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Teknologier i arbejdslivet og teorier herom

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Abstracts

Well-being in the wellness industry:

Immaterial work as a material practice Annegrete Juul Nielsen & Sara Malou

Strandvad

T

raditionally, studies of work practices within Science and Technology Stud- ies focus on uses of technological devices.

By doing so, studies have shown how hu- man actions are formed and transformed by the use of technology. In this paper we transfer inspiration from STS and ANT to a type of work which is characterized by its non-technological character, namely im- material work, exemplified by service work in the wellness industry. Based on observa- tions from Swedish hotel spas made by the ethnologist Tom O’Dell, we examine the production of immaterial goods such as wellness and serenity. Often, service work is described as emotion work that takes place in face-to-face interactions. By means of ANT we challenge this description, em- phasizing the roles that various materials and actors play in producing experiences of wellness. For example towels, oil, and wa- ter seem crucial in constituting spa prod- ucts. Moreover, we highlight the work that customers carry out to enable the produc- tion of their own well-being. Inspired by the French ANT-sociologists Antoine Hen- nion and Emilie Gomart we suggest that spa guests use spa products to make these products influence them. In other words, attachments to objects are made to let these

objects become active. Thus, we conclude that the work of producing spa experiences consists in the emotion work that service workers carry out, together with the materi- als that they employ and the preparations that customers make.

A new ’Landscape of Communication’ - New Technologies in Use in the Office Louise Skyggebjerg

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ver the last decades a number of new technologies have been introduced in offices in the western world, ranging from the electric typewriter to e-mails and ad- vanced photocopiers. This article presents a study of the changes in office technolo- gies based on interviews with Danes who have worked in an office for more than 20 years. The most important changes seem to be connected to technologies, which have made it easier to produce, reproduce and change texts resulting in an increasing ‘tex- tualization’ of both the formal and infor- mal communication in organizations. Like the first mechanization of the office, what maybe can be termed the second techno- logical revolution in the office ranging from the 1960s until today, made the flow of communication faster and cheaper.

The study highlights the importance of mundane artefacts like correctable ribbon, which in studies of technological change at workplaces have been forgotten in the sha-

dow of the personal computer, the mobile phone, the Internet and other more visible information and communication techno- logies. More precisely the most important changes seem to be connected to techno- logies which have made it easier to correct texts, not least the IBM Selectric typewriter with correctable ribbon, which were menti- oned surprisingly many times in the inter- views. Another important change has been e-mail. The intensive use of this technology has made a lot of informal communication in organisations increasingly formalized.

The technological changes have among other things been important for a new di- stribution of the work in the office, where the managers and specialists of today in contrast to the office some decades ago write their texts themselves. The secretaries are no longer a kind of servants the same way they were, but have more independent tasks of their own.

Theoretically the study is inspired by the works of Bruno Latour and includes classic actor-network concepts like obligatory pas- sage point and inscription device.

Proximity at a distance? Mapping out heterogeneous associations between technology, counselling and ’intimate’

communication

Tine Kim Vesterbøg & Anne Kirkegaard

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nderstanding what it means to be in- timate with another person requires an evaluation of the concepts of connect- edness and proximity, as well as an insight into the emotional qualities we ascribe to different ways of communicating. Living in a digital era where ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and humans are interrelated in work life, it becomes rel- evant to discuss how new technologies de- velop and alter existing work life practices.

The aim of this article is to gain a deeper insight into the dynamics, conditions and issues related to work practices in online counselling, and how the notion of prox- imity can be associated with this specific way of communicating.

The article is centred on a minor inter- view-based case study conducted in 2010 among online counsellors at the suicide preventive organisation ’Livslinien’, ap- proaching the question: What happens to communication when it abandons bodily presence and simultaneity?

We explore this question in the article from the perspective of Actor Network The- ory (ANT), as it allow us to challenge and reconceptualise our everyday life under- standing of what seems like neutral objects, namely technologies, and to emphasise ways in which they perform and take part in constructing practices. Approaching the actor-network activity in an online coun- selling session, it becomes evident that it entails more than just a counsellor and a user. Through our analysis, we locate hete- rogeneous actors in a multiple hybrid net- work, mixed up in time and space. As the case study takes point of departure in expe- riences of the counsellors, this article, con- trary to many other ANT-analyses, revolves around immaterial, emotional and concep- tual actors, rather than the connectedness between (strictly) physical ‘things’. This reveals a normative idealisation of bodily interaction that seems to construct (experi- enced) insufficiencies in practices of online counselling.

The article argues that counselling must be understood as heterogeneous situated practices that unfold in a variety of ways. It emphasises that proximity reveals itself as a fluid conception, taking place in on-line counselling despite of, and as an effect of, distance and technology.

Contributions to a symmetrical and sociomaterial perspective on work environment

Johan Simonsen Abildgaard, Niels Christian Mossfeldt Nickelsen & Mads Bendixen

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ur paper presents a STS and actor- network theory based alternative per- spective on the concept of psychosocial work environment. We define this as socio- material (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008) work environment and thus emphasize the im- portance of material, technological and or- ganizational factors for psychological well- being. Furthermore the ANT perspective is discussed with elements from post-ANT (Law & Moser, 1999) to address the problem of including aspects of subjectivity in ANT research. To contrast our socio-material po- sition we present the perspectives that have influenced the Danish tradition of psycho- social work environment. These include the Socio-technical School (Trist & Bam- forth, 1951), the physiological stress theo- ries (Selye, 1950), the cognitive appraisal theories (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), and finally the model based approaches (espe- cially the demand/control model (Karasek, 1979)). In the paper we illustrate, using ex- amples from our research, how novel and useful aspects of work are illuminated by an ANT perspective on work environment.

