Object Lessons: Workplace Artifacts as Representations of Occupational Jurisdiction

Bechky, Beth A.

doi:10.1086/379527

Cited by 437 publications

(411 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…First, they help to answer the question of when less powerful organization members may challenge and change traditional practices that disadvantage them. Theorists using the concept of cultural toolkits to explain when less powerful members attempt change suggest that they do so depending on the kinds of cultural tools available to them (e.g., Alvesson and Willmott 2002, Bechky 2003, Dacin et al 2010, Kunda 2006. This focus on the empowering character of cultural tools is important.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, those more powerful can maintain traditional practices by controlling the symbolic resources available to those less powerful (e.g., Alvesson and Willmott 2002). They can ensure consent and passive compliance not by using coercion but by restricting the cultural toolkit to traditional roles (Sveningsson and Alvesson 2003), discourses Willmott 2002, Kunda 2006), behavioral scripts (Barley 2008, Morrill 1995, decision processes (Khurana 2002), rituals (Dacin et al 2010), routines (Heimer andStaffen 1998, Vaughan 1996), emotional demeanors (Hochschild 1983, Weeks 2004, office space layouts Robertson 2006, Kilduff et al 1997), and sayings (Bechky 2003).…”

Section: Current Literature On Practice Challenge and Change By Lessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One way of looking at culture is that it is a "toolkit" (Swidler 1986)-a collection of rituals, symbols, stories, and worldviews that actors can draw on to construct their action in particular situations. In some instances, less powerful members have little access to those cultural tools that support change, so they reproduce the status quo (e.g., Alvesson and Willmott 2002, Bechky 2003, Dacin and Dacin 2008, Vaughan 1996. But in other instances, change-oriented tools are more available, and the less powerful can use them to challenge traditional practices (e.g., Davis et al 2008Davis et al , 2005Lounsbury 2001;Meyerson 2003;Morrill et al 2003;Scully and Segal 2002;Weber et al 2009;Zald et al 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hot Lights and Cold Steel: Cultural and Political Toolkits for Practice Change in Surgery

Kellogg¹

2011

Organization Science

116

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One of the great paradoxes of organizational culture is that even when less powerful members in organizations have access to cultural tools (such as frames, identities, and tactics) that support change, they often do not use these tools to challenge traditional practices that disadvantage them. In this study, I compare data about work practice change from my own field study of an elite teaching hospital (conducted in the early 2000s) to previously reported data from field studies of two similar hospitals (one conducted in the 1970s and one in the 1990s). I demonstrate that although cultural toolkits supporting change may allow less powerful organization members to see traditional practices as running counter to their interests, they may not be able to significantly change traditional practices unless they also have access to what I call political toolkits (including tools such as staffing systems, accountability systems, and evaluation systems) that support change. Although cultural tools allow them to reinterpret practices that disadvantage them as unfair, political tools allow them to feel optimistic that others will help them effect change. Whereas cultural tools enable them to develop a “we” feeling with other reformers, political tools allow them to coordinate their change efforts. And although cultural tools provide them with a repertoire of contentious tactics, political tools afford them a sense of security that they can battle defenders of the status quo without ruining their careers. These findings contribute to our understanding of both the cultural construction of organizational life and social movement processes.

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Current Literature On Practice Challenge and Change By Lessmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hot Lights and Cold Steel: Cultural and Political Toolkits for Practice Change in Surgery

Kellogg¹

2011

Organization Science

116

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“…Designers of IDEO engage with artifacts (Latour 1987), become immersed in prior knowledge, and "learn by using" (Rosenberg 1982). Artifacts help them recall and recombine distinct pieces of knowledge offering a tangible form of access to help translate knowledge from one community of experts to another (Bechky 2003a, b;Carlile 2004).…”

Section: Traditional Perspectives On Knowledge Accumulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For knowledge to be actionable, it may require access to materials, know-how, translation, or the sharing of expertise among individuals. This type of disclosure most often arises within communities through informal mechanisms (Collins 1974, Brown and Duguid 1991, Bechky 2003a, Carlile 2004.…”

Section: Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Foundations of Cumulative Innovation: Implications for Organization Science

Murray

O’Mahony

2007

Organization Science

222

135

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O rganizational theorists have built a deep understanding of the conditions affecting knowledge sharing. However, for innovation to occur, knowledge must not just be shared, but also reused, recombined, and accumulated. Such accumulation is not inherent to the innovation process but can be either supported or limited by the context in which it occurs. We propose a framework arguing that three conditions shape this context: disclosure, access, and rewards. We show how these conditions operate at the institutional, field, community, and organizational levels. Our framework highlights how when innovators encounter barriers to the accumulation of knowledge, their solutions are often organizational ones rather than legal ones. This suggests an expanding terrain for organizational scholars interested in debates often dominated by law and economics.

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Devices and Educational Change

Nespor¹

2012

Researching Education Through Actor‐Network Theory

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This paper uses Actor Network Theory to examine two cases of device-mediated educational change, one involving a computer-assisted interactive video module that provided a half-hour of instruction for a university course, the other an assistive communication device that proved a supposedly retarded pre-school child to be intelligent.The paper explores how device construction instigated by middle-level organizational workers can ramify into organizational change, and extends Actor Network theory by augmenting some of its conceptual tools. I argue that the organizational change processes initiated by work on the devices played out in non-linear ways across the decades-long careers of their makers, and that to understand them we not only have to look across such extended time frames, but must also consider how agency and identity positions emerge and shift over time through the mediation of devices.

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Object Lessons: Workplace Artifacts as Representations of Occupational Jurisdiction

Cited by 437 publications

References 29 publications

Hot Lights and Cold Steel: Cultural and Political Toolkits for Practice Change in Surgery

Hot Lights and Cold Steel: Cultural and Political Toolkits for Practice Change in Surgery

Exploring the Foundations of Cumulative Innovation: Implications for Organization Science

Devices and Educational Change

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