"High-tech, high-touch": reconstructing the human element in high-tech companies

Summary form only given. Today, people are swept along by the flood of innovation. Mobilized to take the initiative, they are helping to accelerate the process, using and creating new and innovative ways to work. At the heart of these innovations is the explosion of the new technologies of information and communication. These new technologies are often about establishing and maintaining links, bridging distances, bringing people together in a vast "cybercommunity". And yet, as we "connect" the whole world with high performance networks; as we establish better links with our co-workers; as we count on "systems" to facilitate communication, encourage innovation and the sharing of knowledge; as we make our organizations efficient, reduce the amount of lost time, eliminate the multiplication of meetings and "face to face" interviews... this new framework and work-style will create a new kind of problem for organizations and the men and women who are a part of them. In order to understand this new type of problem, we have turned to the current literature and conducted interviews with men and women with responsibilities in high-tech companies. The "social" aspect of the system is more important than the technological aspect. Technology will only be efficient and facilitate communication if the social foundations of this communication already exist between the members of the group