The Blurred Line Through Technology
(2019) In Master Thesis BUSN49 20191Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Modern technology plays a significant role in transforming workplaces and creating an improved business performance. The technological advancements have enabled organizations to utilize technology platforms for increased brand performance since brand and branding have become highly important in today’s organizations. Our interest in the topic of technology in the background of brand-centred control arises from the fact that modern day technology has the power to influence employees in many ways leading to a blurred line between work and private life. And by technology, we specifically discuss the mobile technology in the form of an application that serves as a round the clock feedback system. We, therefore, aim to study how the employees... (More)
- Modern technology plays a significant role in transforming workplaces and creating an improved business performance. The technological advancements have enabled organizations to utilize technology platforms for increased brand performance since brand and branding have become highly important in today’s organizations. Our interest in the topic of technology in the background of brand-centred control arises from the fact that modern day technology has the power to influence employees in many ways leading to a blurred line between work and private life. And by technology, we specifically discuss the mobile technology in the form of an application that serves as a round the clock feedback system. We, therefore, aim to study how the employees make sense of technological influences in relation to brand-centred control. The study is conducted in a well-known Swedish retail chain known for the brand and its message and our target group is the front-line service workers holding the designation of sales advisors. Since we believe in the socially constructed nature of reality, we see the study in the light of interpretive tradition by delving into the different meanings attached by employees in relation to technological influences in the background of brand-centred control. We also incorporate elements of hermeneutics by comprising an analytical circle of text. Additionally, the study takes on an abductive approach to data collection. For the purpose of the research, we conduct semi-structured interviews and informed workplace observations with front-line employees in the retail chain along with an analysis of textual content related to the organization and the technology platform. The research portrays how employees make sense of the technological influences in relation to brand-centred control. This sensemaking further leads to the formulation of the technology in the form of an app as a mode of control. Additionally, the employee sensemaking suggests that the app acts as a motivator or ‘boost’ for employees to align and regulate themselves to organizational culture and brand. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8990830
- author
- Hellström, Amanda LU and Revi, Aparna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- A Study on the Influence of Technology in Relation to Brand-Centred Control
- course
- BUSN49 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Technology, Sensemaking, Service Organizations, Organizational Culture, Brand, Brand-centred control, Control, Internal Branding, Normative Control, Neo-Normative Control
- publication/series
- Master Thesis
- language
- English
- id
- 8990830
- date added to LUP
- 2019-08-07 12:44:39
- date last changed
- 2019-08-07 12:44:39
@misc{8990830,
abstract = {{Modern technology plays a significant role in transforming workplaces and creating an improved business performance. The technological advancements have enabled organizations to utilize technology platforms for increased brand performance since brand and branding have become highly important in today’s organizations. Our interest in the topic of technology in the background of brand-centred control arises from the fact that modern day technology has the power to influence employees in many ways leading to a blurred line between work and private life. And by technology, we specifically discuss the mobile technology in the form of an application that serves as a round the clock feedback system. We, therefore, aim to study how the employees make sense of technological influences in relation to brand-centred control. The study is conducted in a well-known Swedish retail chain known for the brand and its message and our target group is the front-line service workers holding the designation of sales advisors. Since we believe in the socially constructed nature of reality, we see the study in the light of interpretive tradition by delving into the different meanings attached by employees in relation to technological influences in the background of brand-centred control. We also incorporate elements of hermeneutics by comprising an analytical circle of text. Additionally, the study takes on an abductive approach to data collection. For the purpose of the research, we conduct semi-structured interviews and informed workplace observations with front-line employees in the retail chain along with an analysis of textual content related to the organization and the technology platform. The research portrays how employees make sense of the technological influences in relation to brand-centred control. This sensemaking further leads to the formulation of the technology in the form of an app as a mode of control. Additionally, the employee sensemaking suggests that the app acts as a motivator or ‘boost’ for employees to align and regulate themselves to organizational culture and brand.}},
author = {{Hellström, Amanda and Revi, Aparna}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Master Thesis}},
title = {{The Blurred Line Through Technology}},
year = {{2019}},
}