Professor Maria Binz-Scharf, Wednesday, 17.1.18at 1100-1230, room 4128:
Title:The way we work now - Toward a relational practice theory of network emergence(co-authored with Danielle Dunne and Leslie Paik)
Abstract:Theway we work now differs significantly from the way people worked a generationago. In a global economy thatis increasingly driven by knowledge creation andinnovation, knowledge sharing within and across organizations hasbecome anecessity in order to solve today's complex problems. The notion that networksand networking areessential to modern work is well established in theorganizational literature. However, we know surprisingly littleabout whatpeople actually do in networks, and how they create and develop their networkties at work. Using arelational practice approach, we examine how knowledgeworkers accomplish work together in the new economy.Based on an ethnography ofscientists working in academic labs, we find five categories of relationalpractices atwork: helping, mentoring, apprenticing, co-creating, andcoordinating. We theorize how these practices shapescientists' networks throughouttheir career stages around different skills, foci, and objects. The relationalpractice