatar to look like
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Technology and Organizational Boundaries
yourself. I bring that up because this technology is currently being used. This will cause a shift
into learning and sustainability to keep up with the ongoing technological changes. (Nevelsteen,
2017).
Personal Views
My personal view of this is that it will provide less communication, and people will go
further and further into isolation which will only create conflict. There need to be more studies
on how social media plays a role in older generations. Technology is forever changing and
complex, especially bringing on new organizational systems and with the older generation still
needing to maintain a job (Jarrahi & Eshraghi, 2019).
The Bible
You spoke on building, and in the Bible, the word build is throughout as it says upon
building a house. 1 Chronicles 22:6 (King James Bible, 1769/2017) states, “Then he called for
Solomon, his son, and charged him to build a house for the LORD God of Israel.” Anything can
be built, but it’s how it will be built and under what foundation it will be done. A weak
foundation crumbles, and without the understanding that we’re doing everything to please God,
your house will eventually fall just like the Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin in Merida’s book Exalting
Jesus in 1&2 Kings. They rose and fell in short order.
Reference
Eleftheriou, I., Embury, S. M., Moden, R., Dobinson, P., & Brass, A. (2018). Data journeys: Identifying
social and technical barriers to data movement in large, complex organizations. Journal of
Biomedical Informatics, 78, 102-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2017.12.001
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Ford, D. P. & Mason, R. M. (2013). A Multilevel Perspective of Tensions Between Knowledge
Management and Social Media. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic
Commerce. 23, Issue 1-2, (Jan 1, 2013): 7-33.
Jarrahi, M. H., & Eshraghi, A. (2019). Digital Natives vs digital immigrants: A multidimensional view
on interaction with social technologies in organizations. Journal of Enterprise Information
Management, 32(6), 1051-1070. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-04-2018-0071
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original
work published 1769).
Kling, R. & Lamb, R. (1999). “IT and organizational change in digital economies: a socio-technical
approach”, ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 29(3), pp. 17-25.
Leon, R. (2018). Sustainable knowledge-based organizations definition and
characteristics. Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 17(6), 1425-
1437. https://doi.org/10.30638/eemj.2018.141
Leonardi, P. M. (2017). “The social media revolution: Sharing and learning in the age of leaky
knowledge”, Information and Organization, 27(1), pp. 47-59.
Merida, T. (2015). Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings (Christ-Centered Exposition). B & H Publishing
Group. Nashville, Tennessee.
Nevelsteen, K. (2017). Virtual world, defined from a technological perspective and applied to video
games, mixed reality, and the Metaverse. Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cav.1752
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Soderstrom, S. B., & Weber, K. (2020). Organizational structure from interaction: Evidence from
corporate sustainability efforts. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(1), 226-
271. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839219836670
Brian Penrod
For citing religious texts include the translation (in italics), original translation date/republished date, and the
passage reference (e.g., (New American Standard, 1960/1995, 1 Peter 1:1)), (Chapter 8, 8.13).
Inequity
What's surprising is that even though studies keep being done on inequalities, there is
little change in the right direction. There will always be inequity in the workplace due to our
differences, and people like people they most resemble and who are relatable. Some other
inequalities relate to workers' health, social expectations, and managers have to consider women
having children and the family workload placed on them (Ahola et al., 2006; Sekine et al., 2010).
Employment
Employment is a basic life necessity to maintain our basic human needs, and the past and
the reasons we work are life-changing (Shoss, 2017). When inequities happen, workers see it as
confusion and distrust and start to look for other employment methods (Lee, Huang, & Ashford,
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2018). Job loss can be devasting, and it has been linked to mental breakdowns, physical illness
and places people at risk for their mental health (Hellgren, Sverke, & Isaksson, 1999; Jiang &
Lavaysse, 2018). Consequently, job security affects individuals' families as well as themselves.
It's been studied that a husband whose wife is being involved tends to withdraw from daily job
activities they once completed (Debus & Unger, 2017). It has also been researched that whatever
the parents go through, their children feel some of the same effects in that their grades start to
suffer and they may have issues at work (Lim & Sng, 2006). There are negative ramifications for
job insecurity, and a lot of it goes on with no fixes in sight Li, et al., (2019). The fear of
retaliation keeps individuals from blowing the whistle on those who have wronged them. Those
who have a higher position in the company would cause more harm to a worker due to their
status. Moreover, multiple types of corruption in the workplace push individuals to focus more
on job insecurity like being forced to falsify reports, being bullied, and managers abusing their
authority (Li et al., (2019). Researchers have conducted studies using surveys and asking
workers how they felt about certain situations, but even using those methods, there could be fear
of reprisal. Most workers feared finding work when jobs were scarce, or they were scared they
wouldn't be able to understand the new technology, so they wouldn't be able to advance (Cheng,
et al., 2011). Few studies have been done to determine if interpersonal relationships provoke job
insecurity (Cheng, et al., 2011). Organizations have to fix the issue of inequality, or more
workers will shy away from the company, which causes more costs to train new personnel.
