Many authors have emphasized that new technology implementations in organizations are predominantly ‘technology led' (e.g. Blacker & Brown, 1986; Clegg & Kemp, 1986). However, few analysts have attempted to account for this approach or, indeed, to spell out its consequences. In this study, we describe the implementation of a CADCAM system in a light engineering company over an 18‐month period, focusing specifically on the reasons for the adoption of a technology‐led implementation style. Using a variety of methods and data‐gathering techniques, we argue that this ‘technology‐led’ implementation is a form of ‘satisficing’ (March & Simon, 1961) and that this approach was adopted as a result of the differentiated and political environment, the scarcity of organizational resources, the existing managerial style and the complexity of the problem. We present a model of this implementation approach and its outcomes based on this interpretation.

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In exploring the interaction between reconciliation and identity in the process of making peace in post-conflict Northern Ireland, this article argues that while political and inter-personal levels of reconciliation are important, it is societal reconciliation which is pivotal in securing the sustainability of 'peace'. Th e article offers a detailed definition of 'social reconciliation' which it locates in the development of a multi-layered typology of reconciliation. Th e implications of what it claims is the necessary re-negotiation of identities in a post-conflict society are teased out with reference to the situation in Northern Ireland. Some contours of the need to embrace the other, even a threatening other, are sketched.