Datafication and algorithmic contingency – how agile organisations deal with technical systems. (7th April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baumgart, Lene; Boos, Pauline; Eckstein, Bernd
• Is Part Of: Work, organisation, labour & globalisation. Volume 17:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 61
• Page End: 73
• Publication Date: 2023-04-07
• Subjects: digitalisation -- datafication -- organisation -- agile -- technical system -- systems theory -- interaction -- algorithmic contingency -- machine learning -- platform; Work -- Periodicals; Labor -- Periodicals; Division of labor -- Periodicals; Industrial relations -- Periodicals; Division of labor; Industrial relations; Labor; Work; Periodicals; 331
• DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.17.1.0061
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-6428

Abstract

Abstract : In the context of persistent images of self-perpetuated technologies, we discuss the interplay of digital technologies and organisational dynamics against the backdrop of systems theory. Building on the case of an international corporation that, during an agile reorganisation, introduced an AI-based personnel management platform, we show how technical systems produce a form of algorithmic contingency that subsequently leads to the emergence of formal and informal interaction systems. Using the concept of datafication, we explain how these interactions are barriers to the self-perpetuation of data-based decision-making, making it possible to take into consideration further decision factors and complementing the output of the platform. The research was carried out within the scope of the research project 'Organisational Implications of Digitalisation: The Development of (Post-)Bureaucratic Organisational Structures in the Context of Digital Transformation' funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).