As both technologies and organizations undergo dramatic changes in form and function, organizational researchers are increasingly turning to concepts of innovation, emergence, and improvisation to help explain the new ways of organizing and using technology evident in practice. With a similar intent, I propose an extension to the structurational perspective on technology that develops a practice lens to examine how people, as they interact with a technology in their ongoing practices, enact structures which shape their emergent and situated use of that technology. Viewing the use of technology as a process of enactment enables a deeper understanding of the constitutive role of social practices in the ongoing use and change of technologies in the workplace. After developing this lens, I offer an example of its use in research, and then suggest some implications for the study of technology in organizations.

Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations

In this essay, I begin with the premise that everyday organizing is inextricably bound up with materiality and contend that this relationship is inadequately reflected in organizational studies that tend to ignore it, take it for granted, or treat it as a special case. The result is an understanding of organizing and its conditions and consequences that is necessarily limited. I then argue for an alternative approach, one that posits the constitutive entanglement of the social and the material in everyday life. I draw on some empirical examples to help ground and illustrate this approach in practice and conclude by suggesting that a reconfiguration of our conventional assumptions and considerations of materiality will help us more effectively recognize and understand the multiple, emergent, and shifting sociomaterial assemblages entailed in contemporary organizing.

Sociomaterial Practices: Exploring Technology at Work

Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations.

We begin by juxtaposing the pervasive presence of technology in organizational work with its absence from the organization studies literature. Our analysis of four leading journals in the field confirms that over 95% of the articles published in top management research outlets do not take into account the role of technology in organizational life. We then examine the research that has been done on technology, and categorize this literature into two research streams according to their view of technology: discrete entities or mutually dependent ensembles. For each stream, we discuss three existing reviews spanning the last three decades of scholarship to highlight that while there have been many studies and approaches to studying organizational interactions and implications of technology, empirical research has produced mixed and often‐conflicting results. Going forward, we suggest that further work is needed to theorize the fusion of technology and work in organizations, and that additional perspe...

10 Sociomateriality: Challenging the Separation of Technology, Work and Organization

This paper uses the case of contract manufacturing in the electronics industry to illustrate an emergent American model of industrial organization, the modular production network. Lead firms in the modular production network concentrate on the creation, penetration and defense of markets for end products—and increasingly the provision of services to go with them—while manufacturing capacity is shifted out-of-house to globally operating turn-key suppliers .T he modular production network relies on codified inter-firm links and the generic manufacturing capacity residing in turn-key suppliers to reduce transaction costs, build large external economies of scale and reduce risk for network actors. Itest the modular production network model against some of the key theoretical tools that have been developed to predict and explain industry structure: Joseph Schumpeter’s notion of innovation in the giant firm; Alfred Chandler’s ideas about economies of speed and the rise of the modern corporation; Oliver Williamson’s transaction cost framework; and a range of other production network models that appear in the literature. Iargue that the modular production network yields better economic performance in the context of globalization than more spatially and socially embedded network models. Iview the emergence of the modular production network as part of a historical process of industrial transformation in which nationally specific models of industrial organization co-evolve in intensifying rounds of competition, diffusion and adaptation.

/pdf/modular-production-networks-a-new-american-model-of-4wa0at7fvh.pdf

Modular production networks: a new American model of industrial organization

What makes a great leader? Why do some people appear to know instinctively how to inspire employees--bringing out their confidence, loyalty, and dedication--while others flounder again and again? No simple formula can explain how great leaders come to be, but Bennis and Thomas believe it has something to do with the ways people handle adversity. The authors' recent research suggests that one of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership is the ability to learn from even the most negative experiences. An extraordinary leader is a kind of phoenix rising from the ashes of adversity stronger and more committed than ever. In interviewing more than 40 leaders in business and the public sector over the past three years, the authors discovered that all of them--young and old alike--had endured intense, often traumatic, experiences that transformed them and became the source of their distinctive leadership abilities. Bennis and Thomas call these shaping experiences "crucibles," after the vessels medieval alchemists used in their attempts to turn base metals into gold. For the interviewees, their crucibles were the points at which they were forced to question who they were and what was important to them. These experiences made them stronger and more confident and changed their sense of purpose in some fundamental way. Through a variety of examples, the authors explore the idea of the crucible in detail. They also reveal that great leaders possess four essential skills, the most critical of which is "adaptive capacity"--an almost magical ability to transcend adversity and emerge stronger than before.

