Wanda J. Orlikowski and Susan V. Scott
The authors examine infrastructures of valuation by asking how the specific materializations of categories and ratings make a difference in practice. Drawing on the notion of…
Abstract
The authors examine infrastructures of valuation by asking how the specific materializations of categories and ratings make a difference in practice. Drawing on the notion of apparatus, the authors explore how different valuation schemes entail specific inclusions and exclusions that have material consequences for the valuations that are produced. Focusing on agential realist conceptualizations of apparatus allows a shift in attention to a particular reading of performativity in which different valuation infrastructures perform different phenomena in the world. The authors focus on two specific valuation systems within hospitality – star ratings of the Automobile Association and regional rankings on TripAdvisor – and examine how these make boundaries, direct agencies of observation and condition the possibilities for action. The authors consider the conditions of possibility that are increasingly being produced through digital infrastructures and highlight the performative uncertainties that are generated as a result of their materializations in practice.
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Wanda J. Orlikowski and Jack J. Baroudi
Much of the prior research into information systems (IS) workers has assumed that they are professionals. In this paper we examine the characteristics of IS workers, IS work and…
Abstract
Much of the prior research into information systems (IS) workers has assumed that they are professionals. In this paper we examine the characteristics of IS workers, IS work and the IS workplace, and suggest that this perspective is mistaken. Drawing on the sociological theory of professions as a reference discipline we contend that IS professionalism is an inappropriate categorization, and that such a portrayal limits our understanding of IS workers and their work. We argue in this paper that a more faithful and potentially useful characterization is to view IS workers as members of an occupational group. Within this perspective, an understanding of the occupational culture, context and history of IS workers is essential to an understanding of the IS occupation. We examine and challenge some common myths regarding IS work, technology and the IS workplace. We conclude by making some recommendations for future research, which should enhance our understanding of IS workers as members of an occupation.
In her research studies, Woodward (1958) found that those firms that were organized according to the logic of their production technologies were more successful (on a set of…
Abstract
In her research studies, Woodward (1958) found that those firms that were organized according to the logic of their production technologies were more successful (on a set of economic measures) than those that did not. On the conceptual front, this acknowledgment of contingency in organizational life was particularly valuable in helping management scholars shift away from assumptions and expectations of “one best way to organize.”1 It also helped to counter reductionist claims of technological determinism, the view that technology is an independent force that has determinant and universal social impacts.
Llandis Barratt‐Pugh, Susanne Bahn and Elsie Gakere
The purpose of this paper is to explore the merger of two large State departments and the cultural change program orchestrated by the Human Resources (HR) department. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the merger of two large State departments and the cultural change program orchestrated by the Human Resources (HR) department. This study reveals the instrumental role played by some managers who accelerated the cultural change process through utilising formal and informal agencies of change in their management roles.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores a two‐year investigation of a major State organisation trying to reshape the culture and values of the organisation after a politically determined merger. This paper reviews the context for this change process, the associated concepts from the literature, and adapts Gidden's Structuration Theory to provide a model of manager action during the change process that may also be used to explore subsequent change practices.
Findings
The findings from the sequenced phases of data collection provide new evidence from a strategic HR perspective of the multiple ways managers act to embed a culture change for the emerging organisation.
Practical implications
The subsequent discussion centres on the diverse roles played by managers in the new disjointed and often dysfunctional culture to develop unified cultural change with their staff, with the change process being modelled in terms of Structuration Theory.
Originality/value
The paper uses the findings from an empirical study to indicate the agencies of change that managers can employ during organisational change processes. By doing so it provides both a pragmatic model for managers of change and through the typology of manager agencies of change makes an addition to the existing theoretical frameworks of change management.
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Davide Bizjak, Monica Calcagno and Luigi Maria Sicca
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the specific field of arts entrepreneurship by focussing on the practices of vertical dance; a language of contemporary dance where…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the specific field of arts entrepreneurship by focussing on the practices of vertical dance; a language of contemporary dance where dancers act on a vertical axis, moving suspended on the surface of buildings and walls. The authors’ focus on vertical dance as a meaningful corporal practice to explore the particular combination of dance and human movement, going beyond its purely metaphoric dimension.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ adopt a micro-social perspective, observing the practices (Gherardi, 2012; Nicolini, 2012; Sicca, 2000), that took place from 2013 to 2015 in the daily work of Wanda Moretti, a Venetian choreographer and co-founder of the company “Il posto”, observed in different contexts of artistic practices (Zembylas, 2014).
