This thesis reports the results of a case study conducted in a Portuguese manufacturing organisation, a part of a large group, which endured profound organisational changes. The initial objective of the research was to explore, in a processual way, the long-term interactions between an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the consultants that implemented it and management accounting and control, in this organisation. However, during the fieldwork, the researcher was confronted with an apparent puzzle: in the past, formally powerful ‘central’ actors had been confronted with important limitations – including in their relations with formally less powerful actors, particularly ‘local’ actors at the plant level. At the time of the fieldwork, however, the situation had substantially changed. The researcher was therefore confronted with a puzzle, which seemed to be about the distribution of power in the organisation, about who the powerful actors were and, more fundamentally, what caused (or limited) actors’ relational power. Three innovations introduced by central actors appeared to have played an important role in this fundamental change in the organisation and in the distribution of power within it. At stake were a technological innovation – the adoption of the financial module of an ERP system (SAP FI) – and two organisational innovations: the relocation of the Corporate Centre (CC); and the creation of a Shared Services Centre (SSC), in the same location of the group headquarters and of the Chairman and majority shareholder. Clegg’s (1989) framework of ‘Circuits of Power’, based on a Foucauldian and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) approach, was drawn upon as interpretive lenses to address the empirical puzzle about power. The researcher’s mobilisation of the framework facilitated the understanding of what caused (or limited) actors’ relational power, not only in the past but, particularly, at the time of the fieldwork, when the ongoing repercussions of the three innovations were taking place. Such in-depth understanding was constructed through a qualitative, interpretive and processual research, adopting the method of an explanatory case study combining both retrospective and longitudinal components. During the three-year’ fieldwork, 54 interviews with 29 respondents, lasting more than 90 hours, were supplemented by other information generating techniques, such as documentation analysis and observation of meetings, presentations and artefacts in numerous socio-technicalinteractions. The researcher’s interpretation of the case study insights highlighted that the previous power limitations perceived by the formally powerful, ‘central’ actors could be traced to characteristics of the circuit of social integration (rules of meaning and membership across the organisation, as interpreted, accepted and enacted by actors) and of the circuit of system integration (techniques of discipline and production). The three technical and organisational innovations – SAP FI, the CC and the SSC - introduced by central actors in the circuit of system integration (conceptualised, in ANT terms, as nonhuman and collective actors, respectively) had significant repercussions across the various circuits of power. These repercussions had a structural nature, since the innovations collectively succeeded in giving rise to a network of complementary, mutually dependent and mutually reinforcing Obligatory Passage Points. The emerging network of Obligatory Passage Points was essential in promoting the introduction, interpretation, acceptance and enactment of rules across the organisation as desired by central actors. This thesis proposes several contributions concerning the repercussions of the collective of innovations across the circuits of power. Some examples are embedding rules in technology (Volkoff et al., 2007) and organisational processes, redefining the scope of agencies, creating non-zero sum outcomes, and the emergence of the perception of control inevitability and naturalness within organisational normalcy. Collectively, these innovations promoted rules enactment (by both human and nonhuman actors) in ways that benefited the interests of central actors. In addition, this thesis proposes contributions related with the two theoretical frameworks and literatures framing the research. It proposes several refinements to Clegg’s (1989) framework, comprising changes in its graphical layout, linkages and even concepts. The second contribution is an ANT-inspired, OIE model of rule-based action. This model draws on Burns and Scapens’ (2000) macro structure and concepts, but it proposes additional structures and substantially different perspectives, mechanisms and even concepts. It adopts a wide definition of rules, also viewing them as internal structures orienting actors. Thus defined, rules underlie routines and fill a gap in routines-focused frameworks – in particular, when there are no established routines as regards particular issues.The model acknowledges intra-organisational diversity and focuses on the processes of introduction, interpretation, acceptance and enactment of rules. It also relates rules with material conditions, in particular since rules may be technologically and organisationally embedded. Finally, the model highlights that rules may be enacted by both human actors (individual and collective) and nonhuman actors. The model provides a novel way to conceptualise how actors’ interests may be achieved through the various intersections between rules and material conditions, and by the ultimate enactment of rules by both human and non-human actors.

