2.1 Introduction

We think of ourselves as living in an age of change; change unprecedented; change of a complexity that enfolds and drives us in a way and at a rate unknown just a generation ago or so it seems to us. Perhaps each generation marvels afresh at change and its burdens.

Whether or not change and its rate are new on this scale we are certainly seeing an overwhelming abundance of new technologies, with concomitant newness of usage and procedures by which we achieve goals and complete tasks. In dealing with change and complexity, our need for information typically increases, while our ability to find all the requisite knowledge and skills within one individual decreases. We become increasingly reliant on working with teams of people, on the more effective dissemination and exchange of information amongst group members, and on the more effective coordination and management of disparate activities and individuals with multiple and often conflicting perspectives and objectives.

The more recent developments such as the Internet, intranets and extranets, which facilitate networks both within and between organizations, mean that in certain circumstances, the former requirement for collocation of people, tasks, resources all at much the same time has to some extent disappeared. This results in fundamental changes and rethinks to potential and satisfactory organizational structures, and also to the way in which organizations position themselves within their environment to compete and/or cooperate with other...