Cognition in Organisations: What it Is and how it Works

Secchi, Davide; Cowley, Stephen J.

doi:10.1111/emre.12442

Cited by 30 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Given the dual scope of developing an analytical frame for studying cognitive events in socio-technical settings ("hybrid cognition") and developing the skills to integrate local activities with non-local domains ("hybrid presence"), our proposal is that this line of thinking is IJOTB 24,3 developed through an organizational cognition perspective (Gahrn-Andersen, 2020;Secchi and Cowley, 2021;Simonsen and Steffensen, 2019;Trasmundi, 2020). We consider hybrid cognition as an important extension of such work, as well as a prerequisite for future improvements in the enskillment of healthcare professionals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid cognition in medical discharges

Simonsen

Steffensen

2021

IJOTB

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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to gain insight into the interaction-sensitive skills medical practitioners enact as they manage multiple organizational factors in the context of discharging patients.Design/methodology/approachFor that purpose, we carried out a cognitive ethnographic study in a Danish hospital, where we video-recorded three pre-ward round meetings, five discharge conversations and conducted seven semi-structured interviews. Fieldnotes and interview transcripts were analyzed using the method Cognitive Task Analysis, and video-recordings were analyzed via the interactivity-based approach Cognitive Event Analysis.FindingsOur findings show that practitioners coordinate multi-scalar resources (e.g. verbal patterns and cognitive artifacts) in order to discharge patients in a safe and integrated way, which we propose amounts to the social and intercorporeal ability to align simultaneously emerging factors, like organizational procedures in the hospital, artifacts in use, sociocultural resources and the individual medical expertise of the practitioner in the emerging social interaction with the patient. In pursing this claim, we investigate the linguistic and cognitive processes emerging in a single case study of a nurse who discharges a patient. We propose that the interaction-sensitive skill which enables the nurse to solve the task of discharging the patient can be characterized via hybrid cognition.Originality/valueThus, the value of the article is dual: On the one hand, it empirically contributes with knowledge of the complex organizational structures that constrains micro-level medical interactions in discharges, and on the other, the article contributes theoretically with a hybrid cognitive framework that allows organizational researchers to understand and assess complex cognitive and linguistic processes that goes into the social micro-coordination in complex organizational-medical task.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid cognition in medical discharges

Simonsen

Steffensen

2021

IJOTB

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“…synoptic and performative change) relate to micro, meso and macro domains of human social organizing as identified by ROC. By presenting this framework, my aim is to provide a conceptual structure to ROC research on organizational becoming that poses as an alternative to the (so far) unstructured multiscalarity view of Secchi and Cowley (2016). I now provide a detailed account on the content of this framework in relation to an empirical example, which fails to satisfy DCog's task-specification requirement.…”

Section: The Becoming Of Organizational Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…

Purpose -Secchi and Cowley (2016Cowley ( , 2018 propose a Radical approach to Organizational Cognition (ROC) as a way of studying cognitive processes in organizations. What distinguishes ROC from the established research on Organizational Cognition is that it remains faithful to radical, anti-representationalist principles of contemporary cognitive science.

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confidence: 99%

Conceptualizing change in organizational cognition

Gahrn-Andersen

2021

IJOTB

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PurposeSecchi and Cowley (2016, 2018) propose a Radical approach to Organizational Cognition (ROC) as a way of studying cognitive processes in organizations. What distinguishes ROC from the established research on Organizational Cognition is that it remains faithful to radical, anti-representationalist principles of contemporary cognitive science. However, it is imperative for proponents of ROC to legitimize their approach by considering how it differs from the established research approach of Distributed Cognition (DCog). DCog is a potential contender to ROC in that it not only counters classical approaches to cognition but also provides valuable insights into cognition in organizational settings.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a conceptual/theoretical approach that expands Secchi and Cowley's introduction of ROC.FindingsThe paper shows that DCog research presupposes a task-specification requirement, which entails that cognitive tasks are well-defined. Consequently, DCog research neglects cases of organizational becoming where tasks cannot be clearly demarcated for the or are well-known to the organization. This is the case with the introduction of novel tasks or technical devices. Moreover, the paper elaborates on ROC's 3M model by linking it with insights from the literature on organizational change. Thus, it explores how organizing can be explored as an emergent phenomenon that involves micro, meso and macro domain dynamics, which are shaped by synoptic and performative changes.Originality/valueThe present paper explores new grounds for ROC by not only expanding on its core model but also showing its potential for informing organizational theory and radical cognitive science research.

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“…How is it different from a standard/non-adaptive organization? Recent work on the crisis of standard cognitive paradigms is of help (Secchi, 2017;Herath, 2019b;Secchi and Cowley, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…While the individual could adopt plastic actions (micro), organizational procedures and processes could also be made plastic (macro). In addition to this classic dichotomy, there are several meso domains (Secchi & Cowley, 2020) in which plasticity could manifest; for example, formal and informal social networks.…”

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confidence: 99%

Editorial

Herath

Secchi

2021

EBHRM

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Organizational plasticity: what is it? How does it work and why does it matter? The entire management enterprise has been built on efforts directed towards efficiency (with varying emphases over the decades; see Scott, 2003). This can be defined as the appropriate disposal of resources such that either the least possible inputs are used to produce an output or more output comes from the exploitation of a given amount of inputs (e.g. Simon, 1997Simon, [1947). This approach has provided tremendous support to the development of management as a discipline and it still contributes to the way management is practiced. As a result of this, we know a great deal about how to structure, plan, create, organize, maintain and improve processes, procedures and routines (Abrahamson, 2002). Instead, we know very little about how to disorganize, create simpler structures from complex structures, isolate and deconstruct/ debunk unnecessary routines, reduce bureaucracy to functional levels, for example, (Abrahamson and Freeman, 2013). And this information would have come at great use to face the constraints to organizational actions imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Some have categorized all these aspects under the umbrella of disorganization management (Herath et al., 2016(Herath et al., , 2017 Herath, 2019a, b). However, present day organizations are sometimes required to move towards more flexible and adaptive forms (Fioretti, 2012) due to an ever-changing environment and workforce (Myerson et al., 2010;Raguseo et al., 2016). Especially in the domain of human resource management (HRM) (Ngoc et al., 2021), this need for flexibility has been increasingly evident in the past year, when businesses have had to find different ways to manage the workforce due to unprecedented circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (Gigauri, 2020;Carnevale and Hatak, 2020).A combination of flexibility and adaptability that makes internal organizational processes malleable and open to change is summarized here with the word plasticity. One of the challenges of this area of study is that it is both costly and difficult to study. It is so because it is usually practiced by trial-and-error in a fluid process where decisions are either unplanned or only partially planned (in a way reminding of what Magnani calls cognizing "through doing"; see Magnani, 2007;Secchi, 2011). This happens because organizational plasticity is motivated (or based), on the one hand, and practiced (or implemented), on the other, under conditions of ambiguity and uncertainty. In the former case, pressures to respond to what could be a temporary condition of the market or to adapt to an ever-changing technological environment are generally difficult to interpret. This, in turn, determines uncertainty in the way in which plasticity is implemented, generating a working solution rather than a recipe. This is not it. Organizational plasticity can be observed at multiple operational levels. While the individual could adopt plastic actions (micro), organi...

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Cognition in Organisations: What it Is and how it Works

Cited by 30 publications

References 97 publications

Hybrid cognition in medical discharges

Hybrid cognition in medical discharges

Conceptualizing change in organizational cognition

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