From Hand Drawings to Computer Visuals: Confronting Situated and Institutionalized Practices in an Architecture Firm

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in practice-based studies of organizational change. Most of this research does not explicitly consider the tension between situated and sociohistorical practices that are central to the transformation of work practices associated with an episode of change. In our study of the impact of off-the-shelf three-dimensional rendering software on the daily practice of architects in a small, highly regarded firm, we explore the incompatibility between these different levels of practice. By building on the concept of contradiction drawn from activity theory, we identify patterns of challenges, reenactments, and enactments through which situated change simultaneously reproduces and questions institutionalized practices.

Affordances of social media in collective action: the case of Free Lunch for Children in China

“…It is therefore necessary to look beyond the encounter between human and technology at the individual level, because technological affordances we are interested in are always situated in the ‘co‐presence’ of other people and objects (Michael, ). Just as human agency is embedded in social, cultural and historical contexts (Garud et al, ; Battilana & D'aunno, ), technology is a ‘sociohistorical material construct’ (Groleau et al, ). In short, affordances are relational and situated, and contingent upon the purpose of human agency as well as historical and socio‐institutional settings.…”

Visualizing practices in project-based design: tracing connections through cascades of visual representations

“…For example, Yaneva (2009) describes her commitment to undertake a process of 'slow observation and analysis' (p. 14) within an architectural practice, observing the effects of model-work. Likewise, Groleau et al (2012) observe architects using visual representations over a six-month period, two days a week, with particular attention to how an intern used 3D software. Others focus on visual representations in meetings: Garreau et al (2015) accessed these through a business office acting as development client, and Ewenstein and Whyte (2009) through an architectural firm.…”

“…First, through the discussion of these two studies, we offer an alternative approach that supplements situated ethnographies of design practices (e.g. Yaneva, 2009;Groleau, Demers et al, 2012;Garreau, Mouricou et al, 2015;Ewenstein and Whyte, 2009). Rather than assuming that action unfolds where the observation takes place (Czarniawska, 2007), our ethnographic approach allows the researcher to be nimble, tracing connections across engineering projects through visual representations.…”

Cultural-Historical Activity Theory: Exploring a Theory to Inform Practice and Research

“…Although CHAT is not yet widely known in the U.S., it is being employed by scholar-practitioners across a diverse array of fields to advance ways of thinking about and shaping professional practices such as developing curricula and teaching at all education levels (Cole, 1996;Jonassen & RohrerMurphy, 1999;Roth & Lee, 2007), providing mental health care (Sundet, 2010), strategizing and managing organizational processes (Blackler, Crump, & McDonald, 1999, 2000, designing digital technologies (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2006), tracing the computerization of architectural design (Groleau, Demers, Lalancette, & Barros, 2012), developing public policy (Canary, 2007(Canary, , 2010Canary & McPhee, 2008), and analyzing work.…”

“…When the object from another activity system is introduced by one of the actors within the activity system, this sets in motion a very different dynamic in which power relations become central (Groleau et al, 2012;Groleau & Mayère, 2009). More specifically, power relations (as manifested in the division of labor) within the activity system determine whether the alternative object catalyzing a tertiary contradiction results in a change in the central activity system.…”