Gillian Symon
Biographic Data
| ID | 267692 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gillian Symon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gillian |
| FAMILY NAME | Symon |
| SIGNATURE | SYMON G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4937-9413 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 142 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Urgency at work
In contemporary workplaces, urgency is symbolic of workers' experience of time as accelerated, and often associated with use of digital technologies. Yet we know little about how urgency is constructed at work, including the agentic roles of technology and other materialities. Based on interviews with railway workers, we extend Rosa's conceptualisation of temporal junctures to explain how urgency as a temporal framing is sociomaterially constitut…
Research Methods for Digital Work and Organization
Digi-Housekeeping
From an analysis of everyday practices of flexible working captured in video diaries, a form of pervasive but invisible support work is identified and presented. Labelled 'digi-housekeeping', this is work that is required to maintain the digital tools that enable flexible working, and incorporates the tasks of clearing, sorting, preparing, provisioning and troubleshooting. Through the sociocultural processes of responsibilization, personalization…
Participant-led video diaries
Rebecca Whiting, Helen Roby, Gillian Symon, and Petros Chamakiotis develop an unconventional research design using video methods, asking participants to produce their own video diaries, a process which is then followed by narrative interviews. This approach generates multi-modal data: audio, visual, and textual, and involves adopting a qualitative perspective, and a social constructionist epistemology. This participant-led research design allows …
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
Exploring media construction of investment banking as dirty work
Purpose - To explore how two kinds of UK-based media positioned investment banking as dirty work during the financial crisis, thereby engaging in moral enterprise (Becker 1963) and contributing to the shaping of society’s normative contours (Cohen 1972). - Design/methodology - We employ rhetorical analysis to explore how newspaper editorials and an online blog portray investment banking as tainted between April 2008 and October 2009. - Findings –…
Qualitative Organizational Research
Reasons to believe
The nature of trust in an information systems outsourcing relationship is examined by considering the explanations for trust or distrust offered by individuals working at the boundary between the two organisations. Previous studies of trust in outsourcing situations have focused either on evidential bases of trust or the process of the development of trusting relationships. This study takes an institutional perspective and examines how trust may …
Identity on the line
This article applies insights from the social construction of professional identity to an understanding of the 'professional service' call centre representative (CSR). In this case, HR (human resources) practitioners found themselves in a CSR role in a newly constituted HR call centre and this research explores how they then (re-)constructed their role as professionals within this context. Through a longitudinal, ethnographic study, three key con…
Defining qualitative management research
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of research which explores how the concept qualitative management research is variably constructed and defined by those who have a direct interest in, and influence upon, important aspects of qualitative management research. Design/methodology/approach Information was gathered through the use of semi‐structured interviews conducted with 44 individuals who were drawn from four observer‐id…
Research report
Taking qualitative methods in organization and management research seriously
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the new journal and outline the rationale and aims and objectives of Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal ( QROM ). Design/methodology/approach The paper considers why there is a necessity for a journal like QROM , outlines the scope of the new journal, and introduces the articles in the first issue. An invitation for further contributions to the journal i…
Constructing identity and participation during technological change
The organizational practice of user participation in IT system development remains problematic. Two of the major issues identified are establishing the most effective strategy and selecting the most appropriate user representatives. Opinions on these issues vary according to theoretical perspective and empirical evidence does not provide definitive solutions. Taking a social constructionist perspective, this longitudinal case study of a contested…
Promoting New Research Practices in Organizational Research
Qualitative Research Diaries
Electronic Interviews in Organizational Research
Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research
Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research
Promoting New Research Practices in Organizational Research - Gillian Symon and Catherine Cassell Using Interviews in Qualitative Research - Nigel King Electronic Interviews in Organizational Research - Stephanie J Morgan and Gillian Symon Life Histories - Gill Musson Critical Incident Technique - Elizabeth Chell Repertory Grids - Catherine Cassell and Susan Walsh Cognitive Mapping in Organizational Research - Seonaidh McDonald, Kevin Daniels and…
Computer-Mediated Communication and Remote Management
