Paper Type

Complete

Abstract

The use of Information technology (IT) in organizations is intricately bound up with time. An assemblage of IT artifacts is now widely deployed in organizations to support and coordinate work. Yet, little is known about how the use of multiple IT artifacts affects the time in organizational work. This study addresses this gap. Specifically, a case study was conducted on three groups of IT professionals to examine how an array of IT artifacts were woven into the daily temporal fabric of their work. This study found that the use of multiple IT artifacts added temporal ambiguity and generated temporal disorder to tasks. The increased temporal fragmentation of tasks was primarily managed by constantly re-prioritizing of tasks, more frequently scheduling and synchronizing work activities. This study enriches the understanding of the temporal dynamics of IT mediated work and suggests ways to better manage IT induced temporal change in the workplace.

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Aug 10th, 12:00 AM

Experience of Time in IT-Mediated Organizational Work

The use of Information technology (IT) in organizations is intricately bound up with time. An assemblage of IT artifacts is now widely deployed in organizations to support and coordinate work. Yet, little is known about how the use of multiple IT artifacts affects the time in organizational work. This study addresses this gap. Specifically, a case study was conducted on three groups of IT professionals to examine how an array of IT artifacts were woven into the daily temporal fabric of their work. This study found that the use of multiple IT artifacts added temporal ambiguity and generated temporal disorder to tasks. The increased temporal fragmentation of tasks was primarily managed by constantly re-prioritizing of tasks, more frequently scheduling and synchronizing work activities. This study enriches the understanding of the temporal dynamics of IT mediated work and suggests ways to better manage IT induced temporal change in the workplace.

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