Unpacking a Timesheet: Formalisation and Representation

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBrown, Barry A.T.
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-06T06:53:19Z
dc.date.available2020-06-06T06:53:19Z
dc.date.issued37135
dc.description.abstractWhile the use of formal systems has been animportant topic within CSCW, their use as representations has been relatively neglected.This paper, using ethnographic data from aBritish oil company, investigates howrepresentations are used. In the companystudied an electronic timesheet system wasimplemented to be used by staff to account fortheir work. Looking at this system in useprovides insights on what changes whenprocesses are computerised. In particular, thecomputerised system used inflexiblecomputerised rules to enforce a division oflabour between the accountants who ran thesystem, and those who filled in theirtimesheets. However, this rigidity was not apurely negative feature; it helped theaccountants who ran the system to do``representational work'', and establish theaccuracy of the timesheet system. Looking intothe politics of this system in use illustratesthe danger of generalising the relationshipbetween formalisation and power.de
dc.identifier.doi10.1023/A:1012787304131
dc.identifier.pissn1573-7551
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1012787304131
dc.identifier.urihttps://dl.eusset.eu/handle/20.500.12015/3588
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.relation.ispartofComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 10, No. 3-4
dc.relation.ispartofseriesComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
dc.subjectethnography
dc.subjectformalisation
dc.subjectorganisational politics
dc.subjectrepresentation
dc.subjecttimesheets
dc.subjectwork practices
dc.subjectworkflows
dc.titleUnpacking a Timesheet: Formalisation and Representationde
dc.typeText/Journal Article
gi.citation.endPage315
gi.citation.startPage293

Files

Collections

JCSCW Vol. 10 (2001)