Back from Montreal

A set of interesting discussions around strategy as practice, the socio-material and digital, and new forms of work at the Academy of Management conference. Particular highlights were the workshop on 'strategy as practice' at HEC before the main conference, and a range of presentations by researchers who are starting to theorise about new forms of work - for example around issues of building trust in 'remote management'; and of projects with different levels of 'membership intensity.' Steve Barley's keynote on 'IT in the Wild' provoked thought about the changing forms of labour relations involved....

The paper that I discussed at the Academy is now published as: Whyte, J. and Lobo, S. (2010) Coordination and control in project-based work: digital objects and infrastructures for delivery, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 28, Issue 6, 557-567.

Progressive Data and Value in Design

It may be summer, but there is plenty of activity in the Design Innovation Research Centre. We are in the field conducting research on a number of projects, to answer some questions around the use of integrated sofware solutions in large building and infrastructure projects.

How is data developed and managed through the design process? How does is it handed over and how does it add value to clients? These are questions that we are investigating this summer in work with the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Information Systems Panel. The findings will be discussed at an event in their London Headquarters in December. To register an interest email designinnovation@reading.ac.uk

I am off to Montreal to the Academy of Management, where I will be discussing the findings of some of our research in this area, comparing and contrasting practices on three large infrastructure projects.

Organizations and Society - Social Movements and Routines

A very interesting workshop in HEC, near Paris, bringing together researchers interested in routines with those interested in social movements, got me thinking about process theories and how they are developed and articulated. The workshop brought together a set of American academics, with European discussants, exposing PhD students to ideas across the Atlantic. A very nice workshop to stimulate thought ahead of the main organization studies conference - European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS).

Understanding Management

A recent event, hosted by the Advanced Institute of Management  brought a new book to my attention. In the book 'Reinventing Management' Julian Birkenshaw thinks through what management is, and why it needs to be revisited and rethought to make organizations better places to work. In the project-based environments I study the challenges of management are particularly acute, as groupings are temporary and changing, and the pressures of deadlines can become intense. I have also recently been interested to read an older book, set in a different industry, and from a sociological perspective - Kunda's classic text on 'Engineering Culture' - whiel this book is now 25 years old, the quality of the writing make its stories from inside a high-tech industry instantly recognisable, insightful and entertaining. As a researcher, about to set-out into the field, I have found this valuable reading.