Narratives of ICT and Organizational Change in Public Administration

an article by Katarina Giritli Nygren (Campus Sundsvall Holmgatan 10 Sundsvall 850 60, Sweden) published in Gender, Work & Organization Volume 19 Issue 6 (November 2012)

Abstract

In the last decade the implementation of computerised technology and advanced information systems in public administration has gathered speed.

The purpose of this article is to explore the ways in which these changes might be gendered by analysing different narratives of digitalisation and organisational change in public administration.

The empirical findings indicate that resistance to information and communication technology is explained away by managers as reflecting women’s low computer maturity, while the narratives of the case-workers themselves reflect their resistance to deskilling and simplified work specifications, as well as their experience of a shift in the work object – from working with human beings to working with electronic information.

The findings indicate that the increased use of information technology genders resistance to degradation as a feminised fear of technology and low computer maturity.

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