Role of Technology in Organization - Research Paper Example

Role of technology in organization Task Topics SECTION ONE 0 Introduction In the modern era, there is increased competition by firms in different industries. They try to minimize their costs of production so that they can maximize profits and have a bigger market share. Thus major companies have adopted the use of modern technology to ease their production costs (Hanington and Martin 2012). This brings with it the both positives and negatives in the economy. Use of technology in the output production leads to increased sales due to reduced prices hence high demand. However, adopting technology has its own challenges in the firm. Report from the national bureau of economic research states that technology influences various decisions made in the organizations such retirement, hiring of workers and compensation to different laborers in the organization. Indeed, the company will hire workers who are well suited to their technology use or decide to use more young people whom they can train to adapt to the technology level requirement. Old laborers are however forced to exit the labor market before their retirement age due to their inflexibility. Thus from the situations discussed above, the economic institute was interested to conduct a research on how the use of modern technology influences the firms internal and external operating environment in the economy. 2.0 Rationale Technology has made different firms to be at different levels and created disparities among individuals in the economy. Firms will tend to acquire modern technology to remain competitive in the market while workers will tend to equip themselves with advanced technology standards so that they can increase their chances in the labor market. These indicators are much more evident in our society and economies. Firms which develop modern technology are able to produce more than their competitors and increased its market share. Their products are relatively cheap hence can attract more sales in the market. Furthermore, the company only hires persons who are well equipped with technology or individuals who are trainable to oversee their production activities. By adopting the technology, firms will produce at relatively lower costs that are passes as lower prices to consumers. This will prevent exploitation of the consumers in the market by other firms due to increased competition. The company will also use lower costs in productions and save more in for other development expenditure. As a result they can enhance their market share. Workers on the hand will benefit from the high wages as a form of compensation than their counterparts with little technology knowhow. On the other hand, they will spend more of their time at work rather than retire in early stages of their lives as they pass on the relevant ideas to the young generation. All this factors are generated by the desire to acquire the relevant technology in the labor market and their detailed illustrations are analyzed below; 3.0 Literature review The world has changed from generation to generation and consequently improving technology use in their operations. Major sectors have also developed in similar industries leading to competition in all fronts (Kock 2007). The current old era was characterized by poor technology use in the production of goods and services. This made firms to be less competitive as they majorly relied on labors who were not efficient making them to incur high costs. This resulted into high prices of goods that exploited consumers. However, this are bound to change by the adoption of technology levels in production. Many argue that this is quiet beneficial to the organizations and the entire general population in the economy. The technology might be quiet expensive majority say that will only be in the short run and the benefits will be realized in the long run. Hence the future of firms with technology is bright and no one can dispute the fact. 3.1 Internal factors within the organization The level of technology determines the nature of expertise that the company will acquire and use in their production activities. The firm will recruit persons that are well knowledgeable about their technology. This makes the company to save much money that would have been spending in training of the new labors (Kock 2007). Hiring employees who are already trained eases work, speeds up production making the firm to achieve its goals in the shortest time possible. Technology standards also play a key role in the planning process on how work flows in the organization. Adopting high levels of technologies are not just for output production but should reduce disturbances among the staff members so as not to interfere with flow of work. Information should disseminate freely from the top to bottom. This eases pressure on management of having themselves to be frequently present at their juniors making supervision easier. Management functions are also clearly defined which avoids confusion in the responsibilities and promote consultations. This ensures accountability and team work in the organization. By applying technology in the organization, the firm can always determine various strategies to employ in the production process (Hanington and Martin 2012). Organizations can identify various tactical measures so that they counter their rivals. They can decide on what to produce at a cheaper cost that will rival their competitor’s products, where to invest so that they can grow and expand. By doing so, they increase their revenue base. These measures increase the organizations profits and can acquire more market share. 3.2 Weakness The cost of acquiring modern technology is quiet expensive to invest in. The firm may be tempted to acquire credit facilities to invest in the service. They may also use its excess reserves just to acquire the technology. All this is done with the presumptions that the technology will yield in the long run and repay the credits. Organizations are also forced to train its labors to gain the necessary knowledge and skills required in the use of technology. These factors cause the organization to incur extra costs and in the event the technology does not yield or does not meet the required standards, the firm stands a big loss in the market. Technology use requires trade off in the labor market. The organization will have to lower its work force if they are to use benefit effectively from the technology. This might lead to retrenchment in the company leading to unemployment in the economy. Use of technology also results into disparities in the wage compensation in the organization. This might cause revolt among staff members and affect the firm operations. 