Information Technology as Intellectual Capital?: Instructional Production at the Tecnologico de Monterrey

Abstract

Globalization and the new knowledge economy have far-reaching implications for higher education mainly in the economic, political, social and technological aspects of knowledge production. Higher education institutions are the main providers of both knowledge and knowledge workers. While research and teaching are the main processes for producing knowledge at colleges and universities (Clark, 1983), information technology has been an enabling infrastructure for globalization and the main vehicle for the dissemination of knowledge as well as for facilitating knowledge in becoming a commodity (Altbach, 2006; Altbach & Teichler, 2001; McBurnie, 2001). This has led to the penetration of higher education institutions by market forces and the business sector. The commercial value of these knowledge assets in the new knowledge economy has brought economic, political, and social implications for higher education institutions. Now, they seek to strategically manage their organizational knowledge (Metcalfe, 2006; Trow, 2001). Information technology has become embedded in higher education's knowledge production and has led to reorganization of conventional academic structures, faculty work, and teaching practices.This research addresses diverse fields of study such as organizational change, sociology of organizations, and political economy of organizations, and focuses on a single developing country. The structurational model of technology, the power-process perspective of technology, the theory of academic capitalism, and the framework for strategic management of intellectual capital were joined in this study to examine: (a) the intellectual capital created through instructional production and delivery of information technology enhanced courses and its strategic management; and (b) the impact of information technology on the organization of higher education and faculty's academic work with regard to instructional production and delivery.Findings show that information technology is not regarded as an opportunity to develop intellectual capital; thus, dependency on foreign technology is favored. An academic capitalist knowledge/learning regime is still incipient in developing countries; therefore, intellectual property policies and commercialization of intellectual assets are new to higher education institutions. The vast majority of these institutions are teaching-oriented; hence, the incorporation of information technology has re-structured their organization and in turn had an impact on managerial capacity, academic work and the academic profession.