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This thesis is about designing information technology to support communicative work. The thesis has a theoretical focus, informed by two empirical studies, but the aim is not to formulate a grand theory, but rather to find new concepts and patterns of thought useful for design. It is based on five papers dealing with the phenomena work, organization, communication and design of information technology. Departure is taken in the view that the role of language is central in the postmodern arena, both as work (i.e. work is communication) and in constituting organizations. While there is research based on this assumption, there is still a great need to find new concepts and new metaphors when designing information technology to support communication and communicative work. The thesis examines, criticizes and elaborates communication models such as speech act theory, conversation analysis and genre theory as a foundation for design In doing this, there is a number of classical issues in industrial work design applicable to communicative work as well, e.g. deskilling versus learning, rule following versus empowerment, local or global control, routinization versus flexibility, workplace democracy, participation in design, etc. These classical questions of work organization and potential effects of information technology on individuals, and organizations are addressed as well.

Abstract- The mission statement embodies certain beliefs about the management culture of the organisation which can be examined and placed within underlying theoretical contexts. This paper examines postmodernism in this respect which, in addition to forming a critique of modernist approaches, posits alternative views about philosophy, organisation and subsequently IS/IT theory. The study applies an ethnographic case research methodology where data was collected from sixteen interviewees employed within a multinational financial services group. In this way, the organisational mission statement was used as a vehicle for analysing the contribution of postmodern approaches to the management of the IS/IT function. The influential Ashridge Model was adopted to map the findings of the study which suggest three propositions for postmodernism in providing i) cultural context, ii) a textual or ‘deconstructive ’ analysis and iii) an ethnographic empathy for further IS/IT research. 1.

It has been argued that we live in a branded world and an experience economy. As a consequence, increasingly organizations even small ones within the business-to-business production industry now seem to move away from a mere focus on engineering (of products, objects) or hardware into the (magical) fields of imagineering and soulware were images, dreams, stories, relations and even identities are traded. Engineering is of course not out of relevance. But it has, owing to such standardizing devices as ISO, SQ, Six Sigma along with a wider diffusion of advanced production technology, been increasingly difficult to make a real difference. Other arenas for making a difference must therefore be sought after. Therefore, in order to be able to offer more subtle values (here called soulware) organizations have to be authored or staged in an increasingly dramatized or “poeticized ” way. We thus argue organizations offering soulware on the imagineering arena must also at the same time increasingly be constructed as soulware. If you are supposed to offer a good story or narration to the market you must act and organize narratively. This demands, as we suggest, another conceptual focus than is the one still dominating the organization discourse. By way of a model and a case study we make an attempt to illustrate parts of what is now taking place in the current business world. The model presented builds upon the power of rhetoric, the centrality of identity and the importance of robust actions. These concepts are then complemented by the role of beliefs (values and core ideology) and imagination. We also argue that the concepts mentioned in the model are relevant not just in a very clear case as demonstrated here, but in all cases of organizing any fad, fashion and tendency notwithstanding. 1

This is a chapter about power in groups and organizations. In the following pages, we suggest that the analysis and exploration of the complexities of organizational power by managers and workers is both necessary and useful. We begin by discussing three of the prominent theoretical perspectives on power from the literatures of social and organizational psychology and critical management studies. We then outline some of the dilemmas and challenges faced by executives, managers and workers around empowerment, disempowerment and organizational democracy. Then, building on the seminal works of Follet, Deutsch, Tjosvold, Clegg, Mumby and others, we offer a framework of organizational power which views power as a multifaceted phenomenon; as thoughts, words and deeds which are both embedded within and determining of a complex network of relations, structures and meaning-making processes at different levels of organizational and community life. Such a framework enables us to understand the relational aspects of power and authority within the context of the macro structures and ideologies that give them meaning. It can also help identify those domains in organizations where the potential for sharing cooperative power is, in fact, not

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