Séamas Kelly

Groupware and the Social Infrastructure of Communication

Communication technologies can supplement, but never supplant, the value of social bonds and trusting relationships.

Sensemaking, safety, and situated communities in (con)temporary networks

Abstract This paper discusses the difficulties involved in managing knowledge-intensive, multinational, multiorganisational, and multifunctional project networks. The study is based on a 2-year quasi-ethnography of one such network engaged in the design and development of a complex new process control system for an existing pharmaceutical plant in Ireland. The case describes how, drawing upon the organisational heritage of the corporations involved and the logic implicit within their global partnership arrangements, the project was initially structured in an aspatial manner that underestimated the complexity of the development process and the social relations required to support it. Following dissatisfaction with initial progress, a number of critical management interventions were made, which appeared to contribute to a recasting of the network ontology that facilitated the cultivation and protection of more appropriate communicative spaces. The case emphasises the need to move away from rationalistic assumptions about communication processes within projects of this nature, towards a richer conceptualisation of such enterprises as involving collective sensemaking activities within and between situated ‘communities’ of actors. Contrary to much contemporary writing, the paper argues that space and location are of crucial importance to our understanding of network forms of organising.

Information systems and the allure of organisational integration: a cautionary tale from the Irish financial services sector

In this paper we draw on evidence from an in-depth, longitudinal, interpretive study of an ambitious attempt to implement a large-scale information systems (IS) infrastructure (the ILCUTECH Standard Information System (ISIS) project) within the Irish credit union movement, to explore some of the difficulties and contradictions associated with information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled organisational integration. We argue that, in their enthusiasm for facilitating IS innovation, the leadership of the movement neglected more deep-seated organisational issues that were, to that point, largely unarticulated. In an attempt to get to the heart of these issues, we synthesise a distinctive theoretical perspective that draws mainly on institutional theory. This helps untangle the complex institutional heritage of the credit union movement, which resulted in the emergence of an interesting hybridity of institutional logics and latent contradictions. These contradictions provoked the emergence of a particular kind of institutional entrepreneurship, which was deeply implicated in reshaping institutionalised ways of thinking and doing. We emphasise the political nature of the change process and argue that the institutional arrangements for governing the ISIS project, which also underpinned the governance of the broader movement, were not well suited to manage the risk associated with such an enterprise. We conclude by suggesting that the case described might be an example of the workings of a broader kind of change dynamics around ICT. Specifically, the scale and scope of the change project acted as a trigger that brought tensions underlying existing competing institutional logics to a head, thus provoking institutional reform.

Structuration and Enacted Social Systems

Giddens’ theory of structuration (1984) represents one of the most influential developments in social theory in recent years. His work focuses on the dialectic interplay between agency and structure within social systems, and has provided the basis for a number of recent empirical studies of organisational life (Walsham, 1993; Roberts, 1990; Barley, 1986). However, the use of this theory in empirical research can be fraught with difficulty. The concepts employed by Giddens are subtle and rich in insight but they are also prone to misinterpretation and distortion. In this paper we make use of the idea of enactment which, we argue, an approach to the study of social life, which is conceptually simpler and more intuitive than that of structuration theory. The enactment approach enables us to draw on the insights of structuration theory and couch them within a systems framework.

Beyond Interpretivism? New Encounters with Technology and Organization

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.2Working Conference on Information Systems and Organizations, ISO exploring affect and affordance; considering communication and performance; and examining knowledge and practice.

The First (Beer) Living Lab: Learning to Sustain Network Collaboration for Digital Innovation

The Beer Living Lab was the first of a series of living labs established to analyse and improve complex cross-border trade and logistics challenges using innovative information technology. Unlike stable inter-firm networks where roles are formal and explicit, role taking and role assigning in the Beer Living Lab was highly dynamic. Although project deliverables were formally assigned, in practice responsibilities emerged as a result of actors’ own initiative or as a result of negotiation and sense-making. Even leadership behaviour shifted throughout the various stages of the initiative. The practice of knowledge broking and cultivating a close working relationship with the operational manager emerged as crucial for creating and sustaining the social network which in turn stabilised the hybrid network organisation. We discover (yet again) the key practices of knowledge brokers and the necessity for social involvement in overcoming discontinuities within organisation networks.

A Coaching Style of Management and the Affective Structuration of Workplace Relations

In this chapter, we offer a performative, praxeological account of a protracted attempt by a UK social housing organisation to cultivate and institutionalise a distinctive kind of coaching culture. Drawing on in-depth, longitudinal fieldwork, we describe the organisation’s efforts to nurture a coaching style of management, which marked a significant departure from the more conventional directive style that foreshadowed it. In so doing, we highlight four important practices (connecting, presencing, nurturing and committing) that formed the bedrock of this new coaching style, and we examine the ways in which these practices helped re-shape broader cultural practices within the organisation. Our analysis draws particular attention to the distinctive ‘felt’ effects of this style of management, and to their role in a broader affective structuration of organisational life.

Thoughts on movement, growth and an anthropologically-sensitive is/organization studies: an imagined correspondence with Tim Ingold

In what follows, we present the outcome of an imagined dialogue with Tim Ingold on possible future directions for an anthropologically-sensitive approach to studying Information Systems (IS) and Organization Studies (OS). The aim is to try to convey some of the strangeness and freshness that we have found in his thought, with a view to stimulating IS/OS scholars to engage further with his work and ideas. The piece takes the form of an imagined Q&A session with Tim, which we have synthesized from excerpts of previously published interviews and writings.

Risk, anxiety, and the production of comfort/trust in the context of globalized modes of working: the case of an Ireland-India IS offshoring relationship

In this chapter, we explore the notion of anxiety and its management in the context of the development of an IS offshoring relationship between a small Irish financial services firm (NetTrade) and a large Indian software development company (IndiaSoft) with an extensive global presence. In particular, we focus on the “relationship work” required to produce and sustain a sense of emotional comfort on the part of the client in the context of, or what was constructed as, an extremely unfamiliar and risky venture. In so doing, we synthesize a novel theoretical perspective for illuminating key aspects of the phenomenon in question, by drawing mainly on Anthony Giddens’ ideas on risk, trust, and globalization (Giddens 1990, 1991, 1994) supplemented by important contributions from other authors (e.g. Zucker 1986, Mayer et al. 1995; Misztal 1996). Although we employ the concept of “trust” as a key analytical device, we use this interchangeably with “comfort.” This is an effort to emphasize the notion of trust as an “emotional commitment,” which clearly distinguishes Giddens’ analysis from the manner in which the concept has been generally used in the mainstream management literature.

PROJECT WEBS AND NEW MODES OF ORGANISING IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR: INSIGHTS FROM AN IN-DEPTH COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY.

The article discusses a study that investigates the effectiveness of internet-based information and communication technologies (ICT) when used in construction work. The article describes the ICT pr...