Identity and Technology: Organizational Control of Knowledge-Intensive Work

Abstract

Much has been written about the functioning of managerial ideologies in identity-based organizational control. However, less attention has been given to the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and identity defined by a technological discourse in regulating knowledge-intensive work. The purpose of this research is to examine the roles of identity and ICTs in the control of knowledge-intensive work. A case study of a technology service organization reveals that the construction and consumption of a technologist identity operate as organizational control, and that ICTs enable the functioning of a dialectic of technological control. This study also demonstrates the paradoxical nature of work knowledge that both empowers and controls knowledge-workers.

Keywords:

• Control
• ICTs
• Identity Construction
• Knowledge Workers
• Organizational Knowledge

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Guowei Jian

Guowei Jian (PhD, University of Colorado, 2003) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115-2214. E-mail: [email protected]