Ylenia Curzi

Phenomenology, Organizational Politics, and IT Design: The Social Study of Information Systems

Information systems are researched, published on, and utilized as an extremely broad and vital sector of current technology development, usually studied from the scientific or technological viewpoints therein. Phenomenology, Organizational Politics, and IT Design: The Social Study of Information Systems offers a new look at the latest research and critical issues within the field of information systems by creating solid theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical findings of social developments. Professionals, academics, and researchers working with information will find this volume a compelling and vital resource for a cross fertilization among different, yet complementary, and strictly connected domains of scientific knowledge, consisting of information systems research, philosophy of social science, and organizational studies.

Bridging rigour and relevance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to call for an in‐depth reflection on Webers research approach based on the notions of adequate causation and objective possibility.Design/methodology/approach – The paper illustrates the main characteristics and premises of the research approach. It further exemplifies its application through a qualitative study that investigates “How” and “Why” knowledge integration occurs in the creative processes of teams spanning over time and space. In so doing, it argues that Webers epistemology could remain a valid point of reference to shift from the generation of empirical propositions through qualitative research to the quantitative analysis of empirical regularities recurring into a large number of empirical cases.Findings – This paper shows how Webers research approach could assist researchers in overcoming the dichotomy between rigour and relevance in qualitative research within organization and management studies.Originality/value – The work offers new ways of looki...

DigitAgile: The Office in a Mobile Device. Threats and Opportunities for Workers and Companies

This chapter focuses on “smart working”, also known as “agile work”, which is work based on the intensive use of digital devices and increasing spatial and temporal “disembedding” from the formal organization. The chapter first examines the spread of the phenomenon at the international and national levels. Through a meta-analysis of existing qualitative and quantitative research, it then addresses the following research questions: Organizational autonomy, discretion, and control in the regulation of work. The relationship between digitalization, employment, and individual and organizational productivity. The reconciliation of work with extra-work life.

Variabilità strutturale: varietà di proposte teoriche e metodologiche e loro apprendimento

Structural variability is a central issue of the study of organization. In his edited book, T. M. Fabbri, associated professor in the field of organization studies and Human Resource Management, presents a pluralistic disciplinary, theoretical and methodological overview of this topic. The essays of the book foster the reader to reflect, from different points of view, on the issues which are of great interest also for the sociology, i.e. the relationship between power and organizational change, structure and action, social and technical system, organizational rationality, and the role of consultants in organizational design. In this regard, this critical note highlights the difficulties of socio-technical system approach to deal with the issue of how to link the social system and the technical one. It further draws attention to the inability of the theories reflecting a subjective conception of organization to address organizational change over time, and reflects on the inadequacy of related research methods to provide prior indications to drive structural change towards a desired end. With respect to the variety of the approaches discussed, the book aims at supporting the reader to make a conscious theoretical and methodological choice regarding the structural variability. To this end, the editor suggests as a guiding rule to assess the consistency between the theory and the method of each approach. Nevertheless, some essays actually fail to address systematically this conceptual distinction, thereby reducing the chances to attain the basic aim of the book. However, one may make the hypothesis that their inclusion in their current form is intentional as it aims to encourage the reader to take the first essential step in a conscious path of self-training, i.e. to develop the capacity of analysing existing approaches to organizations.