Organisation of multi-professional teamwork in technology-mediated work environments

European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 46 Organisation of multi-professional teamwork in technology-mediated environments Arja Tuulikki Haapakorpi Abstract Multi-professional collaboration is assumed to tackle ambiguous and difficult challenges with innovative teamwork. First, expertise from many fields is needed for solving difficult problems in society and organisations, which emerge from a complicated reality. Second, tasks in working life encompass many fields, meaning that multi-professional expertise is needed. Third, the expertise has to be organised as interactive teamwork for approaching ambiguous questions. However, multi-professional collaboration is challenging, due to different knowledge bases and related working methods of each professional grouping involved, but, with digitalisation, multi-professional collaboration could become more commonplace, as the technology-mediated work environment is shared by all professional groupings in the workplace. Technology tends to mainstream working patterns and practices, which could be assumed to reshape professional work and multi-professional collaboration. The article studies how multiprofessional teamwork is organised in firms with an advanced technologymediated work environment in the new media and high-technology industry. The methodological approach is qualitative, and three case studies are presented. The outcome of the analysis reveals variations in the patterns of organising multiprofessional teamwork, which is related to the function and position of the teams and the rationality of the firm. K K e e y y w w o o r r d d s s : : multi-professional teamwork, technology and work, work organisation, management, innovative teamwork Introduction Multi-professional collaboration has attracted the attention of academics and practitioners interested in working life. First, expertise from many fields is needed for solving difficult problems in society and organisations, which emerge from a complicated reality. Second, European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 47 tasks in working life encompass many fields, meaning that multi-professional expertise is needed. Third, this kind of teamwork is considered as challenging by management. According to previous studies, multi-professional collaboration is compromised by different epistemologies, knowledge bodies, and related social and cultural working patterns and practices (Abbott, 2018; Ackroyd, 1996). Professions approach tasks or problems from particular perspectives and apply knowledge and working methods which are professionspecific. Understanding and adjusting to other professional approaches requires extra time and efforts, but profession-specific social and cultural hierarchies may impose obstacles on open communication (Haapakorpi, 2009). However, the studies in this field also report positive outcomes from multi-professional collaborative work. Technology-mediated work environments can be assumed to shape multi-professional teamwork, as there is evidence that working methods and practices are mainstreamed with shared technology (Björn & Österlund, 2014). However, work organisation is not determined by technology; rather, technology is designed and implemented by humans in line with their interests and circumstances. The introduction of new technology is related to managerial strategies, institutional and market environments, and sometimes the contribution of employees. Thus, the introduction of a technology-mediated work environment is interrelated with work organisation, with the utilization of technology being social by nature (Orlikowski, 2007). A common target for business firms is profit-making, which is promoted by efficiency and economy when organising work and implementing technology (see Lengwiler, 2006). Other interests and objectives may be applied, such that rationality overall exceeds the most basic economic motives (Holtgrewe, 2007, 2014). For example, the interests of professional employees may be considered when participatory management strategies are applied. This study focuses on the work organisation of professional employees in the new media industry and engineering professionals in high-technology industry with different disciplinary backgrounds. Working in these firms has been exposed to the markets, the introduction of new technologies, and firm-specific particularities. The study contributes to the discussion on multi-professional teamwork, new technology and work organisation by asking, how is multi-professional collaborative work organised, considering the different epistemologies, working methods and practices of professions? To answer this question, a case study approach is applied. The case studies come from firms with technology-mediated work environments whose business takes place in highly competitive market environments. The case studies are a new media firm and two hightechnology firms. The study starts with a theoretical discussion, first, on professions and multi-professional relations and, second, on technology and work organisation. The research design includes European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 48 the research problem and questions, the setting of the research subject, and the