Trust, Organisations, and Philosophic Jargon

While preparing for an exam
Tuesday afternoon, I started correlating the material under study, dealing with
the task description and fields of operation for a 'philosopher of technology',
with what I have said here earlier on trustflows in organisations. First of all
it seems not clear to everyone that organisational structures are able to convey
messages, e.g. concerning trust. This is perhaps easier to understand from this
perspective: Every man made item, whether it be an artefact, or something
uncorporeal like organisational structures, have been designed by human beings.
This design process specifically embeds instructions and meanings into the
artefact/structure. This is called scripting. You have to follow the
script for the artefact to fulfull its function. However a well established fact
is that humans think of uses for artefacts other than have been designed into
them. Also humans recognize other scripts than have been embedded, they start
following scripts that were not intended by design. Thus artefacts are no longer
the extension of the designer, but become actors themselves. Lots of
technology implementations fail because of not recognizing this effect. This
means that structures in organisations cannot be seen as neutral contexts of
operation for people, but should also be considered active participants within
that system of meaning. This is what I mean when I say you have to search
for the hidden messages organisational structures convey concerning trust. Also
you have to be aware that there are probably a number of different systems of
meaning, or partial rationalities in place in your organisation. It would
be a mistake to focus only on one of these partial rationalities and then define
generic solutions. Also it will probably prove impossible to find one partial
rationality that covers all the others that exist within your organisation. Yet
this is precisely what general management often tries to do. It is from this
starting point that I have worded the need for looking at boundaries between
different parts of the organisation, the comparison of both formal and informal
structures within the organisation, and social network analysis. It not only
provides insight in all the different partial rationalities at play, but also
narrows down the area where your proposed solution will have the effect you
designed into it. This leads us to a management lesson often learned already:
there are no absolute answers or generic solutions, there are no quick fixes,
but there will be a whole mix of solutions that you have to apply to the precise
spot it is designed to address.