Organizations in reflexive modernity

Dr James (Jim) Slevinon organizations and social media

Lecture 4 of 7

Reading for this week• Baehr, C. and Alex-Brown, K. (2010) Assessing the value of corporate blogs: A social

capital perspective. IEEE Transactions on professional communication, 53-4 December.

• Bourdieu, P. (1986) The forms of capital in: Richardson, J. (Ed.) Handbook of theory and

research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood.

• Brzozowski, M.J. (2009) WaterCooler: Exploring an organization through enterprise social

media. GROUP’09, May 10–13, 2009, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA.

• Castells, M. (1996) 3 - The network enterprise in: The information age. Vol. 1 The rise of

the network society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers,151-172.

• Derham, R. et al. (2011) Creating value: an SME and social media. PACIS 2011

Proceedings. Paper 53.

• Emirbayer, M. and Johnson, V. (2008) Bourdieu and organizational analysis. Theory and

Society 37:1-44.

• Giddens, A. (1987) A theory of social organization in: Social theory and modern sociology.

Cambridge: Polity Press, 153-165.

• Mejtoft, T. (2011) The internet of things and the co-creation of value. 2011 IEEE

International conferences on internet of things, and cyber, physical and social computing.

Understanding social media and their involvement in the reorganization of information and social relationships across organizational time and space demands:

an interactional approach to organizations.

We need to define organizations in a way that will allow us to grasp how social media impact on them

In establishing such an approach, I shall borrow and adapt ideas from Giddens, Castells, Harvey, Thompson, Bourdieu, and Porter:

Four fundamental observations relating to modern organizational environments

1. Organizations are deeply involved in all aspects of our lives.

2. Organizations exist by virtue of the informed practices and active involvement of all their participants.

3. Organizational culture and communication are central to what organizations are.

4. The notion of ´active trust´ is a key feature in rapidly changing organizational cultures and the crises in traditional institutional trust.

Giddens: Organizations are social systems that bind time and space

street party lecture baker’s shop

café social movement

political party

multinational

media

An account of the impact of the social media on modern organizations must be based on a theory of organization

According to Giddens modern organizational forms have three distinctive features:

• The prominence of surveillance.

• The centrality of specifically designed locales.

• The ordering of activities through time-space organizing devices.

Let’s look at each of these in turn...

Modern organization involves an intensification of information gathering

There are two key aspects of organizational surveillance:

1Accumulation of information

2Direct supervision of activities

Modern organizations are reflexively made

New forms of surveillance are emerging in late modernity

Electronic accumulation of information

Direct supervision at a distance

Modern organization is associated with specifically designed spaces

Hotel

Prison

Space is not a vacuum. It’s integral to what organizations are

New spatial forms are emerging in late modernity

D.E. Shaw & Company, New York Barcelona Airport

Castells: Architectural nudity & Space of flows

Mobile devices and wifi and the colonization of time-space

David Harvey“As spatial barriers diminish so we become much more sensitized to what the world’s spaces contain.”The Condition of Post Modernity, 1990

Net media do not spell the end of time-space

Specifically designed spaces are refashioned in processes of disembedding and reembedding

Modern organization cannot exist without time-space organizing devices

New forms of time-space organizing devices are emerging in late modernity

The distinctive characteristics of modern organization have changed over time

Simple modernity Reflexive modernity

Surveillance

Designedspaces

Time-spaceorganizingdevices

Low reflexivity

Actuarial control over conduct

Intensified reflexivity

Decentralization of authority

Members are intelligent agents

Self-contained organizational spaceArchitectural concentration of power

Opening up of organizational spaceSnapping together of distant places

Fixed linear blueprintsPersonal and organizational schedules coincideLow on trust and autonomy

Flexible blueprintsPersonal and organizational schedules divergeHigh on trust and autonomy

The rise of thenetwork enterprise

The rise of net media

Castells argues that the network enterprise is the new organizational logic of the network society

The network enterprise contrasts with the hierarchical, centralized, isolated, territorially defined corporation with its rigid and standardized production, supply and distribution chain.

It involves:

• Decentralized networking in flattened horizontal networks.

• Multilocational, segmented production and distribution chains

• Strategic alliances and project driven ventures between firms.

• Networks beteen firms and customers/customers.

The relationship between the new organizational form and communication technologies is a reciprocal one.

We need to introduce some more concepts in order to relate the organizational forms of late modernity to the interactional impact of social media

These make use of Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of a field

In ‘Merchants of Culture’ (2010), John Thompson argues that the notion of field forces us to look beyond specific organizations and firms

An organizational field is a structured interactional space:

An organizational field consists of:

individuals and organizations

power and resources (capital)

a variety of practices

and specific forms of:

communication

rewards

collaboration

competition

An interactional approach to

organizations

Allows for the interarticulation of organizations and social media

In binding time-space, organizations and individuals are embedded in and dependent on what Bourdieu refers to as ‘capital’

economic capital

human capital

social capital

intellectual capital

symbolic capital

Example of key resources involved in publishing (Thompson

2010)

financial resources

knowldege, skills and expertise

networks of contacts and relationships

intellectual property, rights and contracts

prestige, status and reputation

social media development and use is redistributing social position takings and

power in organizational fields

Resources that can be generated, stored, and drawn on to

make a difference

Organizational deliverables involve actions and interactions that add value in the process

Traditional value chain as described by Michael Porter

(1985)

too linear and rigid

Networks of organizational interaction are

both supply and value networks

Nodes Connections

Flows

+

+

+

contingent and flexible

Social media use alters the roles and functions that are

performed

Social media use adds value where it allows for an energized engagement with risk

New forms of dialogue

Empowerment

Solidarity and strategic alliances

Cosmopolitan attitudes

Promote active trust & self-actualization in

Risk Society (life-politics)

Study questions

• Using Giddens’ theory of social organization, what impact will the development and

use of social media have on surveillance, time-space organizing devices, and

specifically designed locales?

• Do time and space still matter in the age of social media?

• Using the readings, give examples of how social media use might impact on an

organization’s economic, human, social, intellectual and symbolic capital?

• Analyse and reflect on a particular organizational use of social media by drawing

on: the theory of reflexive modernization, an interactional approach to the social

media, the notion of organizational field, and value networks.

Organizations in reflexive modernity

Dr James (Jim) Slevinon organizations and social media

Lecture 4 of 7