Wanda J. Orlikowski is a US-based
organizational theorist
Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organiz ...
and Information Systems researcher, and the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Information Technologies and Organization Studies at the
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
.
Education
Orlikowski received her from the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...
in 1977, an from the same university in 1982, and an and from the
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
Stern School of Business
The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...
in 1989.
Career and research
She has served as a visiting Centennial Professor of Information Systems at the
, and a visiting professor at the Judge Business School at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. She is currently the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Information Technologies and Organization Studies at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Orlikowski has served as a senior editor for ''
Organization Science'', and currently serves on the editorial boards of ''Information and Organization'' and ''
Organization Science''.
She is a member of the Academy of Management, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Management Science, the Society of Information Management, and the Society for Organizational Learning.
Awards and honors
Orlikowski was awarded the 2015 Distinguished Scholar Award by the Organizational Communication and Information Systems (OCIS) Division of the Academy of Management. In 2015, she won the Lasting Impact Award from the conference
for her paper ''Learning from Notes: Organizational issues in groupware implementation''.
Orlikowski was named a Fellow of Academy of Management in 2019. She was elected a
corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
in 2021. In 2022, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the
Copenhagen Business School
Copenhagen Business School (Danish'': Handelshøjskolen i København'') often abbreviated and referred to as CBS (also in Danish), is a public university situated in Copenhagen, Denmark and is considered one of the most prestigious business schoo ...
.
Research
Orlikowski's research examines relations between technology and organizations over time, with emphases on organizing structures, cultural norms, communication genres, and work practices. She is best known for her work in studying the implementation and use of technologies within organisations by drawing on
Giddens' Theory of
Structuration
The theory of structuration is a social theory of the creation and reproduction of social systems that is based on the analysis of both ''structure'' and '' agents'' (see structure and agency), without giving primacy to either. Furthermore, in str ...
. Her 1992 paper "The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organizations" has been cited over 6200 times, and her subsequent paper in 2000, "Using technology and constituting structures: A practice lens for studying technology in organizations," has received over 5600 citations.
Orlikowski has written extensively on the use of electronic communication technologies, most notably collaborating with
JoAnne Yates
JoAnne Yates (born 1951) Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has worked at the intersection of organization studies and information technology. She has contributed to a number of fields includ ...
, a professor of communications at the
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
. She has also written papers on research methodology and her 1991 paper with Jack Baroudi in ''
Information Systems Research
''Information Systems Research'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in the areas of information systems and information technology, including cognitive psychology, economics, computer science, operations research, ...
'' is particularly widely cited. Her most recent work examines the sociomaterial practices entailed in social media. Her recent collaborations with Susan V. Scott of the London School of Economics have drawn on
Karen Barad
Karen Michelle Barad (; born 29 April 1956) is an American feminist theorist, known particularly for their theory of agential realism.
Biography
They are currently Professor of Feminist Studies, Philosophy, and History of Consciousness at the ...
's Agential Realism and the inseparability of meaning and matter to argue for the inseparability of (digital) materiality and the social.
Structurational studies of technology and organizations
Structurational studies of technology and organizations have been highly influenced by the social studies of technology. Initially arguing for a view of the "duality of technology," Orlikowski went on to argue for a practice-based understanding of the recursive interaction between people and technologies over time. Orlikowski (2000) argues that emergent structures offer a more generative view of technology use, suggesting that users do not so much appropriate technologies as they
enact particular technologies-in-practice with them. The ongoing enactment of technologies-in-practice either reproduce existing structural conditions or they produce changes that may lead to structural transformation.
Based on a series of empirical studies of collaborative technologies (groupware), Orlikowski identified at least three types of
enactment
Enactment may refer to:
Law
* Enactment of a bill, when a bill becomes law
* Enacting formula, formulaic words in a bill or act which introduce its provisions
* Enactment (British legal term), a piece of legislation or a legal instrument made un ...
produced within different conditions and producing different consequences associated with humans engagement with technology in practice.
*
Inertia
Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...
leads to reinforcement and preservation of structural status quo. Human action with the use of technology tends to be incremental, with people using technology to continue their existing work practices. In the case of collaborative software, reinforcing conditions included rigid career hierarchies, individualistic incentives, and competitive cultures.
