Events

  Past events: 

 "Design and organizational ethnography: connection and mutual inspiration" 

(Photo credit: Monash University) 

Presenter: Shanti Sumartojo

Department of Design, Monash University, Melbourne Australia 

Time: October 27, 2023, from 10.00-12.00 AM
Location: Kilen 4th floor, K.4.74.Organized by People and Organizing, Department of Organization

Introduction
The PnO group is happy to be visited by Shanti Sumartojo, associate professor at the Department of Design, Monash University, for a session on ethnography. Building on a workshop approach, we will talk about what characterizes design ethnography, sharing and connecting to experiences from the participants in conducting ethnography in its various forms. We invite all IOA colleagues with an interest in ethnographic methods to participate. Biography
Shanti Sumartojo investigates how people experience design and technology in their surroundings, particularly in shared, public spaces and events. Her work has been featured in journals such as Big Data and Society, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Emotion, Space and Society, and Visual Communication, and she is the author or co-author of six books, including “Design Ethnography: Research, Responsibilities, and Futures” (2022). Her research is conducted through inventive digital, visual, sensory and design ethnographic methodologies. With colleagues, she has advanced new methodological approaches and applied these widely.

New feminist questions on climate change x technology?   

Presenter: Professor Yvonne Benschop

Institute for Management Research at Radboud University, the Netherlands. 

Time: March 7, 2023 from 12.00-13.30 PM

Venue: Kilen, K.1.53

Professor Benschop will present ongoing work under the title “New feminist questions on climate change x technology?”, after which we will have a discussion. The session is hosted by the PnO group, who welcomes all interested to join (no registration necessary). 

Introduction:Climate change and technology (broadly defined, including ICT, digitalization and artificial intelligence) are arguably amongst the most pressing Grand Challenges for organizations and society today, as they reconfigure the division of labor and potentially make for dramatic shifts in how work is done and who gets to do it. The connection of these challenges with questions of gender, ethnicity and class inequalities is not self-evident. In my article Grand Challenges, feminist answers (2021, Organization Theory), I have discussed feminist theories and concepts on both climate change and technology. This introduced me to different strands of ecofeminism and technofeminism that articulate a systematic critique of dominant patriarchal and capitalist forms of organizing, and offer alternative ways of knowing. The combinations of climate change with feminist thinking and technological innovation with feminist thinking was very interesting, but I would like to use my sabbatical to take it one step further and explore what questions emerge at the crossroads of all three. My idea is to explore the possibility of a new, small scale research project at the crossroads of climate change, technology, and DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) in organizations. For instance, technofeminist scholarship points out that the underrepresentation of women in technical design profoundly affects how the world is made; that there is a politics of gender trouble in technology.

Where do questions of gender in intersection with other social categories come in in the design of climate technologies? Are there organizations/forms of organizing pushing for climate technology to undo inequalities and become emancipatory technology and what can be learned from these efforts? Does DEI work play a role in these organizations? From ecofeminism we learned that climate change cannot be reduced to a rational techscience innovation challenge, but needs to be seen as an affective, moral and political project redefining crucial relations between organizations and the environment, humans and nature. How does DEI work come into play in this redefinition? As you can see, this is still very early stages, and I would like to engage in conversation with engaged critical scholars about how we can do research on these themes that can make a difference. I appreciate all input, suggestions for further readings, and possibilities for collaboration. 

IOA Research Forum #1 2023

Presentation of People and Organizing: Wellbeing in Organizations

Presenters:
Associate Professor Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen/
Assistant Professor Christian Dyrlund Wåhlin-Jacobsen

Associate Professors Camilla Sløk & Johan Simonsen Abildgaard

Moderator: Professor mso Anne Reff Pedersen

Time: 21 February 2023 from 12.00-13.30 PM
Location: CBS Kilen ground floor, Ks 48

PnO research forum seminar: Wellbeing at work?
In the present labor market, we see clear signs that wellbeing is both a sought-after commodity and something that is under pressure. We see workers and leaders resigning or going on sick-leave due to stressful working conditions. Perhaps we also know from our own experience that work and wellbeing are related… but how? Why? And what can we as researchers do about it? In this research forum event, three presentations will cover relevant research from the People and Organizing group:

Emotional processes of interactional troubles in street-level exchanges
Naima Mikkelsen and Christian Dyrlund Wåhlin-Jacobsen
Our presentation focuses on the psychological aspects of street-level work, specifically how police operators handle emergency calls made by citizens. We perform a detailed analysis of one illustratory conflictual call for emergency assistance to understand the mutually reinforcing patterns of actors’ emotional expression and reactions. We show how caller and call-taker’s subtle emotion management results in misalignment and dispute, which ends up contaminating the call, causing the street-level exchange to go ‘wrong’.

Under pressure? Attributional guilt in leadership
Camilla Sløk
Leaders are up for examination when organization’s fail. It might be scandals like Region Midtjylland in which at least 194 wrongly had their legs amputated (sic!) Or decisions in work life that affects employees’ wellbeing, e.g., causing them to fall ill with stress. But how do leaders perceive their responsibility and guilt in their daily practice? The presentation gives insights to my research for the past 10 years of leaders’ perception of these matters. Apparently, leaders do not see the connection between their own decisions and negative effects, while positive effects usually are considered to the benefit of a great leader.

Organizational interventions
Johan Simonsen Abildgaard
This presentation provides illustrative examples of how intervention projects can provide insight into how we can study organizational initiatives to improve wellbeing.