Crucibles of Leadership

As far back as 1959, Peter Drucker insisted on the need to pay more attention to knowledge work and the people doing such work. More than 40 years later, the subject still lacks its Frederick Taylor or Henry Ford; at best, it has been explored by approximations of William Morris and the Italian Futurists ? artists who expressed an understanding of industrial developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the spirit of the artists concerned with industrialism a century ago, but with an eye toward more scientific advances, the authors spent more than a year investigating the mysteries of knowledge-worker performance. In the process, they realized that organizations can't begin to increase their understanding of what makes knowledge workers effective until they recognize the importance of such workers as a whole and how to differentiate among them as individuals. In this article, the authors explore five key issues that companies are struggling with and then develop a framework to help organizations think more clearly about how to improve the performance of their knowledge workers.

The Mysterious Art and Science of Knowledge-Worker Performance

Preface 1. Introduction Bridging Determinism and Choice The Power-Process Perspective History Matters Dissimilar Logics in an Organizational Context Choice, Change, and Worldviews Understanding Technological Choice and Change Case Studies in Context Research Methods Site and Case Selection Reporting Findings Organization of the Book 2. Technology as a Power Tool: Technological Choice in an Aircraft Company The Industrial and Organizational Context The Aircraft Company Case 1: The Flexible Machining System Choosing Between Technologies Symptoms Versus Causes Bringing Interests to the Surface Choosing Within the Technology Finessing the ROI Pitching the Technology Implementing the Technology Symbolic Sensors Conclusion Case 2: The Robotized Assembly Cell Choosing Between Technologies The Dangers of "Real Engineering" Going Outside, Not Inside, for Help Choosing Within the Technology Preventing a Range War Least Common Denominator Implementing the Technology Epilogue Conclusion Case 3: Shop-Programmable Machine Tools Choosing Between Technologies Choosing Within the Technology Implementing the Technology Conclusion Conclusions and Implications 3. Between Invention and Convention: Technological Choice in a Computer Company The Industrial and Organizational Context The Technology Choosing Between Technologies The Official Story The Unofficial Story Between Convention and Invention Building a Movement Networking An External Threat Product Openings Choosing Within the Technology The Great Investment Bake-Off Implementing the Technology East Coast: From Slack to Stress The Temp Solution Back to Convention West Coast: Lights On or Lights Out? Too Much Technology The Cult of the Expert Conclusion 4. Collaborative Change: Technological Choice in an Aluminum Company The Aluminum Products Company The Technology Choosing Between Technologies Choosing Within the Technology Implementing the Technology Up and Running Hitting a Brick Wall Communicating Across Boundaries Conclusion 5. A Contest over Content: Technological Choice in the Auto Industry The Auto Company The Technology Choosing Between Technologies Corporate Control Plant Autonomy Union-Management Relations Manufacturing Renaissance and Real Engineering From Context to Content Choosing Within the Technology Contested Technology A Language of Common Interests Getting to "Yes" Implementing the Technology Owning the Technology Up and Running Conclusion 6. Politics and Technology The Limits ofT echnological Determinism The Impact of Organization on Technology Breaking Institutional Molds from Within How Independent Is Technology? The Limits of Social Choice Whose Strategy? Whose Choice? Class Action? The Power-Process Perspective: An Elaboration Purposive Structuring The Political Hand Technology Politics Crossing the Bridge Between Determinism and Choice The Politics of Innovation and Innovative Politics Implications for Research and Theory 7. The Politics and Aesthetics of Manufacturing Politics and Change The Status of Manufacturing Design H Manufacturing? Knowledge and Power Product and Process Reconsidered The Search for an Aesthetic of Process Appendix 1. Talking Technology Appendix 2. Preliminary Coding Categories Appendix 3. Definition of Coding Categories References Index

What machines can't do : politics and technology in the industrial enterprise

Purpose




According to the authors’ research, while top-level executives look forward to the potential of artificial intelligent systems in their firms, line managers are much more skeptical. This article advises on i8mplementation strategy.




Design/methodology/approach




Drawing on findings from Accenture’s survey of 1,770 managers in 14 countries and interviews with 37 senior executives responsible for digital transformation, the authors have identified patterns in managers’ attitudes and offer strategies for effective adoption of the new technology.




Findings




When managers have a say and involvement in initial training efforts, they gain a sense of ownership throughout the learning process as well as familiarity with intelligent systems.




Practical implications




The introduction of AI will put a premium on “soft” skills such as collaboration, creativity and good judgment, which may be just as important, if not more important, than technical skills in the future.




Originality/value




The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) promises to transform the nature of work and the relationship among human beings and machines in organizations. When the authors asked whether leaders would be comfortable with AI monitoring and evaluating their work, 42 percent of the top managers in our survey strongly agreed, while only 15 percent of first-line managers shared the same sentiment.” This research discovered that top executives cannot assume that mid- and lower-level managers will share their appreciation for AI.

Partnering with AI: how organizations can win over skeptical managers

What machines can't do

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