Object-Control: A Study of Technologically Dense Knowledge Work

Abstract

Drawing on the literature on active objects and combining it with an ethnographic study of engineering work, this paper offers an alternative and complementary understanding of the problem of control in knowledge-intensive work. This problem largely concerns the question of how creative processes of knowing are enabled on behalf of the organization. The dominant response to this question revolves around the idea that when work becomes complex, managers attempt to control the norms and identifications of employees, rather than their behaviours. Through the concept of object-control, the idea is introduced that organizational objects participate on behalf of the organization in processes of knowledge control by interpellating organizational members; that is, organizational members are invited to interact with the objects and to creatively develop knowledge in order to solve organizational problems. The study covers ground that the established notions of normative control and identity regulation have neglected, and suggests new ways of advancing the scholarship of organizational control by taking the active participation of organizational objects into account.

Developing a Relational View of the Organizing Role of Objects: A study of the innovation process in computer games

“…Where previous work has emphasized the role of objects in supporting collaborative tasks between groups, this finding from our study points towards the possible role of objects in the organizational control of work practices. This possibility has been explored in one recent study which finds that objects may contribute to the 'enabling control that is often linked with knowledge work' (Rennstam, 2012(Rennstam, , p. 1084, positing such a form of 'object-control' as particularly relevant to the study of knowledge-intensive settings.…”

Textual objects and strategizing: the influence of documents as active objects on strategic recursiveness

“…The documents provide guidelines for collective action and give agency to actors involved in the strategizing (Spee & Jarzabkowski, 2011). But at the same time they restrict and delimit future strategizing, more and more over time when more document objects are produced to stabilize organizational meaning and behaviour (Cooren & Fairhurst, 2009;Knorr-Cetina, 1997;Orlikowski, 2007;Rennstam, 2012). As with other material objects and technologies that restrict agency, a tendency of recursiveness can be observed, influencing future decisions and chain of events.…”

“…But due to their relative durability (compared to non-material organizational accomplishments such as e.g. talk, gestures, and so forth), objects make society durable (Latour, 1991) and often serve as stabilizers in organizational contexts (Cooren & Fairhurst, 2009;Knorr-Cetina, 1997;Orlikowski, 2007;Rennstam, 2012;Suchman, 2005). Objects should therefore not be seen as mere outputs of organizational processes (such as strategy formulation, which is the focus of this paper), but also as important input to such processes.…”

“…From a more general perspective, sociomateriality and associated issues of how technology, work and organizations are related have been studied from e.g. the influential Actor Network Theory-perspective (Callon, 1986;Latour, 1987) and more recently within the Communicative Constitution of Organization-perspective (Ashcraft et al 2009;Cooren, 2004;Kuhn, 2008;Rennstam, 2012). It is therefore somewhat surprising to find that recent studies suggest that technology (in a wide sense) still tends to be absent in many influential texts on strategy, management and organizations (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008).…”

“…Even if most of the original works on the concepts have empirically been conducted within the field of natural science/laboratory science, more recent studies have shown that the concepts also are very fruitful in order to understand knowledge practice, control and agency in organizations (e.g. Ewenstein & Whyte, 2009;Miettinen & Virkkunen, 2005;Rennstam, 2012).…”