Connecting through Smartphones and Open Doors: A Spatiotemporal Framework of Communication Technologies at Work

• In Event: Uses & Effects of New Communication Technologies

Abstract

We consider four types of spatiotemporal enactments—connecting, commuting, screening, and separating—achieved through a variety of workplace technologies and conduct a thematic analysis of the corpus of Fast Company magazine. Our discussion illustrates the ways in which organizational members’ traditional enactment of the “open door” as a symbol of connection and competence (indicated by one’s ability to be productive while being everpresent and available) has become typified by these workplace technologies in network society.

Authors

• Dawna Ballard, University of Texas, Austin

• Dina Inman, University of Texas, Austin