Competing Interpretations of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work in Organizational Contexts

Abstract

This paper will investigate the competing discourses between empowerment and control that surrounded the use of Lotus Notes in the UK selling division of a pharmaceuticals company called Compound UK. We will suggest that managing and using Notes in Compound UK was itself a rhetorical accomplishment, and that, by focusing on rhetoric, we can illuminate some of the contradictions that surround the management and use of the technology. We will also show how the political and normative context is deeply implicated in the reproduction of these competing interpretations. Finally, we will suggest that the introduction of the discourse of empowerment is implicated in changes in the work practices in Compound UK, at least to a minimal degree.