There's a double-edged sword in that workers are not voicing their concerns, and one reason is a
lack of unions to speak up for them Kochan, et al., (2019).
Bible
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You wrote about work and included the Bible, and another passage holds relevance to
what you wrote. Leviticus 23:3 (King James Bible, 1769/2017) states, “Six days shall work be
done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work
therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.” The Bible contains the word work
over and over, and to me, it would help me that we should all find work that serves others. In
organizations, we see companies that are self-serving all too often. They place profits over
people, and it coincides with individuals feeling a sense of inequity. Managers will come and go,
and many will fail, some due to their discretions and some due to trying to ensure the company
succeeds. Merida (2015) writes about the tv show The Simpsons and how they spoke of men in
the Bible, “All these people are a mess…except this one guy.’ It will be challenging to determine
who’s looking out for their best interest in the company the best interest of themselves.
Personal Perspective
You stated that the current American worker had developed an attitude about why I am
not getting paid more and want to expound on that. I served just as you did in the United States
Navy, and the military has a certain work ethic that’s ingrained in you. I believe people look at
their situations and then view those corporations who pay nothing in taxes and those that get to
move around the laws as disheartening. We have people working harder and still falling farther
behind on bills while big corporations get a slap on the hand for breaking the rules. I bring that
up to say people feel like no matter what they do, they’re not getting ahead, so we can tie that
into an inequity as well.
References
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Technology and Organizational Boundaries
Ahola K., Honkonen T., Isometsa E., Kalimo, R., Nykyri, E., Koskinen, S., Aromaa, A. & Lonnqvist, J.
(2006). Burnout in the general population: Results from the Finnish Health 2000 Study. Social
Psychiatry and Psychiatry Epidemiology, 41(1):117.
Cheng, Y., Haung, H., Li, P., & Hsu, J (2011). International Journal of Behavioral Medicine; New York
18(4) pp. 391-401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-011-9152-y
Debus, M. E., & Unger, D. (2017). The interactive effects of dual-earner couples' job insecurity: Linking
conservation of resources theory with crossover research. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, 90, 225– 247. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12169
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original
work published 1769).
Kochan, T. A., Yang, D., Kimball, W. T., & Kelly, E. L. (2019). Worker voice in America: Is there a gap
between what workers expect and what they experience? Industrial & Labor Relations
Review, 72(1), 3-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793918806250
Merida, T. (2015). Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings (Christ-Centered Exposition). B & H Publishing
Group. Nashville, Tennessee.
Hellgren, J., Sverke, M., & Isaksson, K. (1999). A two-dimensional approach to job insecurity:
Consequences for employee attitudes and well-being. European Journal of Work and
Organisational Psychology, 8, 179– 195. https://doi.org/10.1080/135943299398311
Jiang, L., & Lavaysse, L. M. (2018). Cognitive and affective job insecurity: A meta-analysis and primary
study. Journal of Management, 44, 2307– 2342. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318773853
Lee, C., Huang, G. H., & Ashford, S. J. (2018). Job insecurity and the changing workplace: Recent
developments and the future trends in job insecurity research. Annual Review of Organizational
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Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 335– 359. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-
orgpsych-032117-104651
Lim, V. K., & Sng, Q. S. (2006). Does parental job insecurity matter? Money anxiety, money motives,
and work motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 1078– 1087.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.5.1078
Li, V., Jiang, L., & Xu, X. (2019). From workplace mistreatment to job insecurity: The moderating
effect of work centrality. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1002/smi.2915
Sekine M., Chandola T., Martikainen P., Marmot M., & Kagamimori S. (2010). Sex differences in
physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants: Explanations from work and family
characteristics. Social Science & Medince. 71(12):20919.
Shoss, M. K. (2017). Job insecurity: An integrative review and agenda for future research. Journal of
Management, 43, pp. 1911– 1939. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317691574
