SpringerLink
Log in

Designing IT for Governance

The Case of Employee-Owned Businesses

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Design for Equality and Justice (INTERACT 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14536))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

We investigate three small employee-owned businesses: a consultancy, a business within art restoration, and a software business, and how they apply and reshape digital resources to commonly govern their businesses as there is no single tool that caters to their specific needs. Using the concept of digital bricolage as a lens, we find that the businesses apply a combination of digital resources at hand to meet their needs, they use these tools in well-known ways, and create new solutions, but do not look for ideal solutions. We furthermore find that believing in a common set of values shapes “the bricolage”, an aspect not found in the literature. These shared values further inform how technologies are used in practice. The values are shared internally but differ between the businesses. This has implications for the design of future tools that can help businesses govern collective decision-making.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
EUR 29.95
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
EUR 102.71
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
EUR 70.61
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Kooperationen (2023)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Edenfield, A.C.: Power and communication in worker cooperatives: an overview. J. Tech. Writ. Commun. 47, 260–279 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1177/0047281616641921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. International Cooperative Alliance. https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity

  4. Wren, D.: The culture of UK employee-owned worker cooperatives. Empl. Relat. Int. J. 42, 761–776 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-12-2018-0327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Duymedjian, R., Rüling, C.-C.: Towards a foundation of bricolage in organization and management theory. Organ. Stud. 31, 133–151 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840609347051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rüling, C.-C., Duymedjian, R.: Digital bricolage: resources and coordination in the production of digital visual effects. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change. 83, 98–110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.05.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lévi-Strauss, C.: The Savage Mind. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Karanasios, S., Senyo, P.K., Effah, J., Zorina, A.: Digital bricolage: creating a digital transformation from nothing. In: ICIS 2022, p. 13, Copenhagen (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Baker, T., Nelson, R.E.: Creating something from nothing: resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Adm. Sci. Q. 50, 329–366 (2005). https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.3.329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Nielsen, L., et al.: Demokratisk Iværksætteri-Erhvervsfremme og iværksætteri for demokratiske virksomheder i Danmark. Erhvervsministeriet (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Patton, M.Q.: Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Qualitative Inquiry. Sage (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ezzy, D.: Qualitative analysis: Practice and innovation. Psychology Press (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Agile Alliance: Scrumban. https://www.agilealliance.org/scrumban/

  14. Stray, V., Moe, N.B.: Understanding coordination in global software engineering: a mixed-methods study on the use of meetings and Slack. J. Syst. Softw. 170, 110717 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2020.110717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Beck, K., et al.: Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Karl, K.A., Peluchette, J.V., Aghakhani, N.: Virtual work meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic: the good, bad, and ugly. Small Group Res. 104649642110152 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/10464964211015286

  17. Stray, V., Moe, N.B., Vedal, H., Berntzen, M.: Using objectives and key results (OKRs) and slack: a case study of coordination in large-scale distributed agile. Presented at the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Abarca, V.M.G., Palos-Sanchez, P.R., Rus-Arias, E.: Working in virtual teams: a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis. IEEE Access 8, 168923–168940 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3023546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Steffens, P.R., Baker, T., Davidsson, P., Senyard, J.M.: When is less more? Boundary conditions of effective entrepreneurial bricolage. J. Manag. 014920632210772 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221077210

Download references

Acknowledgement

This work is partly based on work delivered to the expert group on democratic businesses under the Danish government in 2022. We would like to thank the employee-owned businesses for collaborating with us.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IT University Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lene Nielsen, Hanne Westh Nicolajsen & Vasiliki Baka

Authors
  1. Lene Nielsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hanne Westh Nicolajsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Vasiliki Baka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lene Nielsen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of York, York, UK

    Anna Bramwell-Dicks

  2. University of York, York, UK

    Abigail Evans

  3. Université Côte d‘Azur, Sophia Antipolis, France

    Marco Winckler

  4. University of York, York, UK

    Helen Petrie

  5. University of West London, London, UK

    José Abdelnour-Nocera

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Nielsen, L., Nicolajsen, H.W., Baka, V. (2024). Designing IT for Governance. In: Bramwell-Dicks, A., Evans, A., Winckler, M., Petrie, H., Abdelnour-Nocera, J. (eds) Design for Equality and Justice. INTERACT 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14536. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61698-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61698-3_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-61697-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-61698-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation