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The purpose of the paper is to explore the use of, and challenges associated with, spatial change management strategies. This is done through a discussion on how spatial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to explore the use of, and challenges associated with, spatial change management strategies. This is done through a discussion on how spatial environments may be utilised to effect organisational change. The intention is to provoke new thinking on physical change initiatives and to challenge the often highly deterministic view on the effects of contemporary workspace concepts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is structured as a case study-based literature review, drawing on literature from the fields of environmental psychology, organisational branding, corporate real estate and facility management, as well as organisational change management.
Findings
The study indicates that space management strategies may fail because of the lack of understanding of how organisational events and other contextually specific aspects correlate with the physical change initiative. Succeeding with the spatial strategy requires a strong focus on socio-material relationships and the employee meaning-making process during the spatial change process.
Originality/value
Contrary to the traditional and rational focus on functional space management strategies, the paper takes a socio-material approach suggesting that there is a need for more empirically based research into the employee meaning-making process and the role of human and organisational practices in the development of new workplace concepts. Focusing on how organisational members understand and “make use of” spatial environments may substantially improve organisations and building consultants’ abilities to strategically manage the physical change initiative and achieve the intended ends.
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Clif P. Lewis and Maryam Aldossari
The purpose of this research is to explore a possible relationship between the presence of authentic organisational leadership and the leadership development experience.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore a possible relationship between the presence of authentic organisational leadership and the leadership development experience.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative exploratory hybrid research design which draws on data from multiple sources. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and non-participant observations across two case study organisations in Saudi Arabia.
Findings
The authors' findings suggest that the presence of authentic leadership (AL) within an organisation is a significant factor in the leadership development experience. This study also highlights the key importance of advancing leadership development theory that is holistic and comprehensive.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted as case studies within a specific social context. Findings cannot be generalised but offer valuable direction for future research.
Originality/value
The research advances leadership development theory by highlighting the inadequacy of the person-focussed perspective and offering exploratory evidence for the role of social context, organisational leadership and organisational artefacts in the leadership development process.
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Organizational paradoxes must first be recognized by managers before they can respond to them. Yet scholars have adopted different perspectives on how paradoxical tensions become…
Abstract
Organizational paradoxes must first be recognized by managers before they can respond to them. Yet scholars have adopted different perspectives on how paradoxical tensions become salient and engender management responses. Some approaches have focused on the socially constituted nature of paradoxes, and others on the inherent aspects of paradoxes in the environment. The authors propose an approach that gives ontological meaning to both the socially constituted and inherent nature of organizational paradoxes. Our approach, which is inspired by quantum physics, opens up new opportunities for engaging with the socio-materiality of paradoxes, how they are measured, and the implications this has on the probabilities of managing organizational responses to paradox.
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Sandra Carlsson, Karin K Flensner, Lars Svensson and Sara Willermark
Due to the global outbreak of Covid-19, Swedish teachers in upper secondary education were forced to conduct emergency remote teaching. As of today, there is a stream of research…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the global outbreak of Covid-19, Swedish teachers in upper secondary education were forced to conduct emergency remote teaching. As of today, there is a stream of research that addresses digitalization in education in light of the pandemic. Previous studies show that the challenges with the sudden intensification of digitalization have been particularly challenging in practical and aesthetic subjects. The research question is as follows: What challenges did vocational teachers experience during the emergency remote teaching caused by Covid-19 and what emergent tactics can be identified in vocational teaching practice?
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical data consists of (1) interviews with two vocational teachers and, (2) workshops with 25 teacher students from different vocational programmes that addressed vocational teaching during the Covid-19 crisis.
Findings
Emergency remote teaching meant challenges due to the changed socio-material environment that cannot easily be transformed to a vocational teaching setting. The challenges were related to authentic situations and material, problem solving and dexterity. Tactics that emerged as a response to the challenges were mainly connected to attempts to mimic vocational practices.
Originality/value
Contributions include explaining specific challenges and possibilities in developing vocational competence when teaching is digitalised. Furthermore, it increases the understanding of the relationship between theory and practice in vocational education. By adopting a socio-material perspective on vocational competence, the authors enhance the understanding of the importance of a shared socio-material environment.
