The Communicative Constitution of Organizations in an Era of Re-materialization : A Case Study of Three Organizations

• This chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation from the perspective of three organizations based on continuous interview and observation data gathered between late 2018 and the end of 2020. The purpose of such a discussion is to understand the importance of spatial co-existence and the significance of spatiality for meaningful organizational interaction. In other words—what happens to organizational members and the constitution, preservation and development of organizations, when the activity of “work” becomes detached from space? Of course, space or location matters more for some than others. For a telemarketer, space might be entirely insignificant, while for the priest and church-goer or the actor and theater-goer, the act of “going” somewhere to experience something is as important as what happens at the location, making the church and stage places that in themselves carry significance. This importance is represented in how churches and theater buildings often are majestic architectural achievements similar to other institutions of cultural, societal or financial importance that are housed in impressive locations such as banks, governments, court houses and universities.To discuss these questions, we draw on theories and perspectives of the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) (e.g., Brummans et. al., 2014; Cooren, 2006; Putnam & Nicotera, 2009; Schoeneborn et al., 2018; Taylor & Van Every, 2000), and present a Sweden-based multisite case study (Ekström et al., 2021) of digital transformation consisting of three organizations whose common trait is that their core activities have historically speaking been dependent on either a physical location, physical spaces or face-to-face meetings. The three organizations in question are a major European financial institute, a church organization and a city theater—all institutions of traditional architectural and societal importance. As our relationship with these organizations deepened over the course of the pandemic, it allowed us as researchers to glimpse how digitalization has affected each one over time, and how each organization’s perspective of the challenges and opportunities of digitalization shifted and evolved before and throughout the pandemic.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Communication Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Mänsklig interaktion med IKT (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Human Aspects of ICT (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Spatiality

Digital Transformation

Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO)

Digitalization

Materiality

Space

Place

Organizations

Organizing

Participation

Hierarchy

Authority

Performativity

Relationality

Narrative

Bank

Theater

Church

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Media and Communication Studies

Social and Economic Geography

Kulturgeografi

Information Systems

Informationssystem

Människa-dator interaktion

Human-Computer Interaction

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)