Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
organization begin to emerge.… Organizations are also becoming more and more virtual…linked
by information technology.…(Technology) enables organizations to… transform.…Twenty-
first century leaders will need to understand how to restructure, to connect, and to think in
a new paradigm (Marquardt & Berger, 2000, pp. 9-10).
However, authors typically offer little to no explanation of what processes would be
used to design systems that would specifically assist a leader in leading subordinates (Smith,
1997). Even Gail Fairhurst and Robert Sarr, in their topic on how leaders must manage meaning
for subordinates through “framing,” do not specifically tie information systems into the
picture, except in one brief mention of a manager who uses email as a framing tool (Fairhurst
& Sarr, 1996, p. 97). Nonetheless, because so many organizations rely increasingly on
computer information systems to facilitate communication between managers and subordi-
nates, and “opportunities for framing occur with every communication” (Fairhurst & Sarr,
1996, p. 22), practicality suggests that people who understand how to build, communicate
through, and use information systems to assist them with “framing” will lead more effectively
than those who do not.
What is framing? People are constantly bombarded with internal and external stimuli.
At any given moment in offices around the world, for example, one or more telephones is
ringing, people are talking, lights are flashing on or off, machines are humming, computer
screens are glowing, posters on the wall are demanding attention, and so forth. Furthermore,
the people in those offices may be feeling cold or hot, ill or well, lonely, happy, hungry, or
tired. They must decide what to attend to at that moment. And, from an expanding perspective,
they must choose what to attend to during any specific hour, day, week, year, and lifetime.
They must also determine how to interpret what they experience.
How do people filter out what they should attend to? How do they decide how to
interpret things? People decide what to attend to, and how to interpret it, partially by paying
attention to leaders, who put frames around issues or events that they consider to be
important. As employees decide how to react to significant changes in organizations, they
attend to leaders who create frames for them and thereby determine their significance. This
framing process affects whether employees notice problems and how they understand and
act on them (Entman, 1993). Additionally, “frames exert their power not only through what
they highlight, but also through what they leave out” (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996, p. 4).
How is an information system connected to this framing process? Information flowing
through an organization is inevitably framed through the medium used to carry and store it.
Imagine someone receiving a notice that he is being fired on a bulletin board. Information is
also framed for recipients through its appearance at the point of interface, by who is allowed
to access it, by limits placed on its usage, by what it says, and by what it omits. What an
opportunity, then, for leaders who can use information systems as tools to frame purpose-
fully. Those people who understand framing as a leadership tool, and who, at the same time,
realize the potential of computerized information systems as framing devices, will become the
most effective leaders in today's technology-based organizations.
Any communication tool used as extensively as organizational computer systems must
be considered as a potential framing mechanism. Email, however, only scratches the surface.
Interactive sites on intranets and the Internet provide information for many employees.
Reports may be perused online. Some virtual organizations never provide opportunities for
managers and subordinates to interact face-to-face in traditional meetings. Communications
for employees of those firms occurs exclusively through information systems. Glimpses of