Research limitations/implications
Deconstructing the overlapping dimensions that compose the space in our daily experience (force of gravity and the supporting surface), vertical dance clarifies how often we undervalue the complexity of the space and, at the same time, opens up the way for a better understanding and investigation of entrepreneurship in artistic fields.
Originality/value
The study sheds light on the way in which different categories, such as the human body, space, and movement, are a particular entanglement of elements, useful in highlighting some of the fundamental assumptions at the heart of the field of entrepreneurship. The heterogeneous complexity of space and bodies is emphasised, challenging its ordinary conceptualisation.
Propósito
Este trabajo tiene como objetivo investigar el campo específico de las iniciativas empresariales artísticas, centrándose en las prácticas de la danza vertical, un lenguaje de la danza contemporánea donde los bailarines actúan sobre un eje vertical, moviéndose suspendidos sobre la superficie de edificios y paredes. Nos centramos en la danza vertical como práctica corporal significativa para explorar la combinación particular de la danza y el movimiento humano, que va más allá de su dimensión puramente metafórica.
Metodología
Adoptamos una perspectiva micro-social, focalizándonos en las prácticas (Gherardi, 2012; Nicolini, 2012; Sicca, 2000) que tuvieron lugar desde 2013 hasta 2015 en el trabajo cotidiano de Wanda Moretti, coreógrafa veneciana y co-fundadora de la empresa “Il posto”, observado los diferentes contextos de las prácticas artísticas (Zembylas, 2014).
Implicaciones
En deconstruir las dimensiones superpuestas que componen el espacio en nuestra experiencia diaria (la fuerza de la gravedad y la superficie de apoyo), la danza vertical aclara la frecuencia con la que subvaloramos la complejidad del espacio y, al mismo tiempo, abre el camino para una mejor comprensión y la investigación del espíritu empresarial en los ámbitos artísticos.
Originalidad
El estudio subraya cómo diferentes categorías, como el cuerpo humano, el espacio y el movimiento, son un enredo particular de elementos, útil para poner de relieve algunas de las premisas fundamentales en el campo del espíritu empresarial. La complejidad heterogénea de espacio y los cuerpos se enfatiza, desafiando a su conceptualización ordinaria.
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Lana Sabelfeld, John Dumay and Barbara Czarniawska
This study explores the integration of corporate reporting by Mitsubishi, a large Japanese company, using a culturally sensitive narrative that combines and reconciles Japanese…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the integration of corporate reporting by Mitsubishi, a large Japanese company, using a culturally sensitive narrative that combines and reconciles Japanese and Western corporate values in one story.
Design/methodology/approach
We use an analytical framework drawing on insights borrowed from narratology and the notion of wrapping – the traditional art of packaging as communication.
Findings
We find that Mitsubishi is a survivor company that uses different corporate reporting frameworks during its reporting journey to construct a bespoke narrative of its value creation and cultural values. It emplots narratives to convey a story presenting the impression that Mitsubishi is a Japanese corporation but is compatible with Western neo-liberal ideology, making bad news palatable to its stakeholders and instilling confidence in the future.
Research limitations/implications
Wrapping is a culturally sensitive form of impression management used in the integration of corporate reporting. Therefore, rather than assuming that companies blatantly manipulate their image in corporate reports, we suggest that future research should focus on how narratives are constructed and made sense of, situating them in the context of local culture and traditions.
Practical implications
The findings should interest scholars, report preparers, policymakers, and the IFRS, considering the recent release of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards designed to reduce the so-called alphabet soup of corporate reporting. By following Mitsubishi’s journey, we learn how and why the notion of integrated reporting was adopted and integrated with other reporting frameworks to create narratives that together convey a story of a global corporation compliant with Western neoliberal ideology. It highlights how Mitsubishi used integrated reporting to tell its story rather than as a rigid reporting framework, and the same fate may apply to the new IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards that now include integrated reporting.
Originality/value
The study offers a new perspective on corporate reporting, showing how the local societal discourses of cultural heritage and modernity can shape the journey of the integration of corporate reporting over time.