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The purpose of this commentary is to comment on Fischer's et al. (2022)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this commentary is to comment on Fischer's et al. (2022)
Design/methodology/approach
This commentary responds to Fischer's et al. (2022) call on envisioning alternate conceptualizations of learning for the digital era. In doing so, the author argues for reconsidering learning in its socio-material condition, situated and made of a web of social and technological relations. In this context, the author takes a relational lens on learning to interrogate taken-for-granted views of (1) personalizing data increasingly used for student learning, (2) emerging educational infrastructures for higher education and (3) the student–teacher relationship mediated by data and algorithms.
Findings
In this commentary, the author suggested unpacking assumptions about learning that get reflected in the design and discourses about socio-technical arrangements and transformations in education. Taking the example of personalized learning, the author has illustrated a relational mode of thinking that leads the author to argue that, renewed definitions of learning must be discussed multidimensionally and, most importantly, situated in the material world that learning is already part of.
Research limitations/implications
Following Fischer et al. (2022, this issue), the author agrees that the focus should be on finding “new ways of organizing learning by exploring opportunities for radically new conceptualizations and practices.” In order to do that it is of utmost importance to problematize the social and material conditions that actively configure learning today and infrastructure tomorrow's learning. Hopefully, these observations will entice others to discuss further the educational transformations at stake in the age of datafication and algorithmic decision-making.
Originality/value
The author argues for reconsidering learning in its socio-material condition, which is situated and made of a web of social and technological relations. In this context, the author argues that any attempt to reconceptualize learning from a transformational perspective in the 21st century, as mentioned by Fischer et al. (2022), needs to interrogate views and assumptions about the socio-technical relationships researchers, practitioners and educators are contributing to via their practices and discourses.
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We have not learned to manage human civilization to live well on and with the earth. Sustainability as currently narrated from the destructive myth of scarcity that underlies…
Abstract
We have not learned to manage human civilization to live well on and with the earth. Sustainability as currently narrated from the destructive myth of scarcity that underlies speculative market capitalism forces humanity out of socio-material spacetime, destroys Bakhtin’s answerability and the Rabelaisian chronotope, and therefore cannot bring about a material solution to our existential crisis. A re-created critical science of management and organization inquiry is needed to bring forth a socio-material era of sustainability. Critical scholarship in subversive and creative form to confront injustice became possible at sc’MOI because of the group’s primal alienation from the dominant discourse in management and organization. An active critical perspective offers guidance for the future of sustainability in pursuing the strategy of the avoided fate, a future that entails disentangling ourselves from a narrative-imposed destiny and of reasserting the power to choose another path to sustain all life on earth.
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Emmanuel Eze, Rob Gleasure and Ciara Heavin
The implementation of mobile health (mHealth) in developing countries seems to be stuck in a pattern of successive pilot studies that struggle for mainstream implementation. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The implementation of mobile health (mHealth) in developing countries seems to be stuck in a pattern of successive pilot studies that struggle for mainstream implementation. This study addresses the research question: what existing health-related structures, properties and practices are presented by rural areas of developing countries that might inhibit the implementation of mHealth initiatives?
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted using a socio-material approach, based on an exploratory case study in West Africa. Interviews and participant observation were used to gather data. A thematic analysis identified important social and material agencies, practices and imbrications which may limit the effectiveness of mHealth apps in the region.
Findings
Findings show that, while urban healthcare is highly structured, best practice-led, rural healthcare relies on peer-based knowledge sharing, and community support. This has implications for the enacted materiality of mobile technologies. While urban actors see mHealth as a tool for automation and the enforcement of responsible healthcare best practice, rural actors see mHealth as a tool for greater interconnectivity and independent, decentralised care.
