Thommesen, J: The ambiguous challenges of intranets

The author argues that intranets increase the role of ambiguity - confrontation between contradicting frames of interpretation - in organisational communication by encouraging processes across organisational borders. First philosophical aspects of ambiguity and interpretation are discussed. Based on the ideal of rationality the ‘challenges‘ of ambiguity are emphasized - inhibitive to rational processes, but also with a potential for a rational and universalising resolution. Next, the role of ambiguity in organisations are identified. It increases with tendencies to cooperate and communicate across organisational boundaries, mainly as a reaction to developments in markets and industrial knowledge base, but also due to the potential provided by computer networks. The third chapter identifies some characteristics of two fundamental intranet media, email and the web, partly in the perspective of media richness theory, partly compared with philosophical discussions of classical media. The final chapter presents an intranet in a global company, in which problems and challenges related to ambiguity have proven significant.