Understanding the stabilizing effects of IT on organizations

In the literature, two distinct ways in which the application of IT stabilizes organizations are indicated. The first stabilizing effect concerns the difficult, time-consuming, and costly adjustments of existing ISs when changes to ISs have to be made. Consequently, when circumstances change organizations are not in the position to react properly to these changes because their ISs cannot be adjusted to the new situation in time. In this way, existing ISs obstruct organizational change. Although through the years new information technologies have been introduced to enhance the adaptability of ISs, diversity, and change indications. As a consequence, ISs, users are confronted with unrealistic and rationalized environments which camouflages relevant signals not captured by the ISs. In terms of Argyris, ISs are designed for single-loop learning at the expense of double-loop learning. In this way, ISs do not provide all potential relevant information and delay the detection of the need for organizational change. The above observations show that there exists multiple ways in which the application of IT stabilizes organizations.