Symbolic interactionism and the cell information board: challenging the wisdom of systems

Abstract

Claudio Ciborra in “The Labyrinths of Information: Challenging the Wisdom of Systems” argues that the position of information and communications technology (ICT) in organizations requires a shift from the present focus on the “scientific paradigm” to an “alternative centre of gravity: human existence in everyday life”. This paper takes up Ciborra’s challenge by examining the focal point of social interaction during a longitudinal study of engaged scholarship in an Irish multinational subsidiary. During this study there was a gradual realization that the main locus of interaction was the cell information board. It was here that people gathered to assimilate digital information sources and transform these into “acts” including workpractice improvements. The paper seeks to answer the following question: how does symbolic interactionism enable the conceptualization of an information system as a sign-action system? The work makes a contribution by examining a supply chain information system as a form of symbolic action. The study challenges us to view information systems as not primarily being the IT artifact but pertaining first and foremost to human activity as its very core.