The use of intranets and e-mails to communicate with remote staff is increasing rapidly within organizations. Formany companies this is viewed as a speedy and cost-effective way of keeping in contact with staff and ensuring their continuing commitment to company goals. This article highlights the problems experienced by staff when managers use intranets and e-mails in an inappropriate fashion for these purposes. Issues of remoteness and isolation…
The Work of IT System Developers in Context
The HCI community has become increasingly interested in analyzing the organizational context of systems design (e.g., Curtis, Krasner, & Iscoe, 1988). Previous work has focused on product development organizations in identifying organizational constraints on the work of system designers (Grudin, 1991b). This case study focuses on the working practices of internal system developers as they both developed a new IT system for the organization and ma…
The coordination of work activities
Technology‐led change
Many authors have emphasized that new technology implementations in organizations are predominantly ‘technology led' (e.g. Blacker & Brown, 1986; Clegg & Kemp, 1986). However, few analysts have attempted to account for this approach or, indeed, to spell out its consequences. In this study, we describe the implementation of a CADCAM system in a light engineering company over an 18‐month period, focusing specifically on the reasons for the adoption…
Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research
Promoting New Research Practices in Organizational Research - Gillian Symon and Catherine Cassell Using Interviews in Qualitative Research - Nigel King Electronic Interviews in Organizational Research - Stephanie J Morgan and Gillian Symon Life Histories - Gill Musson Critical Incident Technique - Elizabeth Chell Repertory Grids - Catherine Cassell and Susan Walsh Cognitive Mapping in Organizational Research - Seonaidh McDonald, Kevin Daniels and…
Digi-Housekeeping
From an analysis of everyday practices of flexible working captured in video diaries, a form of pervasive but invisible support work is identified and presented. Labelled 'digi-housekeeping', this is work that is required to maintain the digital tools that enable flexible working, and incorporates the tasks of clearing, sorting, preparing, provisioning and troubleshooting. Through the sociocultural processes of responsibilization, personalization…
Identity on the line
This article applies insights from the social construction of professional identity to an understanding of the 'professional service' call centre representative (CSR). In this case, HR (human resources) practitioners found themselves in a CSR role in a newly constituted HR call centre and this research explores how they then (re-)constructed their role as professionals within this context. Through a longitudinal, ethnographic study, three key con…
Constructing identity and participation during technological change
The organizational practice of user participation in IT system development remains problematic. Two of the major issues identified are establishing the most effective strategy and selecting the most appropriate user representatives. Opinions on these issues vary according to theoretical perspective and empirical evidence does not provide definitive solutions. Taking a social constructionist perspective, this longitudinal case study of a contested…
Urgency at work
In contemporary workplaces, urgency is symbolic of workers' experience of time as accelerated, and often associated with use of digital technologies. Yet we know little about how urgency is constructed at work, including the agentic roles of technology and other materialities. Based on interviews with railway workers, we extend Rosa's conceptualisation of temporal junctures to explain how urgency as a temporal framing is sociomaterially constitut…
Computer-Mediated Communication and Remote Management
The use of intranets and e-mails to communicate with remote staff is increasing rapidly within organizations. Formany companies this is viewed as a speedy and cost-effective way of keeping in contact with staff and ensuring their continuing commitment to company goals. This article highlights the problems experienced by staff when managers use intranets and e-mails in an inappropriate fashion for these purposes. Issues of remoteness and isolation…
Technology‐led change
Many authors have emphasized that new technology implementations in organizations are predominantly ‘technology led' (e.g. Blacker & Brown, 1986; Clegg & Kemp, 1986). However, few analysts have attempted to account for this approach or, indeed, to spell out its consequences. In this study, we describe the implementation of a CADCAM system in a light engineering company over an 18‐month period, focusing specifically on the reasons for the adoption…
The coordination of work activities
The Work of IT System Developers in Context
The HCI community has become increasingly interested in analyzing the organizational context of systems design (e.g., Curtis, Krasner, & Iscoe, 1988). Previous work has focused on product development organizations in identifying organizational constraints on the work of system designers (Grudin, 1991b). This case study focuses on the working practices of internal system developers as they both developed a new IT system for the organization and ma…
Computer-Mediated Communication and Remote Management
The use of intranets and e-mails to communicate with remote staff is increasing rapidly within organizations. Formany companies this is viewed as a speedy and cost-effective way of keeping in contact with staff and ensuring their continuing commitment to company goals. This article highlights the problems experienced by staff when managers use intranets and e-mails in an inappropriate fashion for these purposes. Issues of remoteness and isolation…