data and methodology. The conclusions and discussion follow the results section. Theoretical background Professions and multi-professional collaboration Professional specialisation is based on particular knowledge bodies, epistemological approaches, and related working methods and practices, which are institutionalised. Institutionalisation refers to higher education systems, self-referring activities, such as publications, and institutionalised networks. (Abbott, 1989; Haapakorpi, 2009). Higher education institutions are structured according to a disciplinary system, whose education programmes are disciplineor profession-based, while the students are socialised into the profession during their studies. Despite the differences in epistemologies and related working methods and practices, professions are interrelated in labour markets and in workplaces (Evetts, 2006; Abbott, 1988). Labour division and job descriptions are related to professional qualifications, but the boundaries may be blurred. With the specialisation of professions, knowledge bodies and related epistemologies, working methods and practices are developed and adopted. Specialisation often promotes enhancement of the quality of knowledge, but the differentiation may be an obstacle for multi-professional collaborative work. It requires extra work and time, for the differences of professions may complicate mutual understanding, particularly those related to epistemologies (Karn, 2008). In addition, hierarchies in relation to professions may impose obstacles on (equal) collaboration (Haapakorpi, 2009). The studies dealing with multi-professional work highlight challenges and problems; for example, Buch and Andersen report that multi-professional work organisation does not take into account professional traditions (2013). One explanation for this is that, too often, there is a tight schedule for economic reasons. According to Lengwiler (2006), a multi-professional teamwork pattern is related to organisational and institutional conditions and goals, while professional status impacts on the design of work organisation. When the collaborative work pattern is adapted to market requirements, efficiency and economy are emphasised. Timesaving working methods and simple problem-solving are means to organise work under time and budget pressures: profound multi-professional interaction focusing on epistemological questions would require too much time. Multi-professional collaborative work can also be positive, innovative and successful. The positive outcomes are related, for example, to an appropriate work organisation and sufficient time resources (van der Vegt & Bunderson, 2005). The study deals with firms in business industries, which have to work on functional but innovative patterns of work organisation for coping in the highly competitive environment. European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 49 The study focuses on professions in digitalised environments, which are assumed to have an influence on multi-professional teamwork, given that the relationship between human action and technology is interactive (Orlikowski, 2007; Björn & Österlund, 2014). In a technologymediated work environment, employees are interconnected with technology, and the working patterns and practices tend to become mainstreamed (Björn & Österlund, 2014), which is supposed to support technology-mediated interaction and networking. In addition, computing, with its communal mind and memory, enhances the human capacity for social organisation (Hayler, 2015), which may promote efficient multi-professional collaborative work. Technology and work organisation Technology is related to work organisation; for management, the design of equipment and work organisation is crucial in terms of economy and efficiency (Grimshaw et al., 2012). However, rationality overall is not limited to these motives, for business is also related to other spheres of human action, such as values and beliefs (see Holtgrewe, 2014). Technology is social by nature, as it is developed, introduced and utilised by humans in social interaction (Orlikowski, 2007; Holtgrewe, 2014). According to Holtgrewe (2014), managers usually follow a shared pattern in the business field when introducing new technology and a related work organisation pattern. Institutional theory explains the similarities as follows: organisations in the same institutional field apply similar patterns and practices of work organisation, which is related to the institutional logic based on coercion, meanings and norms (Scott 2008a; Scott 2008b). Coercion in the business field mostly refers to laws and economic reasons, while the “soft” elements of meanings and norms imply the interaction and communication of human beings in organisational environments. In firms whose goal is profit-making, the economic terms are embedded in the ways of thinking (meanings) and acting (norms), although they may not totally dominate them. Within the institutionalised business field, the similarities in work are promoted with the shared environment, professional networks and relations in the organisations (Powell & DiMaggio, 1991). Institutional theory emphasises path dependency, the cumulation of repeated patterns and practices, in order to explain the mainstreamed working patterns and practices in the institutional field (Scott, 2008b). However, the similarity is not linear and mechanical for various reasons. First, working patterns and practices, although generally applied in organisations in the institutional field, are reshaped for particular organisational contexts and strategies (Scott, 2008a; Czarniawska & Joerges, 1996). Second, the more mature the institutional field, in terms of the growth of its sub-fields, the more there are alternatives for organising work (Reay & Hinings , 2005). Third, the actors who are connected to many fields in the institution recognise conflicts in institutional logic and may promote reforms (Greenwood & Suddaby, 2006). The actors promoting reforms may be organisations or individuals, for institutionalisation takes place at different levels of institutions and organisations and involves those individuals who interact with them (see Greenwood & Suddaby, 2006). European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 50 The studies on work organisation in technology-specific firms also reveal variations in HR strategies despite the similarities in management. For example, manual work can be replaced with technology by simplifying the tasks into monitoring automated production (Wall, Jackson, & Davids, 1992); conversely, the tasks and work organisation can be reshaped in a way which promotes learning new demanding competences, such as problem-solving skills (Bayo, BelloPintado, & Merino-Díaz-de-Cerio, 2010). These variations may be related to different values or terms set by the environment of the firm, such as markets and labour force supply (see Holtgrewe, 2014). For example, the markets of high-technology products may apply the latter alternative, particularly when the labour force is qualified. This article applies the concept of “technology-mediated work environment” to emphasize the all-encompassing nature of a newly digitalised work environment, which is interrelated with the work organisation. It is assumed that the patterns for organising multi-professional teamwork are designed to combine different work processes or outcomes into products or promote multi-professional collaborative work. Research design Industry 4.0 builds on the state-of-the-art research which acknowledges that Industry 4.0 technologies will have a deep and disruptive impact on society. However, there is an increasing number of contradicting studies about the exact impact, especially with regards to quality of working life, organisational performance and employment relationships. It is yet unclear how Industry 4.0 technology could foster societal aims, while at the same time cradle high performance organisations. Research problem and questions The research problem focuses on multi-professional teamwork in advanced technologymediated work environments by determining: i) what kinds of work organisation patterns are applied in order to promote multi-professional collaborative work in advanced technologymediated work environments and in rapidly changing market-based firms; and ii) what kinds of rationalities motivate the patterns. The degree of multi-professional collaborative work varies, and two rough ideal types are applied for the purpose of this analysis. First, the outcome of collaborative work may be a simple combination of many single professional groupings’ work performance, which is here referred to as “the combination pattern”. Second, the collaborative work may result in the integration of knowledge, working methods and/or practices, which is here referred to as “the integrated pattern”. The pattern of organising work may vary and is related to a particular rationality. In addition to the institutionalised targets of profit-making, the rationality refers to meanings and social European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 51 values related to industrial relations and the institutional and market environment. The rationality cannot be reduced to a solid collection of official decisions and targets, but a changing set of decisions and patterns of thinking and action. Work organisation implies the patterns of organising employees, functions and their relations. The elements of work organisation are the following: • job descriptions and roles, and expertise • labour division by functions • interrelatedness and interaction between functions and employees • position of the unit (team) in the firm (value chain/work process) The research questions are as follows: 1. What is the pattern for organising multi-professional teamwork? 2. What is the rationality behind the work organisation pattern? Research setting T T h h e e n n e e w w m m e e d d i i a a i i n n d d u u s s t t r r y y a a n n d d t t h h e e c c a a s s e e - - s s t t u u d d y y f f i i r r m m During the time of data collection, in the 2000s, new media as an industry and as a profession combined information and communication technology (ICT) with a new field of communication and art. The common definition for new media was “computer-based and interactive communication”. New media, as art, was used for profit or non-profit purposes, and new media professionals worked in the fields of business and the arts (Tarkka, 2002a; Tarkka, 2002b). New media professionals were not part of an institutionalised profession, because their educational backgrounds and tasks were ambiguous. In a fast-changing