Digital Artifacts and (Dis)Connections between Routines: The Experience of an Organization in its Technological Transition

Purpose: As organizations are increasingly susceptible to the introduction or alteration of technologies in their operations affecting actors and routines of various work natures, this study aimed to identify how an organization addressed the connections between its interdependent routines when envisioning a new technological setup. Method: The investigation strategy adopted was a single case study, employing participant observation, semi-structured interviews, document collection, and thematic analysis. Main findings: Three themes emerged as results of this investigation: i) the role of digital artifacts among interdependent routines; ii) the absence of a holistic view on interdependent routines; and iii) the lack of professional identification with the new configuration. While digital artifacts were positioned as mechanisms for connecting routines, the latter two themes emerged as organizational factors of disconnection among them. Academic contributions: This study advances in the theory of interdependence among organizational routines, by presenting implications for characterizing their boundaries. Additionally, although the literature points to the relationship between artifacts and actors from deterministic or voluntarist orientations, it is shown that digital artifacts can assume various orientations when designed to influence actions among routines taking into account sociomaterial aspects. Practical contributions: In technological interventions, it is important for managers and their intervention teams to understand both the current state of the impacted routines and the actors' perception of the new configuration, in order to identify possible inadequate execution scenarios of routines and undesirable occurrences.