Philosophical and theoretical perspectives of organisational structures as information processing systems

This paper considers the issues surrounding the fit between information systems and organisation structures. The paper uses philosophical ideas concerning knowledge and applies them to organisational design and information processing in order to encourage alternative perspectives and new ideas. This is achieved by a discussion of the issues surrounding organisational design and the impact of design on information processing; an overview of the ideas concerning the theory of knowledge proposed from both a rational and an empirical viewpoint and how these relate to other epistemological theories such as historicism and pragmatism. The paper closes with a discussion of the means by which philosophical considerations can assist towards new forms of information processing.