The dominant view in the information systems (IS) and software engineering literature is that the application of a rigorous pre-investment evaluation methodology is the key to ensuring the selection of the best IS projects ?? that is those with the highest expected value for the organisation and with the highest probability of success. While the literature is replete with methodologies that take a narrow view of IS evaluation, there is insufficient attention given to the evaluation process itself and to what constitutes successful IS evaluation. Whilst some within IS argue that the development of more elaborate evaluation methodologies, especially calculations of costs and benefits, is necessary for the advancement of the field, many report that it is not methodologies as such that need improvement. What is missing is an understanding of IS evaluation processes in practice and how organisations can adopt and apply evaluation methodologies so as to improve these processes. This thesis aims to provide in-depth knowledge of IS evaluation processes in practice and re-conceptualise the notion of the IS project proposal, the evaluation process and evaluation methodology that reflect the needs and critical issues in practice. These aims are achieved by conducting an in-depth case study of IS project evaluation processes in a company with a history of high success rates of its IS projects ($3 billion worth of successfully delivered IS projects in the past few years). By adopting Actor-Network Theory as a philosophy, approach and theoretical lens to the investigation of IS project evaluation processes in the case company the thesis demonstrates that: a) IS project proposals are dynamic, evolving and relational entities that become ??focal?? objects around which the actor-networks of aligned interest tend to emerge; b) that the evaluation process both creates an IS project proposal and its assessment within a core actor-network within which multiple business realities are enacted and continually negotiated; c) the evaluation methodology plays an important role of an actant (a non-human actor) by acting from a periphery of the core actor-network of an IS project proposal evaluation d) the evaluation methodology acts on behalf of management to regulate communication within actor-networks, ensure that company strategy is effectively implemented and that different IS Project Proposals are consistently presented in a mutually comparable manner; e) by defining a series of processes (steps), inscription aids (inscription forms, norms and rules) and mandated checkpoints the evaluation methodology engenders the evaluation process as ??science??; f) by allowing a degree of freedom in conducting the evaluation processes the methodology is also enabling the evaluation processes to emerge as ??art?? thus stimulating creativity and innovation, and finally, g) by balancing the science and the art of IS project proposal evaluation, the methodology is enabling, assisting and inspiring numerous actors in taking on ??journeys?? of IS project proposals and evaluation and thereby making a difference in their business environments. The thesis makes important contributions to knowledge in the IS discipline. Theoretically, the adoption and use of ANT revealed that the IS Project Proposal is not dormant but rather active, and key to the IS evaluation effort. The IS Project Proposal has thus been re-conceptualised as emerging, relational and dynamic. This thesis also makes a contribution to the re-conceptualisation of the evaluation methodology as being multi-purpose and active as it defines the ??science?? and enables the ??art?? in IS evaluation. The thesis also makes a number of contributions to practice, firstly by showing that documents in IS evaluation are not simply ??outputs?? that are archived away, but are active and are used to attract the right stakeholders. Secondly, it reveals that the ultimate success of the IS Proposal relies on finding a balance between the science and the art in IS evaluation and that the evaluation methodology can play a key role in promoting this balance.

Open access (OA) to scholarly publishing is encouraged and enabled by new technologies such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, their standards and protocols, and search engines. Institutional repositories (IR) as the most recent technological incarnations of OA enable researchers and their institutions to make accessible the outputs of research. While many OA repositories are being implemented, researchers are surprisingly slow in adopting them. While activists promote OA as emanating from the ideals of scholarship, others revile OA as undermining of scholarly publishing's economic base and therefore undermining quality control and peer review. Change is occurring but there are contested views and actions. This research seeks to increase understanding of the issues by addressing the research questions: "How and why is open access reassembling scholarly publishing?" and "What role does introducing an open access institutional repository to researchers play in this reassembly?" This thesis contributes to answering these questions by investigating two IR implementations and the research communities they serve. The research was conducted as an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) field study, where the actors were followed and their relations and controversies explored in action as their landscape was being contested. The research found that central to our understanding of the reassembling of scholarly publishing is the agency emerging from the sociomaterial relations of the OA vision, IR technology and researchers. Being congruent with the aims of scholarship, and also being flexible and mutable, the OA vision enrols researchers to enact it through OA IR, thus transforming scholarly communications. This is counteracted by publishers aligned with the academic reward network within traditional publishing networks. In this delicate choreography the OA IR, its developers, researchers, university administrators and policy makers are merging as critical actors with their more or less congruent vision of OA enacted in their network. The comparative ANT account of the two IR life stories shows how such enactment depends on the degree to which different OA visions could converge, enrol and mobilise other actors, in particular institutional actors, such as a mandate, in transforming researchers' publishing behaviour. This thesis contributes to a novel and in-depth understanding of OA and IR and their roles in reassembling scholarly publishing. It also contributes to the use of ANT in information systems research by advancing a sociomaterial ontology which recognises the intertwining of human and material agency.

