Bridging Activity Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis.docx
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Bridging Activity Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis.docx
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BridgingActivityTheoryandCriticalDiscourseAnalysis
BridgingActivityTheoryandCriticalDiscourseAnalysis:
FourStudiesofFinnishPublicandThirdsectorOrganisations
HeliKaatrakoski
Abstract
AnextensivestructuralchangecurrentlyunderwayinFinnishwelfaresocietyisevidentinthechangeinthesocietaldivisionoflabourbetweenthepublic,privateandthirdsectors.Thischangeseemstobeguidedbytheneo-liberalistNewPublicManagement(NPM)doctrine.Inworkplacesthischangeisevidentintheemergenceofneworganisationalformsandnewwaysoforganisingwork.Fromthepointofviewofemployees,theemergenceofnewformsoforganisationswithblurredandmixedboundariescanaffecttheminmanyways:
workmaybecomefragmented,lesssecureandmoreindividual.Thepressurestocustomerorientation,profitabilityandconstantevaluation,amongothers,createchangesinorganisationsandtheiractivities.NPMtypicallyhasalinearviewoftheworldthroughwhichitunderestimatesthebalancebetweenproductivity,customersandemployees.Inotherwords,NPMemphasisesthepointsofviewoftheorganisations(productivity)anditsservices(customers)whileitunderminesthequalityofworkinglife(employees).Animbalanceisalsoevidentinpowerrelationsbetweenorganisations,thusaffectingemployees’dailywork.
Myresearchinterestistwo-layered.Firstly,Iaminterestedinactivitiesthataimtodevelopemployees’ownworkinasituationoforganisationalchange.Forthat,Ifocusonpowerrelationsbetweenagentsininterventionsessions.Secondly,Iamstudyinglocalworkactivityinthecontextofachangingbroadersocietymainlybeinginterestedintheeffectsofsocietalchangeasmaterialisedinemployees’speech.Iapproachtheseissuesthroughdiscourses,wordmeaningandthemovementofmeaning.
Thetheoreticalframeworkofmystudyisculturalhistoricalactivitytheory,whichisbasedonKarlMarx’smaterialisticviewofhistoricallydevelopedhumanconsciousness.Thetheoryviewshumanactivityasobject-oriented,mediatedbytoolsandsigns,andsocialandhistoricalinnature.IhavechosentouseFairclough’scriticaldiscourseanalysis(CDA)“method”toanalysemydiscursivedata.Inhisframework,Faircloughdividestheanalysisintothreeinterlinkedlevels:
theleveloftext(description,linguistics),thelevelofdiscursivepractice(interpretation,micro-sociology)andthelevelofsocialpractice(explanation,macro-sociology).Themainchallengeinmystudyconsistsofbridgingactivitytheoryandthemethodofcriticaldiscourseanalysis.
Theempiricaldataconsistof61interviews(about67hours)and15interventionsessions(about31hours).Inaddition,Ihavecomplementarydataconsistingof62documentsand156newspaperandmagazinearticles.Thedatawerecollectedfromfourorganisations,representingneworganisationalforms.TheorganisationsaretheWorkTrainingFoundationTekevä(amulti-agencyorganisation),theCityofTampere(internalpurchaser-providersplit),theFinnishRoadAdministration(externalpurchaser-providersplit)andtheCityofEspoo(outsourcingmodel).DevelopmentalsessionswereconductedinTekeväandTampere.
TheinterventionmethodusedwastheHybridLaboratory,inspiredbytheFinnishinterventionmethodknownastheChangeLaboratory.TheaimoftheTampereinterventionwastorecordtheexperiencesofthepurchaser-providersplitpilotcombinedwiththeprocessthinkingmodel,andtodevelopproposalstosolveproblems.Tekevä’spreliminaryinterventionthemewastodeveloptheorganisationalculture.Tekeväwasestablishedbyeightpublicandthird-sectororganisationsandthemergerwasstillinprocess.Duringtheintervention,thedevelopmentfocusedonco-operationwithotherorganisations,future-orientedplanningandevaluation.
1.Introduction
Inthelate1980stheneo-liberalistNewPublicManagement(NPM)doctrineandorganisationalmodelsstressingmarketlogicinpublicandthird-sectoractivitygraduallyarrivedinFinland,thusinitiatingchangesinthenatureoftheFinnishwelfaresociety.ThetrendfollowedchangesthatleadersinseveralAnglo-SaxonandWesterncountrieshadexecutedsomeyearsearlier.Today,thepositionofNPMseemscontradictory:
someresearchersarguethatitis“dead”,butinfactitseemsverymuchaliveatleastinFinland.NPMideasareevidentinthechangeinthesocietaldivisionoflabourbetweenthepublic,privateandthirdsectors.AnongoingextensivestructuralchangeintheFinnishwelfaresocietyisonewaytodescribethecurrentsituation.
