Space and materiality as they impact organizational behavior

There has been increased recognition of the importance of informal interactions in organizations – particularly for innovation, knowledge sharing and organizational culture - and with it, has come interest, among both researchers and practitioners, in understanding how to foster them. We lack a good theoretical understanding of exactly how setting influences informal interactions. Drawing upon a qualitative study of informal interactions observed in photocopier rooms in three organizations, my co-author John Weeks (IMD) and I investigate which are the key characteristics of space (Fayard and Weeks, 2007).
This study led us to explore the role of materiality in organizational studies. Relatively little attention has been paid in organization theory to questions of materiality and the work that has been done in this area has had only a marginal impact on the field. We believe this is because we lack a language for talking about physical artifacts and the material environment; this paper (in progress) aims to offer such a language.
In my different research projects, I aim to understand the relationships between the context (space, technology, organization) and the development and evolution of socio-material practices. E.g. my work on informal interactions looks at how space and technology in a broad sense influence the interaction patterns in the workplace and what are the characteristics a space should have to support informal interactions. Similarly, my study of video-mediated communication shows how communication is influenced by the context – distance and technology mediated – and how people are rearranging their environment and the technology, as well as adapting their behaviors in order to collaborate and communicate smoothly. As part of my work on the ecology of informal interactions, I did a small study of interactions in the train documented at http://bazartropicando.com/thetrain/TCE.html

Discourse analysis and online communication

Gerardine DeSanctis and I analyzed several public online forums on Knowledge Management using Wittgenstein’s notion of language games a powerful analytical lens. Our general interest was to understand how context (relational, organizational and technological) influences communication, learning and shared identity. Several papers emerged from this collaboration (Fayard and DeSanctis, 2009; Fayard and DeSanctis, 2008; Fayard and DeSanctis, 2005; DeSanctis, Fayard and Roach, 2004; Fayard, DeSanctis and Roach, 2003; DeSanctis, Fayard, Roach and Jiang, 2003). Over the last three years, I have investigated the relevance of language games to understand organizational culture in the context of a consulting project on Mars’ organizational culture (as well as the organizational culture of companies Mars acquired, including Royal Canin and Wrigley).
My interest for discourse also inspires my research with Anca Metiu on the role of writing for knowledge sharing and the expression of emotions. Drawing on communication theories, we suggest that shifting the focus of attention from the media to the modality - written versus oral communication, allows us to explain the current debate over the capability of new media to foster the sharing of ideas and the expression of emotions, as well as provides a productive way to reflect on organizational communication. We explore the latter in a book chapter forthcoming in Qualitative Research through a historical analysis of correspondences. Correspondences in distributed organizations and scientific communities also provide insights in how writing supports knowledge sharing. I am planning to explore more in depth the role of writing for organizing and collect data of organizational communication through digital media and see if the dimensions we suggested help understand current phenomena.

Building space with words: revisiting the metaphor of virtual space

Understanding how practice and communication are embodied and influenced by the material context relates to my interest for distance collaboration, mediated communication and online communities as it reveals what might be lost in these contexts where space is not shared, and materiality apparently limited. My collaboration with Aileen Wilson, an artist and Art Education faculty at Pratt Institute led me to revisit these questions through an interactive multimedia installation (March 2009, Wunsh Building, NYU-Poly, NY) and a collaborative blog. It has provided me interesting insights on multidisciplinary collaboration and creativity that I am planning to explore more in the future.
This collaboration had led me to explore issues on multidisciplinary collaboration and what organizational scholars and social scientists can learn from art practice.