En möbel som har ett tydligt program, en tydlig funktion kan vara begränsande. I min metod har jag utgått ifrån en möbel och förbisett dess program för att vidga mitt sökfält när jag har gjort om den. Jag har sett begreppen funktion, upplevd funktion och materiell funktion som värden som går att höja eller sänka. Möbelns nätverk av komponenter har tillåtits bli instabilt för en stund, för att sedan se till helheten och göra nätverket stabilt åter igen - programmet får komma tillbaka men med en ny gestaltning.

The interest in further expansion of wind power has increased significantly during the last decades, as it is an environmentally and financially competitive energy source. Wind power is an important part of achieving energy goals and climate commitments in several countries, not least in Sweden. The localisation of the wind turbines has, however, appeared to be controversial and local resistance occurs more frequently as the energy source expands. This creates a complex environmental conflict where various actors struggle to obtain differing goal settings. Such a situation occurred in Ödeshög municipality, when wind power entrepreneurs expressed their interests in establish wind turbines in forest and transition areas of the municipality. This thesis aims to emphasise how wind power expansion became such a controversial environmental conflict in Ödeshög. To be able to do this, the conflict is analysed from an Actor-Network Theory perspective. This theoretical framework has been used with the ambition to describe how the involved actors strategically have acted to possibly influence the outcome of the conflict. The situation in Ödeshög have much to say about how these conflicts occur and by learning from this situation several similar conflicts may be avoided.

Univ., Diss.--Göteborg, 2005. / Literaturverz. S. [289] - 313.

Thesis (M.A.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

This paper analyzes a contentious road-building project by elucidating the different values involved and articulated in the decision-making process, delineating the various networks of institutions, individuals, organizations and materials formed around these values, and describing the outcome of the conflict as a function of the interactions between and among these networks. The project in question is the South Lawrence Trafficway, a section of Kansas Highway 10 (K-10) intended to route traffic south around the City of Lawrence, as opposed to its current alignment through the local streets of the city. This particular project has been contested for decades, primarily because of the historical, cultural and environmental values placed on the land through which the road is routed, known as the Wakarusa Wetlands, Baker Wetlands, or Haskell/Baker Wetlands. The analysis focuses on moments of value articulation- critical points during the conflict during which actors and networks of actors express their values with the intent of affecting the outcome of the decision. This paper’s analysis of the conflict draws on Henrik Ernstson’s framework for studying environmental justice and ecological complexity in urban landscapes, along with research on place meaning and desired outcomes for land-use decisions and natural resources planning efforts. The report will examine the decision-making process behind the proposal and approval of the South Lawrence Trafficway, taking into consideration the various institutional and individual actors (and networks of actors) involved, the positions, motivations and strategies of these actors, and the documents used in arguments for either side (maps, documents, court decisions, reports, etc.). The paper begins with an introduction, which includes a condensed summary and chronology of the South Lawrence Trafficway project. Literature review and research design sections follow. The next chapter discusses the actors, networks, values and materials involved in the conflict, as well as the legislative and institutional context within which the conflict occurs. The paper concludes with a summary of findings, and the proposal of future research questions. / text

This dissertation applies a mixed-methods model across three cases of climate risk in order to examine the rhetorical dynamics of uncertainties. I argue that a rhetorical approach to uncertainties can effectively scaffold civic agency in risk communication by translating conflicting interests and creating sites of public participation. By tracing the networks of scientists and their artifacts through cases of climate risk, I demonstrate how the performances of scientific ethos and their material-discursive technologies facilitate the personalization of risk as a form of scientific prudence, and thus a channel to feasible political action. I support these claims through a rhetorical model of translation, which hybridizes methods from discourse analysis and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) in order assemble a data-driven and corpus-based approach to rhetorical analysis. From this rhetorical perspective uncertainties expand on our notions of risk because they reveal associations between scientific inquiries, probability assessments, and the facilitation of political dialogues. In each case, the particular insight of the model reveals a range of rhetorical potentials in climate risk that can be confronted through uncertainties.

This work traces the relationship of individual persons to national economic phenomena associated with consumer finance. The work follows the assemblage of individual consumer credit/debt agents through credit reporting and credit scoring, through to the aggregation of these agents in student loan-backed securitization and credit ratings. The work focuses on the unique technico-cultural constructions produced when human subjects are operatively conjoined to other related discursive and material objects, including related legislation, private corporations, and governmental bodies. The work explores how these unique constructions form stable networks connecting individuals to larger socio-economic settings: networks at once revealing the profoundly distributed nature of both ‘agents’ and their ‘agency,’ and at the same time intimating alternative approaches to questions of individual and collective agency outside the agent/structure dichotomy. The work concludes by addressing the place of this research in consumer finance generally, and the role of consumer finance in contemporary US economics broadly.