3.3 Opportunities The organization enjoys reduced costs in production activities. This is a result of use of technology that performs more efficiently than if the firm was to use labors. As a result the organization saves more which they can use in other expansionary measures and diverse its revenue base. Furthermore, reduced costs leads to reduced prices to the consumers. This increases demand for the organization products which results into more sales to the company which improves its revenues. Through the sales generated by the improved technology, more units are produced into the market. This influences the market supply and as result determines the demand. The organization can then dictate the market forces of demand and supply. These measures make the firms to increase their market share. This makes the organization to be more competitive in the market both in price and quantity. 3.4 Role of state in the use of technology. The government and national stakeholders has encouraged various firms to embrace the use of modern technology in the production process. This will create more products into the economy that can also be exported to earn the country foreign exchange. The citizens will also enjoy reduced prices of goods that will help to decrease inflations in the economy. However, in the process of implementing the technology, economists argue that it should not render the majority of population jobless since it will negatively affect the economy. But this does not turn to be the case since by adopting the technology, more resources will be developed that are used to invest in other sectors creating more jobs. 3.5 Decision making by the organization. Organizations will generate ideas depending on the level of technology that is available, whether in hiring process, the level of production and its promotions within its structure. All these are made possible so as to the organization can maximize its outputs both in the short run and long run. Thus technology use tends to determine more issues in the daily operations and should be implemented fully by all organizations in different sectors. 4.0 Reason for research Technology is one of the most important tools in the modern era of production. It leads to efficiency in production of the outputs, reduces costs and should be embraced by all persons. Thus the research tries to find out on how technology affects the level of output by organizations, how its use is important to the general economic standards of the country. To determine how it affects the labor sector in the economy and the relationship it has with the skills that has to be acquired by the workers to determine their suitability. In the process of the research, it is necessary to exploit any challenges that arise in the use of technology and find out any resolutions to them so that comparative advantage is reached at between the labor standards and technology. 4.1 Major objective To determine how technology affects production capacities in organizations and provide recommendations on how they can be improved and be implemented so that they can maximize on its use. 4.2 Specific objectives To research whether the use of technology affects levels of outputs in an organization To research whether use of technology influences the training of labor in colleges To research whether technological knowhow influences wages of different employees in the organization. To research on how use of technology by organizations influences economic standards of the country. To research whether the use of technology in organizations is related to level of unemployment in the economy. 5.0 Research questions Does the use of technology improve productivity in organizations? Does the use of technology cause unemployment in the economy? Do persons with high technological knowledge have a high salary in the organizations? Does use of technology in organization affects teaching methods in colleges? Does use of technology improves the living standards in the economy? 6.0 Range of data collection The organization has hired two analysts to conduct the research. The sample selected includes the senior staffs, newly recruited employees of the organization and the top management. They are provided with open ended questionnaire to provide data on the influence of technology use by organizations. SECTION TWO 1.0 Research methods The research employs both the qualitative and quantitative methods. This enabled the researchers to obtain both the physical and emotional data for comprehensive analysis. Qualitative research was conducted in two ways; through provision of questionnaires and interviews. Interviews involved well structured questions directed to the target group so as to enable first hand information from the field (Laza, Feng and Hochheisers, 2010). Questionnaires on the other hand were made into two parts. The first part was made to simple questions such as if the employees were all aware of the existence of technology in their organizations, how much training they had about the use of the technology, basis of recruitment and many more. Second part of the questionnaire comprised of private questions and the target group and their answers were optional. They included questions such as how much the level of technology acquisition affected their incomes and if it did influence their choices of courses at the school levels. Data was then coded into the system so that extensive view can be done to determine its validity and reliability. The research employed predictive reliability whereby the research was compared to the previous test statistics to find out if there was any relationship between the two. Reliability on the other hand comprised of the test-pretest and parallel surveys so that efficiency could be determined (Hanington, and Martins 2012). This involved repeated the tests between them and also carried parallel analysis to ensure the information was credible for analysis and can be used for prediction purposes. 