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Object-Control: A Study of Technologically Dense Knowledge Work
Lund University, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5320-6155
2012 (English)In: Organization Studies, ISSN 0170-8406, E-ISSN 1741-3044, Vol. 33, no 8, p. 1071-1090Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

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.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE Publications , 2012. Vol. 33, no 8, p. 1071-1090
Keywords [en]
interpellation, knowledge work, object-control, objects, organizational control
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-80269DOI: 10.1177/0170840612453527ISI: 000307847100004Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84865242345OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-80269DiVA, id: diva2:2010739
Available from: 2025-11-03 Created: 2025-11-03 Last updated: 2025-11-03Bibliographically approved

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Rennstam, Jens

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