The Demise Of Silicon Graphics Explicated By A Structural Functionalist

Abstract

It has been asserted that positivism is the philosophical basis of research in the field of Information Systems by Goles and Hirschheim. This is seen as problematic in an area that undergoes swift and constant change because of its technological nature. The rise and fall of Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) is the focus of this paper. The mechanism for explaining change is the action theory of Talcott Parsons, a structural functionalist, whose theory, in turn, is attacked for the inability to account facilely for change.