industry with firm-specific, undefined tasks, strengthening the position was a challenge for professional employees (Christopherson, 2002; Pratt, Gill & Spelthann, 2007). The professional employees in the new media industry were programmers and content providers in the audiovisual field, while, in the writing field, the content providers were graphic designers, audiovisual designers and scriptwriters. Their professional background varied regarding knowledge bodies and epistemologies and related social and cultural practices, but they shared a technology-mediated environment, with its computer-based and interactive communication. Before 2000, professional job descriptions and professional qualifications were rather loose. The expertise was defined as being in-between institutionalised disciplines and regarded as an integration outcome of media and content (Haapakorpi, 2012). New media productions in business and the arts were interlinked, and the professionals worked in both areas. The new media culture was expanded in the market, which in turn took advantage of this media culture (Tarkka, 2002a, Tarkka, 2002b). Since 2000, the business and the arts in this industry differentiated, and the interconnection became weaker. In the business field, effectiveness European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 52 and economy were implemented in the work organisation, whereas artistic production followed a less strict schedule (Tarkka, 2002a). In the 2000s, there were 330 firms in the business sector, with most of them being small or medium-sized and typically having a short history. With the institutionalisation of businessstyle management and work organisation, the firms started to make profit (Pohto & Wiren 2001). Since the time of collecting data, the new media industry has undergone a profound change as the functions are dispersed across different industries, with programming taking place in software houses and the content design taking place on social media. T T h h e e h h i i g g h h - - t t e e c c h h n n o o l l o o g g y y m m e e t t a a l l s s i i n n d d u u s s t t r r y y In Finland, the number of employees in the high-technology industry sector was 295,000 in 2012, with an equal number abroad (Federation of Finnish Technology Industry 2014). In Finland, the proportion of R&D employees was 35%, the proportion of production employees 32% and the rest were in client support and services, management, administration and marketing. Roughly 56% of personnel held a degree from a higher education institution (Federation of Finnish Technology Industry 2014). The high-technology metals industry is globally distributed, and its activities are technologically mediated. The global division of labour is motivated by cost-effectiveness and the highest value-adding factors accrued from high-technology innovations, products and services. The business strategy for high-technology industry firms is R&D-based and the goal is to produce high-quality and expensive systems of production for the markets of advanced technology. Simple production is often outsourced to countries with low labour costs, while planning, testing, support activities (marketing etc.) and services take place in Finland or in another European country. The case studies followed this business strategy. The development and growth of high-technology industry are related to the reshaping of the engineering profession. With the commercialisation of science (Barley & Orr, 1997) and technologised science (Alvargonzález, 2011), professional fields in engineering have increased (Barley & Orr, 1997). The specialisation of engineering professionals is regarded as important, because of the automated systems. In general, the engineering profession is independent and knowledge-intensive, with a high status and employee position within the business environment, where engineering professionals have operational, but not strategic, autonomy (Gleadle, Hodgson & Storey, 2012). The technology-mediated work environments in the case-study firms were built in such a way that engineers and expertise from many different branches. Convergence is the basis of the whole value chain, from R&D and planning to the services that refer to multi-professional teamwork. In high-technology industry, high-technology equipment becomes the environment and condition for the development of products, while computer-aided and interactive technologies are adopted. With this systematisation, engineering professionals from different branches synthetised their knowledge in new ways, which was supposed to be European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 53 converted into products and processes that fulfilled the needs of client (see also Hansen 2010). The technological system is structured when the branches of industry converge: Integrated mechanics and electronics and hydraulics with embedded computing systems which consist of various sub-systems (Curran, Bröring & Leker, 2010). The converged automated system in high-technology industry is a special technologymediated work environment, with its embedded computing. Engineering professionals with different disciplinary backgrounds are needed for planning and remote services (Haapakorpi, 2018). Given the embedded nature of computing, engineering professionals with a specialisation in programming