DIGMA – Digitalized management

That digitalization, i.e. the development and implementation of increasingly smart, fast and cheap digital technologies, change both organizational processes as well as human work practices is obvious. The technology comes with new possibilities, for example when it comes to coordinating work, but also with challenges, for example regarding the increased possibilities of surveilling employees in real time which raises questions related to power and ethics. But how do these changes come about? What role does technology play and what role does the social dynamics play?

This research program aims at developing an in-depth understanding of this. We work with sociomaterial theory which means that we don’t draw a firm line between social and technical processes. Instead we see technology as something that exists and emerges by being/becoming embedded in different organizational processes where humans and non-humans are interwoven.

The research program consists of four different sub-projects that focuses on various aspects of digitalization: projectification, leadership, flexibilization and the experience of technology. In the program, led by professor Anette Hallin (Åbo Akademi University/Mälardalen University), a number of researchers from Sweden and the UK collaborate on empirical studies involving various digital technologies in public and private organizations. The research methods are often ethnographically inspired, but also include interviews, discourse analysis and various participative approaches.

Participants: Ass Prof Lucia Crevani, Dr Eva Lindell, Dr Caroline Ingvarsson, Dr INti Lammi, Ms Anna Uhlin and Mr Christoffer Andersson Mälardalen University, Sweden and Prof Chris Ivory and Dr Irina Popova Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

Keywords: digitalization, sociomateriality, technology, projects, leadership, flexibilization