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Tools re-visited: Wie der materialisierte Aufforderungscharakter von Tools Managementund Beratungsarbeit beeinflusst

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Arbeit – eine Neubestimmung

Part of the book series: Managementforschung ((MGTF,volume 24))

Zusammenfassung

Tools sind im Arbeitsalltag von Managern und Beratern omnipräsent, weshalb die Frage virulent wird, wie sie Management- bzw. Beratungsarbeit beeinflussen. Bisherige Studien fassen Tools meist als neutrale und passive Objekte auf, die Akteure instrumentell einsetzen. Dabei geraten die Wirkungen der Materialität von Tools aus dem Blickfeld, insbesondere jene, die über ihre Funktionalität hinausgehen. Dieser Beitrag entwirft eine neue Perspektive auf den ‚be-dingten‘ Arbeitsalltag, die den Aufforderungscharakter (affordances) von Dingen berücksichtigt und Tools als materialisierte Handlungs- und Erlebnisaufforderungen begreift. Materielles wird somit nicht nur als ermöglichender oder beschränkender Bestandteil sozialer Praktiken betrachtet, sondern die Wirkkraft der Materialität von Tools auf Form und Inhalt von Arbeit wird ersichtlich. Zudem wird gezeigt, dass Studien, die in Tools eine ‚moderne Logik des Organisierens‘ verkörpert sehen, Aspekte ausblenden, die Teil der durch Tools erwirkten (Zweck-)Rationalität sind und dennoch über sie hinausgehen: Tools fordern zu ästhetischen und emotionalen Erlebnissen, zu grenzüberschreitender Zusammenarbeit und zur Verteilung statt Konzentration von Kontrollmöglichkeiten auf.

Abstract

Tools are used intensely within the daily business of managers and consultants, which is why we need to understand how they shape management and consulting work. So far, the majority of studies have portrayed tools as neutral and passive objects that are at the agents’ disposal. This neglects the active part played by the materiality of tools. The notion of affordances is introduced and further advanced in order to explain that tools do not merely enable or constrain managers’ and consultants’ work practices, but rather afford certain experiences and behaviors. The explanatory power of the developed theory is illustrated by revisiting several examples drawn from previous research and reinterpreting them against the background of the affordances-theory. It is shown that previous research concluding that tools embody a modern logic of organizing falls short in explaining aspects of tools that underlie and go beyond their rationality. In particular, the paper demonstrates that tools afford aesthetic and emotional experiences, collaboration across boundaries, and the distribution rather than concentration of control opportunities.

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  1. Helmut Schmidt Universität Hamburg, Holstenhofweg 85, D-22043, Hamburg, Deutschland

    Dr. Christian Gärtner (Professur für Betriebswirtschaftrslehre, insb. Organisationstheorie)

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  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Jörg Sydow

  2. Universität Trier, Trier, Germany

    Dieter Sadowski

  3. Inst. f. Personalmanagement, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität Fakultät f. Geistes- und Sozialwiss., Hamburg, Germany

    Peter Conrad

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Gärtner, C. (2014). Tools re-visited: Wie der materialisierte Aufforderungscharakter von Tools Managementund Beratungsarbeit beeinflusst. In: Sydow, J., Sadowski, D., Conrad, P. (eds) Arbeit – eine Neubestimmung. Managementforschung, vol 24. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-06274-3_5

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