were the largest professional group in the industry, while engineers with different backgrounds acquired sufficient expertise in ICT and computing. The technology-mediated work environment in high-technology industry is interrelated with the knowledge body of engineering, for the engineering discipline is ‘technologised’ (Alvargonzález, 2011). In other words, the engineering discipline and technology are prerequisites for each other. Data and methodology The analysis is based on two studies, which have been reported in three articles (Haapakorpi, 2012, 2017, 2018). The first study (Haapakorpi , 2012) focused on a new media firm and the study was carried out in the 2000s, which was a turning point in the business field from small informal workshops to institutionalized firms. The second study focused on high-technology metals industry, and the study was carried out with two case studies from 2013 to 2015 (Haapakorpi, 2017, 2018). C C a a s s e e s s t t u u d d y y : : N N e e w w M M e e d d i i a a F F i i r r m m – – d d a a t t a a a a n n d d m m e e t t h h o o d d s s The new media firm was a medium-sized organisation and, according to the information available on its webpages and brochures, it provided “multimedia and Internet-based service solutions supporting customer’s business activities”. The firm employed 100 professional employees with various disciplinary backgrounds: management, programming and contentproviding study fields. The data consisted of 10 interviews and complementary texts (brochures, customer magazines, the annual report from 2000). Interviews were carried out with one personnel manager, two graphic designers, one audiovisual designer, two programmers, two scriptwriters and two project managers. The content providers were found in the groups of the graphic designers, the audiovisual designer and the scriptwriters. The length of each interview was approximately one hour. The interview with the personnel manager focused on the firm’s vision, as well as her perspective, given her position as the representative of management. The remaining interviewees focused mainly on their own work. The ages ranged from 25 to 47 years; the European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 54 programmers and the audiovisual designer were male, and the personnel manager was female. In the groups of graphic designers, scriptwriters and project managers, the share of men and women was equal. The themes in the interviews were work and career motives, work orientation, management of the company, work culture, work organisation, and the balance between work and family life. Most of the interviewed persons were university and polytechnic students, but only some of them had completed their degrees. The study fields were media studies, data processing, literature and the arts, social sciences, administration and philosophy. The interviews with the personnel manager, the project managers, and the programmers and content providers were analysed in separate units, as the content of these interviews was profession-specific to some degree. The professional groupings’ positions reflected the division of labour, while their relation to customers and management was dissimilar. The programmers and content providers carried out their tasks somewhat independently, relying on their half-institutionalised professional competence. The project managers assumed responsibility for the teams and co-ordinated with other teams and customer relations, while the personnel manager focused on managerial duties. The data were analysed by applying grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin 1998). The analysis for this research article is based on the analysis and results presented by Haapakorpi (2012), but the focus is different. This article (Haapakorpi, 2012) dealt with professionalisation and work organisation. On the basis of the data analysis, the main category was the tension between business-related efficiency and professional creativity-based identity. The categories of causal, structural, and intermediate conditions were combined into one category representing the relation to the organisational environment as it was not meaningful to separate them in the analysis. The category was “from hype to profit-making”. The theme of multi-professional collaborative work came out in cases where there were problems related to a lack of or insufficient multi-professional collaboration and job description redesigns. C C a a s s e e s s t t u u d d i i e e s s 2 2 a a n n d d 3 3 : : t t h h e e h h i i g g h h - - t t e e c c h h n n o o l l o o g g y y m m e e t t a a l l s s i i n n d d u u s s t t r r y y This study is based on a research project (2014-2015) and its data sources (Haapakorpi, 2017, 2018). The data collection process was as follows: First, two leading experts from employee and employer trade unions were interviewed in order to obtain information and views on the business, markets, labour force and work organisation in the metals industry. The interviews were semi-structured. The experts also provided information concerning high-technology firms, which was utilized in order to search for research subjects. Two functions were considered important in the choice of the firms to be included in the research: R&D and remote services. On the basis of this