Aurélie Leclercq-Vandelannoitte

Leaving employees to their own devices: new practices in the workplace

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide useful insights on “bring your own device” (BYOD) and IT consumerization, to help organizations understand how to address their consequences. For young, tech-savvy workers, using their own devices at work represents a right, rather than a privilege, leading them to initiate a growing, yet under-researched, drive toward IT consumerization. Some companies already deploy BYOD programs, allowing employees to use personal devices for work-related activities, but other managers remain hesitant of the implications of such programs. Design/methodology/approach – To provide an overview of this growing phenomenon, this paper presents an in-depth analysis of existing literature and identifies organizational changes induced by this reversed adoption logic. A case study of Volvo reveals how one organization has coped successfully with this phenomenon. Findings – These analyses shed more light on the stakes involved in BYOD and IT consumerization, as well as the changes...

Mobile information systems and organisational control: beyond the panopticon metaphor?

With their ubiquity, mobile information systems (IS) may be used in ways that challenge the dynamics of organisational control, forcing IS scholars to revisit the panopticon metaphor and possibly offer new conceptual tools for theorising about information technology (IT)-based organisational control. Yet little IS research has offered critical reflections on the use of the panopticon to represent the control potential of mobile IS. This study investigates whether the way mobile IS are engaged in the workplace reinforce panoptic control systems or generate other types of control logics, requiring another conceptual lens. A qualitative exploratory case study investigated a consulting company whose professionals equipped themselves with mobile IS. The study reveals the emergence of a subtle, invisible form of ‘free control’ through mobile IS. Although consultants are mobile, flexible, and autonomous, a powerful communication and information network keeps them in a position of ‘allowed subjection’. Free control is characterised by a shift in the location of authority, a time-related discipline, a deep sense of trust, and adherence to organisational norms that the professionals themselves co-construct. These characteristics, which render such control even more pernicious than panoptic arrangements, deserve more attention in further IS research.

The dark side of computer-mediated control

Research on the dark side of computer‐mediated control has explained the consequences of computer‐mediated control when work is tightly coupled with its electronic representation because information systems record work automatically. Our study complements prior research by addressing the dark side of computer‐mediated control when work and its electronic representation are loosely coupled, because it is employees who report their work in IT systems. Data from a 15‐month ethnographic study of the appropriation of a customer relationship management system in the sales department of a large organization reveal that loosely versus tightly coupled computer‐mediated control produce key differences that re‐specify the dark side of computer‐mediated control.

Interrelationships of identity and technology in IT assimilation

Even as organizational literature increasingly studies the role of identity in organizations, the interrelationships of identity and technology in the context of information technology (IT) assimilation demand greater exploration, particularly in light of limitations in prior research that have prevented a full understanding of this relationship. This article aims to deepen understanding of the processes by which technology and identity co-evolve in the IT assimilation process over time. The proposed alternative framework relies on the philosophy of Michel Foucault, applied to a longitudinal, qualitative case study of a French company involved in the deployment of a geolocation technology. The analysis reveals diverse patterns of interaction among the managerial discourses used to shape technicians’ ascribed identity and the identity that technicians design for themselves, which then result in distinct IT assimilation types that contribute to the further evolution of their identity.

Bring your own device in organizations: Extending the reversed IT adoption logic to security paradoxes for CEOs and end users

Abstract This research focuses on bring your own device (BYOD), i.e., the use of personal devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones) to fulfil organizational tasks. BYOD provides opportunities, including the possibility of working differently, for both CEOs and end users. However, BYOD involves high organizational and end user security risks. What are the benefits and risks for CEOs and end users of the reversed adoption logic of BYOD, and how can BYOD-related security paradoxes be overcome? A theoretical analysis is conducted with regard to the concept of the “reversed IT adoption logic” vs. the traditional IT adoption logic. This analysis highlights the security paradoxes linked to this reversed IT adoption and proposes means to overcome these paradoxes. If BYOD entails many opportunities, then it requires information security management to balance the induced risks for CEOs and users.

Questionning the structurationist approach in IS : a comparison with the Foucauldian approach

This research paper aims at questioning the structurationist perspective in information systems and to establish a parallel with the Foucauldian perspective. Indeed, Anthony Giddens and Michel Foucault share the same critics of essentialism and dualisms, and both question concepts that are crucial in IS research questions. Yet, these perspectives have not received the same attention in IS research. While the structurationist perspective in IS appears as one of the dominant paradigm of IS research, the Foucauldian perspective has long been neglected in French IS research. We thus seek to highlight the limitations of the structurationist perspective in IS, and to show how the Foucauldian perspective could enrich our understanding of the relationships between IS, the organisation and individual members, without falling into the traps raised by the structurationist approach in IS.