*
Application which arises as people begin to use the technology in new ways within their work practices. Such use may begin to produce noticeable changes to existing ways of working, including adaptations to the artifacts in use.
* Change, where people integrate the technology into their ways of working in ways that enact important shifts in work practices. Such ongoing changes can over time lead to substantially transformation of the structural status quo.
New ways of dealing with materiality in organizational research
In more recent work, Orlikowski argues that our primary ways of dealing with materiality in organizational research are conceptually problematic and proposes an alternative approach that posits materiality as constitutive of everyday life. This work draws on
Karen Barad
Karen Michelle Barad (; born 29 April 1956) is an American feminist theorist, known particularly for their theory of agential realism.
Biography
They are currently Professor of Feminist Studies, Philosophy, and History of Consciousness at the ...
's
agential realism and the notion of
sociomateriality as influenced by the work of
Lucy Suchman
Lucy Suchman is a Professor of Anthropology of Science and Technology in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University, in the United Kingdom.
Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the field of human-comp ...
and
Annemarie Mol.
In co-authored work, Orlikowski and Susan Scott of the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
argue for a focus on sociomaterial practices within organizational and information system studies. This recognizes that all practices are always and everywhere sociomaterial, and that this sociomateriality is constitutive of the contours and possibilities of everyday organizing.
Select bibliography
Her publications
include:
*Orlikowski, W.J. and J.J. Baroudi. "Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions." ''Information Systems Research'', 2, 1, 1991: 1-28.
*Orlikowski, W.J. "The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Technology in Organizations." ''Organization Science'', 3, 3, 1992: 398-427.
*Orlikowski, W.J. and
JoAnne Yates
JoAnne Yates (born 1951) Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has worked at the intersection of organization studies and information technology. She has contributed to a number of fields includ ...
. "Genre Repertoire: The Structuring of Communicative Practices in Organizations." ''Administrative Science Quarterly'', 39, 4, 1994: 541-574.
*
Beath, Cynthia Mathis, and Wanda J. Orlikowski. "The contradictory structure of systems development methodologies: deconstructing the IS-user relationship in information engineering." ''Information Systems Research'' 5.4 (1994): 350-377.
*Orlikowski, W.J. "Improvising Organizational Transformation over Time: A Situated Change Perspective." ''Information Systems Research'', 7, 1, 1996: 63-92.
*Orlikowski, W.J. "Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations." ''Organization Science'', 11, 4, 2000: 404-428.
*Orlikowski, W.J. "Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing." ''Organization Science'', 13, 4, 2002: 249-273.
*Shultze, U. and W.J. Orlikowski. "A Practice Perspective on Technology-Mediated Network Relations: The Use of Internet-based Self-Serve Technologies." ''Information Systems Research'', 15, 1, 2004: 87-106.
*Orlikowski, W.J. "Sociomaterial Practices: Exploring Technology at Work." ''Organization Studies'', 28, 2007: 1435-1448.
*Levina, N. and W.J. Orlikowski. "Understanding Shifting Power Relations within and across Fields of Practice: A Critical Genre Analysis." ''Academy of Management Journal'', 52, 4, 2009: 672–703.
*Orlikowski, W.J. and Scott, S.V. "Sociomateriality: Challenging the Separation of Technology, Work and Organization," ''Annals of the Academy of Management'', 2, 1, 2008: 433-474.
*Schultze, U. and W.J. Orlikowski. "Research Commentary—Virtual Worlds: A Performative Perspective on Globally Distributed, Immersive Work" ''Information Systems Research'', 21, 4, 2010: 810-821.
*Orlikowski, W.J. "The Sociomateriality of Organizational Life: Considering Technology in Management Research." "Cambridge Journal of Economics", 34, 1, 2010: 125-141.
*Feldman, M. and W.J. Orlikowski. "Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory." ''Organization Science'', 22, 5, 2011: 1240-1253.
*Orlikowski, W.J. and Scott, S.V. "What Happens when Evaluation Goes Online? Exploring Apparatuses of Valuation in the Travel Sector," ''Organization Science'', 25, 3, 2014: 868-891.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlikowski, Wanda
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Information systems researchers
Sociologists of science
South African computer scientists
South African women computer scientists
MIT Sloan School of Management faculty
New York University Stern School of Business alumni