Hannele Kerosuo

Boundary crossing and learning in creation of new work practice

The following theoretical challenges concerning learning in organizations and at work are examined in the study. First, organizational learning is not only the formation of collective routines; it is also tool‐creation and implementation. Second, tools evolve as they are implemented. Third, tools become powerful when they become an interconnected instrumentality and constellations. Tool‐creation and implementation are examined when a new set of tools is being appropriated for collaboration between primary and secondary health care. Boundary crossings in the interaction of the multiple providers are focused as an essential context of tool‐creation during implementation. The findings concerning the tool‐creation during implementation process include the productivity of the resistance, the importance of turning points, the formation of the new instrumentality, the discovery of gaps, and the necessity of stabilization and maintenance in organizational learning. Finally, conclusions about learning in the creation of work practice will be proposed.

From workplace learning to inter‐organizational learning and back: the contribution of activity theory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how activity theory transcends the boundary between workplace learning and organizational learning.Design/methodology/approach – Activity‐theoretical analyses examine collectives and organizations as learners. On the other hand, activity theory is committed to pedagogical and interventionist actions to change and learning characteristic of workplace learning.Findings – Activity‐theoretical studies put an emphasis on the object, i.e. on what is done and learned together in inter‐organizational networks, instead of studying only connections and collaboration of networks. The theory of expansive learning enables a longitudinal and rich analysis of inter‐organizational learning and makes a specific contribution in outlining the historical transformation of work and organizations by using observational as well as interventionist designs in studies of work and organization.Originality/value – The paper shows that activity theory and the theory of expansive learning...

The emergence of learners’ transformative agency in a Change Laboratory intervention

Changes and transformations in organisations are traditionally initiated by the management. This approach does not, however, encourage the agency of all the members in an organisation to engage in cooperative development of the activity. This paper presents an analysis of the development of participants’ transformative agency in a Change Laboratory (CL) intervention. In a CL, the participants analyse conflicts and disturbances in their local activity and search for ways to transform current work practices. In the analysis, we identified six types of expressions of transformative agency which evolved over the course of the laboratory sessions and across the topical contents of those sessions. Furthermore, we examined to what extent the expressions of agency produced by the participants reflected individual and collective agency. Our key argument based on the research findings is that transformative agency goes beyond the individual and the situational here-and-now actions. It is produced and maintained in collective change efforts and evolves over time.

Caught between a rock and a hard place

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to research a critical transition from individually‐experienced double binds to collaborative change. To this end an early phase of a change process in a central surgical unit is studied in detail.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses an interventionist and ethnographic methodology to research the shift from individual to collective during organizational change. Organizational change is studied as a resolution of evolving contradictions. In this early phase, contradictions can emerge as individually‐experienced double binds and crisis.Findings – The findings of the study describe a transition in which individually‐experienced double binds and crisis become a driving force for organizational change. The dissolution of contradictions as double binds and crisis is strongly connected to emotions. When emotions are unveiled and collectively worked out, they become shared and can be understood critically. A change process is usually conceptualized as proceeding thro...

Site managers’ daily work and the uses of building information modelling in construction site management

The use of building information modelling (BIM) and related software tools is increasingly expanding in the work of site managers in construction projects. The early uses of BIM in the actual tasks of site managers are explored by examining the utilization of BIM in their work and the challenges in the deployment of the new digital tools for traditional project collaboration. The ethnographic method of the study consists of shadowing the site managers’ work. The site managers actively used BIM and found it beneficial for their daily work. However, the use of BIM in construction sites is still limited because only a few managers have the competence to use BIM software tools, mobile tools are lacking, and the information content of the models needed for construction work is insufficient.

