Nicolas Arnaud

A communicative approach to sociomateriality: the agentic role of technology at the operational level

ABSTRACT When we talk about objects, their presence/absence matters during local conversations. So, how do sociomaterial resources come together in communication within networks of situated activities dislocated in time and space? How does problem-solving interaction accomplish that which is taken to be knowledge at a given technological site? How do communicative responses to heterogeneity influence resources for accountability? We answer these questions by applying a communication as constitutive of organisation approach to data from a qualitative study in the French transport industry during the implementation of a new interfirm information system. Our contributions are threefold: we (1) consider sociomateriality as, among other things, the expression of what matters in conversation, (2) argue that communicative practices, far from being residual talk, are at the core of the skilful achievement of (inter-)organisational collaboration and (3) assert that communication is at the heart of modern forms of work and organising and thus deserves more consideration by researchers and managers.