ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the important role of technology and the option of choosing technology is absent in most literature on organizational change. The potential in making technological choices in the same way as choosing organizational structures in organizational change processes is an essential position in the sociotechnical school. Classical organizational theory grew out of a period with technological optimism and determinism. The work that Eric Trist initiated was continued by the Australian Fred Emery, and would eventually play an important part in the research-based development of sociotechnical thinking. Politics and economy can constrain or enable change activities at company level, and the political economy varies quite a lot between countries. The Japanese political economy with a high degree of accepted authoritarian structures created the backdrop for the shaping of lean in Japan, but when transferred to North Western countries, the lack of strict societal authority made the direct copying of Japanese lean difficult.