BIM-based Collaboration Across Organizational and Disciplinary Boundaries Through Knotworking

Abstract Knotworking is introduced as a new idea and an emerging practice for enhancing collaboration across organizational and team boundaries in BIM-based building projects. Knotworking refers to co-located ‘knots’ that are organized on a temporary basis to solve a specific task, a problem or an open question requiring multi-disciplinary expertise in a building project. The idea of knotworking was adopted and re-interpreted from elsewhere in a research and development program in the Finnish construction industry and experimented with in the early design of a school building. The aim of this study is to examine how the fragmentation of design and construction work could be reduced through knotworking in building projects. The methodology of the study is based on developmental and interventionist approaches in activitytheory ( Engestrom, 2014 ; Miettinen et al., 2013), according to which the developmental processes are carefully followed, analyzedand documented. Complex problems such as “waiting” and “decision-making” motivated the practitioners to experiment withknotworking in the program.The experimentation required thoroughprior preparation in the development of knotworking.The new knotworking concept, using the best existing technology, enabled the creation of 15–20 energy solutions and cost calculations for five architect scenarios in a two-day knotworking workshop.The method was further tested in three other cases during the program, and it was presented to relevant stakeholders at several events.

Knotworking and the visibilization of learning in building design

Purpose – This paper aims to study the visibilization of learning in the context of developing a new collaborative practice, knotworking, in building design. The case under study describes the process of learning from the initiation of knotworking to its experimentation. The implementation of new building information modeling tools acted as an impetus for this development. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on activity-theoretically oriented ethnographic research. The four analytical steps created by Engestrom (1999) for analyzing the expansive visibilization of learning are applied in the analysis. Findings – The envisioning of the idea of knotworking involved the first and the second steps of visibilization. First, a flowchart made the ideal process of design visible and triggered a discussion on the problems and requirements emerging in the project members’ work. Second, an idea for a new type of collaboration was introduced as a solution to these problems and requirements. Planning th...

Transformative Agency and the Development of Knotworking in Building Design

The initiation of transformative agency is examined in the development of a collaborative practice called knotworking. The study examines how transformative agency emerges in the development of knotworking and how the initiation of knotworking can be supported. Transformative agency is the ability of individuals and groups to transform the organisation of their work and related practices in changing circumstances. Knotworking is a flexible collaboration practice needed in tasks requiring multiple expertise, applied here in a building project. The activity-theoretical approach and the theory of expansive learning provide the methodology and methods to study the initiation of transformative agency. Transformative agency co-evolves with the development of work practices through expansive learning. The findings indicate the capability of individuals, groups and communities to develop their work environments. A successful process leading to the initiation of transformative agency requires outside support from outside and recognition of the development outcomes.

Following My Traces: Exploring the Emotional Engagement with the Research Subject through the Researcher’s Artwork

This article explores the researcher’s emotional engagement in fieldwork through the researcher’s artwork. Revisiting emotional engagement is important in order to make sense of the research subject of the study in complex research sites. The care of 26 patients was followed during a change project that involved relationships between various clinics and providers. The organizational complexity became obvious when each patient case created its own field of study in the healthcare organization. In the study, it is suggested that we can gain access to emotional engagement through art and aesthetics in organizational ethnographies. Emotional engagement with the research subject is an important part of constituting the research subject in complex organizations. In future projects, it will be important to discuss with participants the aesthetic experiences raised by the fieldwork. Discussing such experiences is part of the co‐constitution of the sense and meaning of the activity that is under change.

ViBR Conceptualising a Virtual Big Room through the Framework of People, Processes and Technology

The “Big Room” in construction refers to a large facility supporting the colocation of the entire project team, where some of the critical problems such as delays in decision-making, problems in communication, disparity in design iterations are eliminated, and trust is increased. However, one of the most demanding aspects of this concept is the almost constant presence of the project participants, which may be difficult for small or medium projects. We therefore propose “Virtual Big Room”, where the concept of collocation of workers will be deployed through virtual technologies. A combination of product and process modelling techniques along with communication and social network tools are proposed to develop the proposed platform that will integrate the entire supply chain through the project lifecycle (i.e. design, construction, handover).