Integrated Organization and Technology Development

The domain of work has developed a myriad of social practices that are often shaped by information and communications technology infrastructures. The introduction of additional IT artifacts, of course, affects these practices and the related patterns of communication. While management and IT specialists plan for certain effects of a system’s introduction, unintended use of the system can play a central role. Therefore, the unanticipated appropriation of IT artifacts by their users is an important phenomenon. Given the existence of IT-related organizational change and adjustments related to the appropriation of software, the development of IT in organizations faces an iterative challenge. The “integrated organization and technology development” (OTD) approach deals with these interdependencies in projects of sociotechnical change.