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Session 1: Structuration: the key theoretical framework and lens
● Orlikowski, W. (1992)
The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Tech in Orgs………………………….1
● Bailey (2020)
Beyond design and use: How scholars should study intelligent technologies. ………………3
Session 2: New ways of working and the office
● Aroles et al. (2021)
New ways of working (NWW): Workplace transformation in the digital age………………….5
● Rockmann (2015)
Contagious offsite work and the lonely office: unintended consequences of distributed work….6
Session 3: Robots at work
● Barrett (2012)
Reconfiguring Boundary Relations: Robotic Innovations in Pharmacy Work……………………..7
● Sergeeva (2020)
Losing Touch: An Embodiment Perspective on Coordination in Robotic Surgery……………….8
Session 4: Organizing new labor relations – Algorithmic labor
● Rosenblat (2016) → Algorithmic labor and info asymmetries: A case study of Uber’s drivers…..10
● Curchod (2019)
Working for an algorithm: Power asymmetries and agency in online work settings……………….12
Session 5: Artificial intelligence in the workplace – The change of professions and identities
● Strich (2021)
What do I do in a world of AI? Investigating the impact of substitutive decision-making AI systems
on employees’ professional role identity……………………………………………………………….15
● Lebovitz (2022)
Engaging with AI for critical judgments: How professionals deal with opacity when using AI for..16
medical diagnosis
Session 6: Crowdwork: An alternative labor market between exploitation and empowerment
● Deng (2016) → The Duality of empowerment and marginalization in microtask crowdsourcing..18
● Taylor (2019) → The career anchors of IT workers participating in crowdsourcing……………….19
Session 7: Algorithmic awareness and performativity
● Bishop, S. (2021) → Influencer management tools: Algorithmic cultures, brand safety, and bias.23
● Cotter, K. (2019)
The visibility game: How digital influencers and algorithms negotiate influence on Instagram…..24
Session 8: Workplace surveillance
● Zuboff, S. (2015)
Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization…………..25
● Hafermalz (2021).......................................................................................................................26
Out of the panopticon and into exile: Visibility and control in distributed new culture organizations
Session 9: Data-driven decision making and predictions
● Barbour (2017)
Analytics and expert collaboration: How individuals navigate relationships when working with..27
organizational data
● Brayne (2017)
Big Data Surveillance: The Case of Policing…………………………………………………………28
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Essay Structure:
1. Informative/provocative title ex: Digital technologies in the workplace: not the holy grail for all
2. Introductory paragraph → quote? Reference to orlikowski?
a. Include a argumentative thesis statement
Ex:
Remote work is the way forward for organisational success, due to the substantial benefits
linked with this organisational structure - increased productivity, healthy work life balance,
and cost savings
3. Body → subheadings, explain interplay between tech/ppl/work + conseq/implic of tech
4. Concluding paragraph → to conclude, I believe… … in other words (connect to title)
* use “I” first person
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Week 1
Session 1: Structuration: the key theoretical framework and lens
Orlikowski, W. (1992) - The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Technology in
Organizations
● Challenges the traditional views of tech as either an objective force or a socially constructed
product, proposing a reconceptualization that integrates both perspectives
● Introduces Structurational Model of Tech → tech is both shaping and being shaped by social
practices in orgs
● There is flexibility in the design, use and interpretation of tech, but the flexibility depends on
institutional context, power, knowledge and interest of the human actors around it
Introduces a new theoretical framework to examine the interaction between technology and
organizations
- Previous research: tech is an objective that impacts orgs or a product of strategic choice/social
action → Orlikowski says this is not complete and integrates both in one
→ Orlikowskis new structurational model of technology
- Considers tech as a socially constructed artifact shaped by human actions and at the same time
as a force that influences and is influenced by the structure of orgs → accounts for interplay
between human choice, tech development and use and org design
→ Orlikowski states the 2 below are incomplete! And #3 sociomateriality is similar to orlikowskis
perspective but not the same
1) Technological Determinism → (‘technological imperative’): introduction of new tech will cause
changes in routines tech itself is independent factor (ex: ppl scared that tech will make them
lose their job)
2) Social determinism → (‘org imperative’ or ‘strategic choice’): NWOW are empowering, we are
free to device when, where and how to make use of tech (ex: people are in charge, are you
addicted to your phone? You are the deciding factor)
→ its not actually these 2, it is a bit of BOTH, we need to have somethingin the middle
3) Sociomateriality (A THIRD PERSPECTIVE) (Not the same as orlikowski but similar)→ a mix of
both, “the constitutive entanglement of social and the material in everyday org life”.
Basically, tech and people are interwoven, we cant see the two split from eachother thus they
are together and evolve over time.
● Theory of Structuration (by Gidden)
- human actions and structural features of orgs are reciprocally interrelated
- Thus, structures are shaped by human actions, and in turn, structures influence human
behaviour
- Humans have both discursive + practical knowledge, and their actions contribute to the creation
of standardized practices within orgs, thus leading to instituionalization of these practices
1) Premises of a Structurational Model of Technology
a) The Duality of Technology
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i) Tech is viewed as a product of human action + a structural property, tech is
continuously shaped by human agency yet can become instituionalized over time
b) The Interpreative Flexibility of Technology
i) Techs interaction with orgs depends on the context of its development and use.
Users engage with tech in 2 iterative modes: design and use → influencing its
physical and social construction
(1) The interpretive flexibility of tech is constrained by material characteristics
of tech and the institutional contexts and power dynamics influecning the
actors involved
THUS, these 2 premises show interplay between tech and orgs → emphasizing tech as a product AND
enabler of social action within org contexts
● Components of the Structuration Model of Technology
○ (1) human agents (2) technology (3) institutional properties of orgs
And the relationship between these components
a) Tech as a Product of Human Action
i) Humans create, maintain and manipulate tech according to their needs, influencing its
development and use
→ (ex: IT department creates a new software and employees suggest improvements/find
bugs)
b) Tech as the Medium of Human
i) Tech is a mediator for humans in workplace, use of tech can enable AND constrain
social practices (how tasks are performed) depending on motives of the designer and
autonomy of users
→ (ex: this new software makes data management easier but some employees find it
restrictive because it requires specific data formats/input methods they are not used to)
c) Human use of Tech is shaped by Institutional Properties
i) Human action in orgs is shaped by institutional contexts (due to culture)
→ (ex: the orgs culture influences the way employees deal with this new software, the
org finds data accuracy and the way they input data seriously)
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