information, firms with these functions were contacted for data collection. The interviews were conducted with six members of staff from two firms, which were both large transnational corporations. Firm 1 was a large firm in the cargo-handling and related European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 61 professionals who adapted their performance to the technological environment, which was a converged automatic system. Second, the project manager integrated the outcomes of the team-members’ work. The project manager had basic knowledge of all branches of engineering and, in addition, knowledge of how to integrate them. The project manager followed two rationalities, profit-making and innovation-based business, which were interrelated in a specific way. The innovation-based professional work made profit-making possible, with the innovation-based working methods shaped by profit-related goals. In High-technology Firm 2, the rationality behind the work organisation pattern was based on economy and efficiency, as the remote services had been established for expanding the business services. The remote services team in High-technology Firm 2 applied an integrative pattern of organising teamwork, which was based on professional and firm-specific knowledge. The engineering professionals came from different engineering disciplines but shared the same tasks. They had some knowledge of all the branches of industries, but the ICT competence and problem-solving competence were of primary importance. The knowledge was a mixture of interrelated professional and firm-specific knowledge. However, from a professional perspective, the pattern did not strengthen professional competence, as the applied contextual knowledge could not revert to professional knowledge. The organisational pattern was related to the function and position of the team which came after the production. As the production system was already converged, excellent integrated professional knowledge interrelated with firm-specific expertise, rather than branch-specific expertise, was needed. Although integrated and firm-specific multi-professional work does not revert to its disciplinary root, it may be linked to a professional knowledge system as follows. In hightechnology R&D, professional, discipline-specific knowledge and industry-/firm-specific knowledge are interrelated and are prerequisites for each other. It may be that the pattern applied in high-technology firm 2 may be absorbed by the study programmes of higher education institutions to some extent, particularly because where there is collaborative work involving the firm and the local higher education institution specialising in technology. European Journal of Workplace Innovation Volume 5, Number 2, June 2020 62 T T a a b b l l e e 1 1 . . M M u u l l t t i i - - p p r r o o f f e e s s s s i i o o n n a a l l c c o o l l l l a a b b o o r r a a t t i i o o n n : : t t h h e e d d e e g g r r e e e e o o f f i i n n t t e e g g r r a a t t i i o o n n , , t t h h e e p p a a t t t t e e r r n n s s o o f f w w o o r r k k o o r r g g a a n n i i s s a a t t i i o o n n , , t t h h e e p p o o s s i i t t i i o o n n o o f f t t h h e e t t e e a a m m a a n n d d t t h h e e r r a a t t i i o o n n a a l l i i t t y y o o f f t t h h e e f f i i r r m m Pattern Simple combination pattern Two-tier combinationintegration pattern Integrated professional and interrelated to firmspecific expertise - pattern Organisation of teamwork Minor multi-prof. interaction, team members’ independency, nonprofessional project management Specialised niches of team members and some interprofessional approach, integration by the professional manager Small team, similar job descriptions, peer learning and low hierarchy Position of the team Matrix organisation and project-based teams Stable team, the position of the team at the beginning in value chain Stable team, the position of the team after the planning and production in value chain Rationality of the firm Efficiency with simple and relatively cheap services with qualified professional labour force Efficiency with high profile and expensive products and highly qualified professional employees Efficiency with new and relatively expensive services, qualified professional labour force The organisation of multi-professional collaborative work varied from the simple combination pattern to the integrated pattern. In addition, the integrated pattern included two subpatterns: the integration of different outcomes of team members and the inter-professional competence interrelated with firm-specific expertise. The shared technology-mediated work environment dominated the work and performance of the multi-professional teams in the case-study firms, which resulted in fluent, but also uneven and conflicting, teamwork. The patterns of organising the work either took into account the challenges included in multi-professional work, with respect to the shared technology-mediated work environment or did not pay attention to them for economic reasons. The patterns for organising multi-professional work were motivated by the rationality in the firms. The rationality of the firms followed the logic of the business field, i.e., profit-making with efficiency and economy in the work organisation. 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