Vem är det som kör? - En fallstudie om automatisering

Abstract

In the current debate about how our future work life will be organised, automatization and robots gets a lot of attention in both media and recent studies. This new technology is by some believed to totally change how and where we will work. Our essay aim to fill the gap between the technological determinists and the socially oriented scientist by using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) by Callon (1986). ANT is a perspective that allows both the technological and social networks to be studied under the same framework. The essay is a case study in a organizational context that is considering implementing the technology of automatization with a self driving garbage truck. In the essay we have conducted semi-structured interviews with the actors involved in the network in order to get their view on the project. To get a wide perspective interviews were made with Managers, HR-Division, Union representatives, Chauffeurs and the garbage truck manufacturer. The actors expectations and fears are compared to get a view of how the project is received in the organizational context. In the analysis and discussion we try to map the networks and negotiations that are to be done in order to get the technology fully accepted by all actors. The actors’ different responses to the technology are then compared to prior results in both the technological and socially oriented studies. The result shows that different actors can have different agendas in accepting a technological change. Our essay shows that in order to get a new technological system implicated and accepted, negotiations within the network of actors must take place, including negotiations with the technology itself and the human actors involved. The result indicates a more complex situation in the introduction of new technology in the organizational context 2 than prior studies previously has shown. This study is of interest for HR-workers when introducing technology and technological changes within an organizational context.