Research limitations/implications
This study has two significant limitations. First, the study focussed on a region where technology-enabled guideline-driven treatment is the main mHealth concern. Second, consistent with the exploratory nature of this study, the qualitative methodology and the single-case design, the study makes no claim to statistical generalisability.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to adopt a socio-material view that considers existing structures and practices that may influence the widespread adoption and assimilation of a new mHealth app. This helps identify contextual challenges that are limiting the potential of mHealth to improve outcomes in rural areas of developing countries.
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Mari Ekstrand and Geir Karsten Hansen
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between organisational flexibility and individual adaptation in the implementation of integrated workplace concepts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between organisational flexibility and individual adaptation in the implementation of integrated workplace concepts. The focus is on the interconnectedness between different concepts and organisational aspects, as well as on overcoming challenges to fully achieve the intended ends.
Design/methodology/approach
The discussion builds on a triangulated research design including: semi-structured interviews, observation studies and analysis of secondary material in the form of internal evaluation reports and quantitative questionnaire data.
Findings
To fully achieve the intended ends, organisational, cultural and managerial aspects need to be aligned with the interconnected workplace concept. To create alignment, the concept also needs to be supported by a process of continual improvement and organisational learning.
Research limitations/implications
The case study was conducted in one organisation. Additional empirical research is needed to provide more definite conclusions, guidelines and theories.
Practical implications
The findings highlight the importance of applying a socio-material perspective towards implementation and development of integrated workplace concepts. Emphasising change, learning and development rather than standardisation and equality, may, in the end, allow for better concept interconnectedness.
Originality/value
The originality of this study lies in the perspective of studying the implementation of integrated workplace concepts from a socio-material perspective, shedding light on employee and managerial adaptation to different interrelated aspects and measures.
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Mari Ekstrand and Sigrid Damman
This study aims to provide insight into how the implementation and management of an integrated workplace concept (IWC) in multiple office locations are affected by local…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide insight into how the implementation and management of an integrated workplace concept (IWC) in multiple office locations are affected by local management practices and other contextual and cultural aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
A triangulated case study design was applied to evaluate an on-going process to roll out a new branch office concept. The core method was semi-structured interviewing.
Findings
The findings indicate that when an IWC meets different local cultures and realities, the concept and its different aspects may transform in different directions – ultimately affecting concept interconnectedness and strategic value. The findings further suggest that the concept’s socio-material implications vary between locations and actors at different levels. For IWCs to serve strategic aims, they must be continuously aligned and re-aligned with changing organisational strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted in one organisation. Additional empirical research, investigating implementation and management of different concepts in different organisational contexts, is needed to provide more definite conclusions and to develop guidelines for design, implementation and decision-making.
Practical implications
The findings highlight the importance of applying an iterative process approach in implementation and management of IWCs. Such an approach is essential for striking the right balance between standardisation and local adaptation, and for aligning the concept with organisational strategies.
Originality/value
Although much has been written on IWCs, the role of culture and social negotiations in the implementation and operations phase is often neglected.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore how strategic alignment of the corporations’ real estate with the organisational strategy may be used to facilitate change within an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how strategic alignment of the corporations’ real estate with the organisational strategy may be used to facilitate change within an organisation’s collaborative culture. The focus is on the interconnectedness between spatial and behavioural artefacts in the transition process to a new workplace concept.
Design/methodology/approach
The discussion builds on observational studies and semi-structured interviews with 65 employees in a Norwegian organisation.
Findings
The findings indicate that the physical change, when supported by behavioural artefacts as change management actions, paved way for a cultural change towards increased collaboration between employees and across hierarchical levels. However, misalignments between the new workplace concept and existing behavioural artefacts and cultural constructs also restricted the organisation in fully achieving the intended ends.
Research limitations/implications
Applying a socio-material perspective with explicit focus on issues such as management and culture in workplace studies is important to develop better models for strategic use of a corporations’ real estate.
Originality/value
When new workplace concepts are implemented with the aim of effecting organisational change they require support of a focused change management process where both spatial and behavioural artefacts are designed to support employee adaptation to the new concept. By conducting the change as a continuous iterative process, extending beyond the moving process itself, the corporate real estate management (CREM) may add to the success by guiding and steering the organisation in the right direction.
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