Many previous studies have indicated that information technology (IT) influences a variety of aspects of an organisation. For example, IT can have on organisational competitiveness (e.g., Porter, 1980, 1985); on changing organisational boundaries (Keen, 1991); in informing decision-making (Zuboff, 1988) and in enabling the redesigning of business processes (Hammer, 1990; Davenport, 1993). According to these studies, it seems generally accepted that IT plays a central role in business process re-engineering (BPR). Nevertheless, this paper examines an hypothesis that social / organisational contexts rather than IT per se is placed in a central place for organisational changes.

Considering the research topic, the survey approach was adopted. The data were sampled from British factories and Japanese factories. Considering that social context is a diffuse phenomenon, the main aim was to collect a broad and large sample and to take a comparative approach. I show data on (1) data-processing abilities demanded for a manager, (2) managerial preferences for the use of IT, and (3) IT-induced influences on management organisation and on a manager's job content.

The most important finding from the study is that social contexts are actually playing an important role in organisational IT use. British and Japanese factories are placed in different social contexts, which do influences organisational IT use. Social contexts have been less fully examined in studies on BPR, but my data suggest the necessity of a detailed examination of social contexts in which IT is introduced and used.

Professionals are said to have ‘Cosmopolitan’ features, i.e., they tend to identify themselves with their professional knowledge and have stronger commitment to professional associations, while showing weaker commitment to business organizations they themselves are affiliated in. However, in the cases of ‘Company Professionals’ who see themselves as permanent members of particular firms, ‘Localist’ features of some degree, i.e., a higher level of commitment to the company can be expected. Present study analyses such ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Localist’ features of Professionals in a research and development department of a major electronics firm, using non-professionals in other department of the same firm as a control. Measuring both by ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Localist’ scales, Professionals, in general, show higher ‘Cosmopolitan’ traits and lower organizational commitment than non-professionals. However, on the ‘Localist’ scale, professionals show higher emotional attachment to the firm organization and there is a clear relation between their being professionals and their emotional attachment. Instead of characterizing professionals and non-professionals on the bipolar ‘Cosmopolitans’ and ‘Localists’, models, ‘Local Cosmopolitan’ type of professionals should be taken into consideration, especially when we see them in the context of firm organizations.

Recently, an increasing number of women have started new enterprises. However, until now, studies on venture business have mainly been conducted on men. Entrepreneurs themselves have not considered the important managemant problems associated with human resources.

In this study, we analyzed how women entrepreneurs utilize human resources and their actual management conditions, as well as which human resource management conditions are utilized for the actual management styles when women entrepreneurs start new businesses.

We obtained the following 5 results.

1. We found human resource management conditions, "to give a sense of accomplishment to employees for completing jobs with an element of responsibility" and management styles, "evaluation system based on employees' willingness, passion and efforts in their jobs" are important for women entrepreneurs in general.

2. No difference was found between entrepreneurs in service and consulting industries in terms of degree of importance of human resource management conditions and preference of management styles.

3. Entrepreneurs in service and consulting industries have different viewpoints when the importance of human resource management conditions are considered in association with management styles.

4. Women entrepreneurs in service industries have initiatives and consider relationships with their employees and human resource management equally important.

5. Women entrepreneurs in consulting industries tend to prefer independent management styles, focusing on the local and external networks using special knowledge and abilities. However, they often leave most management decisions to employees, dislike taking risks and lack balanced span of job. It was concluded that they do not perfom appropriate human resource management.

It is a strategic problem of modern business and HRM practice that achieving more autonomous／spontaneous work to make business organization more speedy and more flexible. The widespread empowerment is a kind of answer to this strategic problem. Empowerment is an attempt to achieve more autonomous／spontaneous work through power sharing or the delegation of power／authority to employees. It is understood that through empowerment organizations can be adapted to today's highly competitive environment and employees can enjoy a higher quality of worklife, that is more humanized work (Gandz, 1990; Ford & Fottler, 1995).

When most fundamental problem for organizations is to rule or dominate Organizational members under the order of organization so as to make it possible for organizations to decide or behave as a whole, however, the mechanism of power as a means of "organizational obedience" (Clegg & Hardy, 1996) and domination is the most essential and constitutive element for organizations (Arrow, 1974, Uchino, 1984, 1989). If that is the case, how is it understood that the correlation between the empowerment and the mechanism of power and domination?

Studies on empowerment have developed in two major approaches, relational and motivational. But much of study in either approach have neglected or overlooked the problem of power as a means of organizational obedience and domination (Hardy & Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1998). However when we attempt to achieve more autonomous／spontaneous work of employee and in that sense more humanized work, we can not neglect the problem power and domination in organization.

In this article, I survey the present condition of study on empowerment, and examine the correlation between the empowerment and the mechanism of power and domination based on much of the critical study on power in organizations. I then suggest that the attempt to achieve more autonomous／spontaneous work and in that sense more humanized work is the subject matter needed to be studied from the political approach, and point out some analytical problems for the political analysis.