Patterns of structural control in high and low computer user organizations

This paper examines patterns of structural control in organizations concomitant with variations in the extent of their functional use of computers. It draws on a random sample of 149 Australian enterprises. Based on computer-use in fourteen different functions, cluster analysis produced two main groups: i.e., organizations with high and low computer-usage profiles. Analysis of variance between these groups revealed that organizations with high usage profile tend to be larger and privately owned. Structurally, these organizations tend to be more formalized, more departmentalized and flatter in management levels. They tend, however, to be relatively less centralized. Multiple regressions within each of these groups revealed that contextual characteristics (such as size and ownership) and the varying extent of computer use in different functions had different impact on structure within each group.