Further, we discuss the implications for conducting workplace risk assessment and carrying out work environment and occu- pational health interventions. These impli- cations revolve around the ANT stance that methods of assessment and intervention are always involved in the construction of reality, and thus are not neutral. We finally emphasize the need for further theoriza- tion of the aspect of normativity in work environment studies as well as the need for matters of subjectivity to be included in the ANT tradition.

Acts, activity, worknet. Digital construction, Denmark 2007-09 Jesper Hundebøl

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he original title, ’Virke i værknet’, is an almost poetic play words and there- fore, difficult to translate. The Danish word

’virke’ refers to whether or not something or somebody works (verb) as well as to an ac- tivity (noun) in itself. The notion ’worknet’

is another piece of tricky language, how- ever, a direct reference to Bruno Latour: As he says, worknet, rather than network, fore- grounds the work that goes into construct- ing networks. Clarifying the title, however, also points to the substance, in that it is an exploration of the effects of heterogeneous actors’ acts. The activity, then, is digital con- struction, however, it is the co-emergence of users (inter alia architects, engineers), tools (applications, hardware), intelligent objects (virtual building blocks) and the 3D build- ing information models (the architecture to become) that is explored and discussed.

Based on studies of relations of work, em- pirical situations characterized by resist- ance to tools and applications, collapse of the building information model and high complexity related to e.g. so-called intelli- gent objects are presented to discuss effects of digitalization. In short, I ask: do human actors undertake the constraining logics of the non-human actors, the technology, to make digital construction look efficient or at least, stabilize the network. The number of work-arounds called for indicated this.

Are the users facing a ’notion of lack’, in that models and virtual objects remain for- ever incomplete, continuously calling for attention. Information modelling requires technical perfection – at times the capac- ity of programming seems to trump that of designing buildings, the subtle outperforms the visual, you can’t fudge.

Engineering Practice and normativities in STS research

Anders Buch

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he article takes its point of departure in empirical study of an engineering prac- tice in an engineering consultancy com- pany. It reflects on the status of the study in relation to the ambition of providing empirical input for reform initiatives in en- gineering education. The study is concep-

tualized as an ethnography and the inter- pretation of the empirical material revolves around the model of ‘situational analysis’

developed in Science and Technology Stud- ies (STS). The article reflects on fundamen- tal STS types of arguments and discusses the inherent normativities in the reasoning. It considers the status of the STS-analysis vis a vis other interpretations of the challenges facing engineering and engineering educa- tion today.

CALL FOR PAPERS

SYGEFRAVÆR: DANMARK HAR NORDENS LAVESTE SYGEFRAVÆR – HVORFOR?

Temanummer – Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv, nr. 2, 2013

Ses der generelt på sundhedstilstanden i den danske befolkning gælder, at vi ryger mere, drikker mere, er hårdere ramt af alvorlige sygdomme som kræft og samtidig har vi lavere levealder end de lande, vi normalt sammenligner os med. Alligevel er DK det land i Norden, der har det laveste sygefravær på arbejdsmarkedet ifølge Danmark Statistik. Spørgsmålet er så hvorfor?

Er det fordi vi i Danmark er særligt gode til at tage os af de syge, og ser det som et konkurrenceparameter, at man forebygger via tiltag på arbejdsmiljøsiden? Er de danske politikker på området præget af tillid og fleksi- ble tilbud, der inkluderer mere end de ekskluderer?

Er det fordi selve registreringen er forskellig i de nordiske lande, alt efter hvor lang tids sygedagpengeperio- den er fastlagt til? Har DK sammenlignes med andre nordiske lande et mindre rummeligt arbejdsmarked, der ikke i så høj grad inkludere sårbare grupper?

En anden dimension er, om økonomiske krise har påvirket forskelligt i de nordiske lande, og betydet, at danske arbejdstagere er mere angste for at miste deres arbejde end i de andre lande? I det hele taget er det et interessant spørgsmål om, og hvordan den økonomiske krise spiller ind på sygefraværspolitikker, initiativer, og hvad det får af betydninger for den enkelte arbejdstager og sygemeldte. I den sammenhæng er det også relevant at spørge sig selv om lavere sikkerhed i ansættelsen (flexicurity) spiller ind på sygefraværs problematik- ken og i givet fald, hvordan?

En sidste dimension er hele holdningsaspektet. Sat på spidsen: Er den danske arbejdsstyrke simpel hen mere pligtopfyldende? I den forbindelse hvordan takles sygenærvær (at man møder syg op på jobbet), og hvordan påvirker det hele sygefraværsdebatten?

Generelt er der en lang række åbne spørgsmål, når det gælder problematikken om sygefravær:

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t )WPSTUPSFOBOEFMBGTZHFGSBWSFUTLZMEFTTUSFTTPHBOESFQTZLJTLFQSPCMFNFSPHBETLJMMFSEFOOFHSVQQFTJH fra andre sygemeldte?

Dette temanummer af Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv ønsker at få belyst forskellige sider omkring sygefraværs problema- tikken både fra en problemidentificerende og løsningsorienteret vinkel. Hvis du føler dig inspireret til at formidle din forskning eller dine praktiske erfaringer til tidsskriftets målgruppe ser vi meget gerne et abstract fra dig på 1-2 sider. Abstractet skal sendes til temaredaktionen senest 24. oktober. Deadline for artikler er 11. januar 2013.

Med venlig hilsen

Pernille Tanggaard Andersen (ptandersen@health.sdu.dk) & Trine P. Larsen (tpl@faos.dk)