Attheorganisationallevel,thechangeinworkplacescanbeseenthroughtheemergenceofneworganisationalboundary-crossing(see,e.g.,Kerosuo,2006)formsandnewwaysoforganisingwork.Thereorganisationofworkandorganisationsmeansthattheprivateandthirdsectorsincreasinglyassumemoreresponsibilityforprovidingservicesandproductionthatusedtobelongtothepublicsector.Whatmakesforexample,thecharacterofthepurchaser-providersplitinterestingisthatitchangesthetraditionalhierarchicalstructureinorganisations,relationsbetweenagents,steeringprocessesandthewholelogicofsuchactivity(Meklin2006,22-23).
Whenthepublicsectortransfersproductionandtheprovisionofservicestoothersectoragents,administrativetaskssuchaspurchasingandtenderingbecomemorecentraltotheworkofpublicsectoremployees.Thenatureoftheworkchangesandmaybecomeverydifferentfromwhatitusedtobe.Fromtheemployees’pointofview,theemergenceofnewformsoforganisationswithblurredandmixedorganisationalboundariesmayaffecttheminmanyways:
activitiesturnouttobefragmentedandtheideaoftheworkmaybecomelesssecureandmoreindividual.One’srelationshiptotheorganisationmayalsobecomeinsecurewithregardtoresponsibilitiesandloyalty(seee.g.Grimshawetal.,2005).Insecurityandrisk-taking,inadditiontoindependence,arealsocharacteristicoftheself-employed.Kovalainen&Österberg(2000,80-81)arguethatthereorganisationofthepublicsectorpushesitsemployeestobeginworkingastheself-employedandassubcontractors.Thisshiftassuchisnotanegativephenomenonifitisbasedonone’sownchoice.
KalliolaandNakari(2006,35)claimthattheNPMdoctrinehasarationalandlinearviewofworldanditunderminesthebalancebetweenproductivity,customersandemployees.InotherwordstheNPMdoctrinestressesthepointofviewoftheorganisation’s(productivity)andservices(customers)whileatthesametimeasitunderminesthequalityofworkinglife(employees).Inthisstudy,myinterestliesintheemployees’perspective.
ThereasonIbecameinvolvedinthisextremelyinterestinganddemandingresearchareagoesbackseveralyears.Since2003IhavebeenworkingintheformerCenterforActivityTheoryandDevelopmentalWorkResearch,now(asofthebeginningof2009)knownasCRADLEortheCenterforResearchonActivity,Development,andLearningattheUniversityofHelsinki.ThecentreisveryactiveinstudyinganddevelopingtheworkofvariousorganisationsalloverFinland.Whenmysupervisor,ProfessorYrjöEngeström,introducedaprojectthatheandsomeofhiscolleaguesplannedtocarryout,Ibecameveryinterestedinitandinthemultidimensionalchallengeitseemedtooffer.Iwasluckytoberecruitedfortheproject,andasaresult,thisstudyisbasedondatagatheredduringtheproject.
TheprojectwascalledOptionsofprivatizationandsharedresponsibility(Yksityistämisenjayhteisvastuunylisektoraalisetvaihtoehdot).Itbeganon1November2004andlasteduntil29February2008.TheaimoftheprojectwastodelineatedifferentkindsofhybridorganisationsinFinlandandtodevelopaninterventionmethodforsuchorganisations.TheorganisationschosenfortheprojectweredefinedashybridorganisationsrepresentingorganisationscurrentlyexperiencingthesocietalchangeunderwayinFinland.Thehybridityinandoforganisationswasfirstdefinedintheprojecttomeanthattraditional,generallyknownandacceptedboundariesoforganisationsarecrossedtoformnewfunctionalentities,orthattheseorganisationalboundariesaresomehowblurred,mixedortransformed(Pirkkalainen&Kaatrakoski,2007).Later,thedefinitionofhybriditywasrefinedtotakeintoaccountthesocietaldivisionoflabour.Thatis,hybriditycametomeanchangesinthesocietaldivisionoflabourthatarerealisedinsidetheorganisationsorbetweentheorganisations(Pirkkalainen&Kaatrakoski,2009).
Fourorganisationswerechosenfortheproject.TheFinnishRoadAdministrationrepresentedapureexternalpurchaser-providersplitorganisationatthestatelevel.TheCityofTampere(daycareandprimaryschool)wasoneofthemunicipal-levelorganisationsrepresentinganinternalpurchaser-providersplitwheretheproduction/serviceproductionismainlyinternal.Theothermunicipal-levelorganisation,theCityofEspoo(elderlycare),representedtheoutsourcingmodel.Intheoutsourcingmodel,theorganisationisnotdividedtopurchasersandproviders,butpartoftheproductionisorganisedinternallyandpartexternallyinvariedamounts.Thefourthcasewasthemulti-agencyorganisationTekeväwhich,thoughformallyanindependentthird-sectororganisation,remainsstronglygovernedbyotherorganisations(whichpurchaseservicesfromTekevä,sendcustomerstoTekeväorotherwiseworkinco-operationwithTekevä)andretainsbothbusinessandsocialdimensionsinitsactivity(Pirkkalainen&Kaatrakoski2009).Participants(total61)wereinterviewedinallfourorganisations,anddevelopmentalinterventions(15sessions)wereconductedinTampereandTekevä.Theinterv
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