Constructing identity and participation during technological change
- 1 September 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Human Relations
- Vol. 58 (9), 1141-1166
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726705058941
Abstract
The organizational practice of user participation in IT system development remains problematic. Two of the major issues identified are establishing the most effective strategy and selecting the most appropriate user representatives. Opinions on these issues vary according to theoretical perspective and empirical evidence does not provide definitive solutions. Taking a social constructionist perspective, this longitudinal case study of a contested technological change process allowed the exploration of organizational talk about user participation over time. In particular, we focus on differing and changing constructions of ‘the user’ and ‘effective participation’. We argue that claims about who represented an appropriate user and what was an appropriate participative strategy varied across time and fulfilled particular political functions. We conclude that issues identified as problems in the literature on user participation may rather be manifestations of the political and socially constructed nature of organizations.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Exploring Resistance from a Rhetorical PerspectiveOrganization Studies, 2005
- Participation: 'bounded freedom' or hidden constraints on user involvementNew Technology, Work and Employment, 2003
- Rhetoric and Employment RelationsBritish Journal of Industrial Relations, 2001
- Making Newsmakers: Conversational Identity at WorkOrganization Studies, 2001
- On "Technomethodology": Foundational Relationships Between Ethnomethodology and System DesignHuman–Computer Interaction, 1998
- The Work of IT System Developers in Context: An Organizational Case StudyHuman–Computer Interaction, 1998
- Effects of User Participation in Systems Development: A Longitudinal Field ExperimentMIS Quarterly, 1997
- Determinants of user participation: A Finnish surveyBehaviour & Information Technology, 1997
- Creating Conditions for Participation: Conflicts and Resources in Systems DevelopmentHuman–Computer Interaction, 1996
- A retrospective look at PD projectsCommunications of the ACM, 1993