This paper analyses practice as activity and develops a frame-work for analysing organizations as networks of activity systems. The approach is applied in a study of a high technology company. Key tensions in the organization are outlined and a comparative study of three strategy development teams is described. Activity theory provides the means to analyse organizations as distributed, decentred and emergent knowledge systems. It is suggested that the processes of `perspective making', `perspective taking' and `perspective shaping' are central to the integration of different expert groups that need to co-operate in the pursuit of multiple, perhaps competing, objectives.

No abstract

Over the last two decades, managerialism (Enteman, 1993) has become consolidated on multiple fronts. As a formula of governance, it has elaborated various vocabularies: the `audit society' (Power, 1997, 2007) has become entrenched in all types of organizations; surveillance methods (Lyon, 2001) have become increasingly dispersed and insidious; and — alongside —`new' concepts of subjectivity and the`self' are used to frame more intense regimes of self-discipline or what Tipton (1984) called `self-work'. These moves have been captured by Heelas (2002), Thrift (1997) and others in the term `soft capitalism'. In this article, we reflect upon this phenomenon by analysing some examples: `culture', `performativity', `knowledge' and `wellness'. Although they belong to a group often described as `fads' and `fashions' and dismissed as managerial `mumbo-jumbo', we suggest that their proliferation indicates a more stable cultural tendency of management discourses to capture subjectivity in its general agenda. We attempt to offer an historical-cultural interpretation from which this range of managerial concepts might be viewed. Our argument suggests that they have a certain cultural coherence that can be perhaps better glimpsed within a wider historical context. As a particular way in which managerialism frames its logic, analysing `soft capitalism' historically offers a reasonable basis for understanding the strength of its hard disciplinary edge as a regime of governance.

No abstract

An activity theoretical analysis is presented of an organization that is operating in a rapidly changing sector and whose competitiveness depends significantly upon the design skills of its engineers. The company designs high-technology make-to-order products. Like other organizations that compete through knowledge and innovation, the prosperity of this company depends upon its organizational learning, that is, upon the effectiveness with which it can mobilize, apply and develop its distinctive knowledge base as circumstances change. In the difficult context that the company faces, the speed with which projects can move from the initial concept phase through design to production has to become especially important. The paper outlines a general strategy that was developed as the company sought to control this process and traces the consequences for design practices. An activity theoretical approach is used to model the changes that were attempted and the outcomes which emerged and to introduce a discussion of possible future options. The approach (i) emphasizes the relevance of a historical perspective on organizational change, (ii) features the changing nature of expertise in contemporary manufacturing and (iii) discusses the potential significance for collective learning of tensions and incoherencies within a work system.