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Technology at Work: an Investigation of Technology As a Mediator of Organizational Processes in the Human Services and the Implications for Consultancy Practice

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Technology at Work: an Investigation of Technology As a Mediator of Organizational Processes in the Human Services and the Implications for Consultancy Practice TECHNOLOGY AT WORK: AN INVESTIGATION OF TECHNOLOGY AS A MEDIATOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES IN THE HUMAN SERVICES AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSULTANCY PRACTICE NICK WAGGETT A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of East London for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Consultation and the Organisation September 2017 (Amended February 2018) Abstract Increasing technology use in the organization of human services is seen as essential to achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness. However, the promises may not be realised if technology generates processes and structures that are misaligned to the primary task of the service. How and why this occurs, and the role of unconscious and emotional factors, is insufficiently understood. There is limited guidance on how to work with technology in complex services where anxiety, and defences against it, may be a significant factor. Drawing on systems-psychodynamics, actor-network and process theory, this research addresses these gaps through a methodology in which human and technology are seen to operate symmetrically in the ongoing formation of organizations. The research studies child welfare and mental health services as an ‘extreme case’ for technology implementation as the site of significant transformation and powerful human dynamics. Data are gathered via a visual method known as the social photo-matrix in which participants, all practitioners in these services, generate and respond to images on the theme of ‘technology at work’. It is found that technology reduces an organization’s capacity for processing emotion which leaves staff with increased anxiety and fewer ways to modify it. Technology mediates organizational processes to make them fit the models of measurement and efficiency by which it operates, and transforms the reality of services both on the ground and in the minds of the people within them. It is concluded that these processes make staff less available to provide compassionate, empathic care for service users, and generate organizational processes that may not be aligned to the task of providing human services. The implication for leaders and consultants is that it is only possible to realise the promises of technology if it is engaged with thoughtfully, in an environment where anxieties can be managed. Key words: technology, organization consultancy, human services, systems- psychodynamics ii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................. iii Table of Tables ................................................................................................. vi Table of Figures ............................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ vii Dedication........................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1. Introductions and Initial Explorations .......................................... 1 1.1 Summary ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Organizational Challenges .................................................................................. 1 1.3 Locating Myself in the Research ......................................................................... 2 1.4 How the Research Project Developed ................................................................. 4 1.4.1 Influences from theory and practice ............................................................. 4 1.4.2 Developing the research question ................................................................ 6 1.4.3 Initial explorations ........................................................................................ 7 1.5 The Definition and Meaning of Technology ........................................................ 8 1.6 Outline of the Research Design ........................................................................ 11 1.7 Structure of the Thesis ..................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2. Review of Literature ..................................................................... 17 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Technology and the Transformation of Work ..................................................... 19 2.2.1 Emerging concerns ..................................................................................... 19 2.2.2 The future of work ....................................................................................... 21 2.2.3 The ‘Luddite’ question ................................................................................. 22 2.3 The Duality of Technology: Changing Approaches to Technology in Organizations .......................................................................................................... 23 2.3.1 From technological determinism to human relations .................................. 23 2.3.2 From the social construction of technology to constitutive entanglement ... 27 2.4 Human Services as Complex Organizations ..................................................... 29 2.4.1 Organizations as open systems ................................................................. 30 2.4.2 Reductive approaches ............................................................................... 31 2.4.3 Affordances and constraints ...................................................................... 32 2.5 Human Actors in Organizations ......................................................................... 33 2.5.1 The contribution of psychoanalysis to organization studies ......................... 34 2.5.2 Social defences against anxiety .................................................................. 37 2.5.3 Social defences and technology ................................................................. 39 2.6 Technology and Organizational Process ........................................................... 41 2.6.1 Technology and organizational structure, practices and outcomes ............ 41 2.6.2 Technology formalizes work via models ..................................................... 43 2.6.3 Technology abstracts work from its context ................................................ 45 2.6.4 Linking psychoanalysis and process theory: the organization-in-the-mind . 47 2.6.5 Responses to reification: process consultation ......................................... 49 2.7 Technology and the Transformation of Healthcare Services.............................. 51 2.7.1 Information technology in the NHS: current policy initiatives ....................... 51 2.7.2 Learning from past failure ........................................................................... 52 iii 2.7.3 Transforming services ................................................................................ 53 2.7.4 Critique of current developments ................................................................ 55 2.8 Conclusions from the Review of Literature ...................................................... 56 Chapter 3: Research Design: Methodology and Method ............................ 58 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 58 3.2 Research Methodology and Approach .............................................................. 58 3.2.1 Psychoanalytic underpinnings .................................................................... 59 3.2.2 The post-social approach............................................................................ 61 3.2.2.1 A relational ontology ............................................................................... 61 3.2.2.2 Generalized symmetry ............................................................................ 61 3.2.2.3 Material agency ...................................................................................... 62 3.2.2.4 Embodied actors ...................................................................................... 63 3.3 Research Design and Method ........................................................................... 64 3.3.1 The visual mode ......................................................................................... 65 3.3.2 Description of the social photo-matrix ......................................................... 66 3.3.3 Design and conduct of the study ................................................................. 68 3.3.3.1 Choice of research site ............................................................................ 68 3.3.3.2 Setting up and recruiting to the social photo-matrix groups ...................... 69 3.3.3.3 The images used in the groups ................................................................ 70 3.3.3.4 The researcher’s role in the groups ......................................................... 72 3.3.3.5 The researcher’s experience of the groups and the impact on the analysis of data ................................................................................................................. 73 3.3.4 Critique of the research design ..................................................................
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