We live in a technologically advanced era with a recent and marked dependence on digital technologies while also facing increasingly frequent extreme and global crises. Crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, are significantly impacting our societies, organizations and individuals and dramatically shifting the use of, and dependence on, digital technology. The way digital technology is used to cope with crises is novel and not well understood theoretically.
The aim of the workshop to (a) showcase research published in the recent Information and Organization RICK special issue, which brings together some of the latest scholarship of organizational studies (OS) and information systems (IS); and (b) to initiate constructive and critical debate on the varied and innovative uses of digital technologies in times of crisis and beyond.
Format
The workshop will kick-off with a short presentation of the papers of the special issue, followed by an interactive workshop chaired by the organizers and and authors of SI papers.
• Crisis as opportunity, disruption and exposure: Exploring emergent responses to crisis through digital technology. Manos Gkeredakis, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf NYU, Michael Barrett
• Institutional Logics and Technology Affordances in Times of Crisis: Telemedicine as Digital ‘PPE’. Eivor Oborn, Nirit Pilosof, Bob Hinings, Eyal Kimlichman
• Liminal innovation in practice: Understanding the reconfiguration of digital work in crisis. Wanda J. Orlikowski, Susan V. Scott
• Experimenting during the shift to virtual team work: Learnings from how teams adapted their activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ashley Whillans, Leslie Perlow, Aurora Turek
• On the making of crystal balls: Five lessons about simulation modeling and the organization of work. Paul M. Leonardi, DaJung Woo, William C. Barley
• Unto the breach: What the COVID-19 pandemic exposes about digitalization. Samer Faraj, Wadih Renno, Anand Bhardwaj
• Inequality of what? An intersectional approach to digital inequality under Covid-19. Yingqin Zheng, Geoff Walsham
We will continue with breakout room discussions on the following topics:
Parallel Session 1: Theorizing Digital Innovation as a Consequence of Crisis
Parallel Session 2: Methodological Issues in Studying Digital Innovation
Parallel Session 3: Widening our Contributions on Digital Innovation
We will cover debriefing from the round table discussions and a discussion on what further steps we can take to advance research in this area. You need to register through the link.