Claudio Ciborra
Encyclopedia
Claudio Ciborra was a professor of Information Systems and PWC Chair in Risk Management in the London School of Economics
. Prior to the LSE, he was professor at the Theseus International Management Institute
.
. His contribution ranks among that of the top names in this and related fields such as Shoshana Zuboff
, Wanda Orlikowski, Steve Barley, Lynn Markus, Lucas Introna
, Jannis Kallinikos
, Geoff Walsham, Rob Kling, Robey, Chrisanthi Avgerou and Richard Boland. He collaborated widely, including with such scholars as Ole Hanseth (University of Oslo
) and Giovan Francesco Lanzara (University of Bologna
).
Ciborra contributed to the following areas.
.
.
For further information see Labyrinths of Information, OUP, 2002
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Prior to the LSE, he was professor at the Theseus International Management Institute
Theseus International Management Institute
Theseus International Management Institute was founded in 1989 as a graduate business school focussed on the high technology sector. In 2004 it merged into EDHEC.-The beginning:...
.
Main research interests
Ciborra was an original thinker in his field: the Social Study of Information SystemsSocial Study of Information Systems
Most simply The Social Study of Information Systems is interested in people developing and using technology and the "culture" of those people.SSIS studies these phenomena by drawing on and using "lenses" provided by social sciences, including: Philosophy, Sociology, Social Psychology,...
. His contribution ranks among that of the top names in this and related fields such as Shoshana Zuboff
Shoshana Zuboff
Shoshana Zuboff is the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School . She was born in 1951 and is an American citizen. One of the first tenured women at the Harvard Business School, she earned her Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University and...
, Wanda Orlikowski, Steve Barley, Lynn Markus, Lucas Introna
Lucas Introna
Lucas D. Introna is Professor of Organisation, Technology and Ethics at the Lancaster University Management School. He is a scholar within the Social Study of Information Systems field. His research is focused on the phenomenon of technology...
, Jannis Kallinikos
Jannis Kallinikos
Jannis Kallinikos is an organization and communication scholar and intellectual. He was born in the town of Preveza, western Greece. He is also a citizen of Sweden. Kallinikos is currently a professor in the Information Systems and Innovation Group, Department of Management at the London School...
, Geoff Walsham, Rob Kling, Robey, Chrisanthi Avgerou and Richard Boland. He collaborated widely, including with such scholars as Ole Hanseth (University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
) and Giovan Francesco Lanzara (University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
).
Ciborra contributed to the following areas.
- The relationship between technology and organizations
- Transaction cost theory and IS
- Organizational learning, bricolage and improvisation
- IS infrastructures.
Improvisation
Ciborra goes beyond the typical characterisation of improvisation as situated, pragmatic and contingent action by referring to the existential condition of the actor (his “moods feelings, affectations and fundamental attunement with the situation”). By eschewing the notion of the actor as a “robot” adapting to changing circumstances he reintroduces the personal human aspects that shape our encounters with the world and shows how our affectations define the situation at hand and so shape action.Bricolage
As expounded by Ciborra, Bricolage can be seen as the constant re-ordering of people and resources, the constant "trying out" and experimentation that is the true hallmark of organisational change. But Bricolage is not a random trying out, Ciborra emphasises that it is a trying out based on leveraging the world "as defined by the situation".Hospitality (Xenia)
Hospitality is Claudio's attempt to present an alternative conception of how IT/IS is implemented. He rejects the scientific explanations of IS implementation (planning, design, goals, targets, methods, procedures) and instead views technology as an alien embodying and exemplifying its alien culture and affordances. Successful implementation is achieved when the "host" organisation (i.e. that implementing the technology) is able to extend courtesy and to absorb and appropriate/assimilate the alien culture where it offers advantages such as new ways of working. Claudio also warns that the host must beware that the guest can quickly become hostile.Crisis
Ciborra claims that much of the IS and IT world (particularly their strategic management, marketing, academia and training organisations) are in crisis. He teaches that this is because IS and IT are treated as scientific disciplines when in fact they are social disciplines and hence thinking about them is based in an inappropriate paradigm which we might call "Positivism" (although Ciborra does not use this term).Formative Context
Ciborra drew on the work of Roberto Unger and showed how IS can embody and so be enacted as Formative ContextFormative Context
Formative contexts are the institutional and imaginative arrangements that shape a society's conflicts and resolutions. They are the structures that limit both the practice and the imaginative possibilities in a socio-political order, and in doing so shape the routines of conflict over social,...
.
- Drift
- Caring
- The Platform Organisation
Gestell
Ciborra analyses Information System infrastructure using Heidegger's concept of GestellGestell
Gestell is a German word used by twentieth century German philosopher Martin Heidegger to describe what lies behind or beneath modern technology.-Heidegger's notion of Gestell:...
.
For further information see Labyrinths of Information, OUP, 2002
See also
- Social informaticsSocial informaticsSocial informatics is the study of information and communication tools in cultural, or institutional contexts...
- Social Study of Information SystemsSocial Study of Information SystemsMost simply The Social Study of Information Systems is interested in people developing and using technology and the "culture" of those people.SSIS studies these phenomena by drawing on and using "lenses" provided by social sciences, including: Philosophy, Sociology, Social Psychology,...
- Social shaping of technologySocial shaping of technologyAccording to , "Central to Social Shaping of Technology is the concept that there are `choices' inherent in both the design of individual artifacts and systems, and in the direction or trajectory of innovation programs."If technology does not emerge from the unfolding of a predetermined logic or...