2.0 Methods of sampling The research employed both the probabilistic and non-probabilistic samples in trying to obtain the information from the population. The target group comprised of the working organization groups. They were picked through simple random sampling. This ensured that each and every member of the population had an equal chance in participating in the research process (Levy and Lemeshow 2013). Since the research question was based on how the role of technology in the organization, how technology influenced production, hiring and placements at work place and the general economic standards in a country, it was also necessary to use the working population in various organizations since they were already exposed to the effects of the use of technology and stands a chance to provide the most accurate information in the collection of data. The use of non-probabilistic samples ensured that information was collected from all fronts of the target population (Ryan 2011). This measure was majorly employed in the second questionnaire to provide rooms for opinions, voluntary response which enabled extensive analysis. 3.0 Data collection and analysis For different institution to determine on how to use the information, ways on how to collect the data would be first step in action that organization would take. Key information collected and well analyzed would form a good predictions to be used by the organization in its daily decision making process. The data collected was majorly through the primary resource complemented by the secondary sources. The researchers were forced to travel to the target group destination. This was necessary so that face to face interview was made possible since it is more advantageous as it can determine the reliability of the respondent (Phillips and Stawarski 2008). After the interviews, the respondents were left with questionnaires which they could fill at their own free time and submit online to avoid tedious movements. The question was made such simple so that they could understand with ease and provide the best response. Using interviews and questionnaires the same time ensured that the data collected was consistent with the research question. Secondary data was majorly obtained from the past journals majorly on how technology influenced the behavior of organizations at different times in their decision making. The primary data collected is then analyzed by use of various statistical tools like excel, R and SAS which produces and demonstrates the result of the research. The outcome is then presented inform of graphs, charts and pie-charts for further analysis. The results are then analyzed into details by the use of discourse analysis which provides for easier use of the z-score, chi-square t-distribution and the F-Statistics (Jupp and Sapsford 2006). This represented the use of deductive process to form our hypothesis. The statement is thus constructed into two ways; the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis. Null hypothesis states that there will be no observed difference in the outcome of the results and is usually denoted by HO. The alternative hypothesis on the other hand believes that there is actually a different in the research data and its outcome and is usually represented by H1. From the analysis by the statistics above, if the results show that there is no difference in the outcome then we do not reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the research questions are true and the organization can trust the results and can use them in decision making process. If the results obtained by the statistic is different, then reject the null hypothesis by accepting the alternative hypothesis and conclude that the research is not viable and cannot be used for predictions purposes thus the credibility is hindered. 4.0 Security and safety of data and the respondent. There was direct contact between the researchers and the target group through interviews and personally providing the questions to the affected audiences. This ensured that the researchers obtained first hand information that ensured the credibility of the data. There was direct communications between the despondence and the researchers. This was made possible by the use of cell phones, emails which were used by the despondence to send back the feedback to the researcher. To remove the fear of harassment from the part of the interviewee, the information was kept in safe place and made confidential and only authorized members could access the data. This ensured accountability and protection to the data. The findings were also kept solely by the management and were the only members who could use the analysis for interpretation in the process of decision making. References Baker, J. R., & Doran, M. S. (2007). 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Information systems action research an applied view of emerging concepts and methods. [New York, N.Y.], Springer. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10159296. Kothari, C. R. (2011). Research Methodology Methods and Techniques. New Delhi, New Age International Ltd. https://ezproxy.siast.sk.ca:443/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/siastlibraries/Top?id=10318734. Lazar, J., Feng, J. H., & Hochheiser, H. (2010). Research methods in human-computer interaction. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K., Wiley. Levy, P. S., & Lemeshow, S. (2013). Sampling of populations methods and applications. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. http://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com. Noe, R. A. (2013). Fundamentals of human resource management. New York, NY, McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Olsen, W. (2012). Data collection: key debates and methods in social research. http://site.ebrary.com/id/1082743 Reis, H. T., & Judd, C. M. (2000). Handbook of research methods in social psychology and personality psychology. Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press. Ridenour, C. S., & Newman, I. (2008). Mixed methods research: exploring the interactive continuum. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press. Ridley, D. (2008). The literature review: a step-by-step guide for students. London, SAGE. Ryan, T. P. (2011). Statistical methods for quality improvement. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley. Appendix 1 Questionnaire Part 1: General questions 1 How much does technology influence the amount of output in your organization? 2 Do staff members know how to use the technology? 3 Do the technology used in your organization results in retrenchment of workers? 4 What is the approximate cost of the technology used in your organization? Part 2: optional questions 1 Did the level of technology play any key role your recruitment into the organization? 2 Is there any relationship of the income you earn and the level of your skills in the technology? Read More