Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Human Relations
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ciborra, C.
Right arrow Articles by Romano, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

A Methodological Inquiry of Organizational Noise in Sociotechnical Systems

C. Ciborra

University of Calabria, Italy

P. Migliarese

Politecnico di Milano, Italy

P. Romano

Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Organizational noise concerns the character and consequences of out-of-the-norm events which occur in organizations. The paper defines organizational noise as the unexpected variety which operators of the technical system have to face. The investigation of organizational noise is of twofold importance. First, it helps the analyst to understand how the work organization really functions. Second, it points out the existence of or the possibilities for implementing alternative organizational forms. New organizational forms may emerge from the organized behavior of members facing fluctuations. Two distinctive work-related phenomena are also investigated: self-regulative behavior which absorbs noise and self-organization, for which noise is exploited as a source of new configurations rather then being eliminated. Finally, some implications for methods of organizational analysis are developed.

Human Relations, Vol. 37, No. 8, 565-588 (1984)
DOI: 10.1177/001872678403700801
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Organization StudiesHome page
C. U. Ciborra
Book Reviews: D. Parker and R. Stacey: Chaos, Management and Economics (lEA Hobart Paper 125): 1994, London: Institute of Economic Affairs. 112 pages
Organization Studies, January 1, 1996; 17(1): 150 - 153.
[PDF]

Home page
 Human RelationsHome page
C. Smith and G. Gemmill
Change in the Small Group: A Dissipative Structure Perspective
Human Relations, July 1, 1991; 44(7): 697 - 716.
[Abstract] [PDF]