Promoting New Research Practices in Organizational Research
Qualitative Research Diaries
Electronic Interviews in Organizational Research
Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research
Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research
Promoting New Research Practices in Organizational Research - Gillian Symon and Catherine Cassell Using Interviews in Qualitative Research - Nigel King Electronic Interviews in Organizational Research - Stephanie J Morgan and Gillian Symon Life Histories - Gill Musson Critical Incident Technique - Elizabeth Chell Repertory Grids - Catherine Cassell and Susan Walsh Cognitive Mapping in Organizational Research - Seonaidh McDonald, Kevin Daniels and…
Constructing identity and participation during technological change
The organizational practice of user participation in IT system development remains problematic. Two of the major issues identified are establishing the most effective strategy and selecting the most appropriate user representatives. Opinions on these issues vary according to theoretical perspective and empirical evidence does not provide definitive solutions. Taking a social constructionist perspective, this longitudinal case study of a contested…
Research report
Taking qualitative methods in organization and management research seriously
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the new journal and outline the rationale and aims and objectives of Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal ( QROM ). Design/methodology/approach The paper considers why there is a necessity for a journal like QROM , outlines the scope of the new journal, and introduces the articles in the first issue. An invitation for further contributions to the journal i…
Defining qualitative management research
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of research which explores how the concept qualitative management research is variably constructed and defined by those who have a direct interest in, and influence upon, important aspects of qualitative management research. Design/methodology/approach Information was gathered through the use of semi‐structured interviews conducted with 44 individuals who were drawn from four observer‐id…
Identity on the line
This article applies insights from the social construction of professional identity to an understanding of the 'professional service' call centre representative (CSR). In this case, HR (human resources) practitioners found themselves in a CSR role in a newly constituted HR call centre and this research explores how they then (re-)constructed their role as professionals within this context. Through a longitudinal, ethnographic study, three key con…
Qualitative Organizational Research
Reasons to believe
The nature of trust in an information systems outsourcing relationship is examined by considering the explanations for trust or distrust offered by individuals working at the boundary between the two organisations. Previous studies of trust in outsourcing situations have focused either on evidential bases of trust or the process of the development of trusting relationships. This study takes an institutional perspective and examines how trust may …
Exploring media construction of investment banking as dirty work
Purpose - To explore how two kinds of UK-based media positioned investment banking as dirty work during the financial crisis, thereby engaging in moral enterprise (Becker 1963) and contributing to the shaping of society’s normative contours (Cohen 1972). - Design/methodology - We employ rhetorical analysis to explore how newspaper editorials and an online blog portray investment banking as tainted between April 2008 and October 2009. - Findings –…
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
Participant-led video diaries
Rebecca Whiting, Helen Roby, Gillian Symon, and Petros Chamakiotis develop an unconventional research design using video methods, asking participants to produce their own video diaries, a process which is then followed by narrative interviews. This approach generates multi-modal data: audio, visual, and textual, and involves adopting a qualitative perspective, and a social constructionist epistemology. This participant-led research design allows …
Digi-Housekeeping
From an analysis of everyday practices of flexible working captured in video diaries, a form of pervasive but invisible support work is identified and presented. Labelled 'digi-housekeeping', this is work that is required to maintain the digital tools that enable flexible working, and incorporates the tasks of clearing, sorting, preparing, provisioning and troubleshooting. Through the sociocultural processes of responsibilization, personalization…
Research Methods for Digital Work and Organization
Urgency at work
In contemporary workplaces, urgency is symbolic of workers' experience of time as accelerated, and often associated with use of digital technologies. Yet we know little about how urgency is constructed at work, including the agentic roles of technology and other materialities. Based on interviews with railway workers, we extend Rosa's conceptualisation of temporal junctures to explain how urgency as a temporal framing is sociomaterially constitut…
Computer Science (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Engineering (11 works) · Knowledge management (10 works) · Social science (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Business (7 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (7 works) · Qualitative research (7 works)