2007

November 
Melbourne

Workshop on Identity, Boundary Objects

Professor Robyn Thomas from Cardiff Business School presented her research, being conducted with the University of Melbourne's Leisa Sargeant and Cynthia Hardy, on how boundary objects are produced through the negotiation of meaning and the role played by power in this process.

The study explores the use of a boundary object - a cultural toolkit for developing a new customer oriented culture - by managers in a telecommunications company. The study shows that this artifact was developed and maintained as a boundary object only through the interactions of a range of actors as they collectively negotiated its meaning, and that power played an important role in these negotiations, especially in relation to vertical relations among participants.

In addition, two doctoral students presented their work, with Dinuka Wijetunga speaking about the role of marketing, consumption and artifacts in social shaping of technology and Lauren Gurreri speaking about the construction of 'cool' identities.

May 
Melbourne

Workshop on Identity

Dr Caroline Essers from the Nijmegen School of Management presented a paper on her research into the identity constructions of female entrepreneurs of Moroccan and Turkish origin in the Netherlands. This study examines how the discourse on entrepreneurship constructs a heroic archetype, which is also gendered and ethnocentrically determined. It also shows how women of Moroccan and Turkish origin deal with various demands concerning their female ethnicity to come up with 'enterprising' identity strategies.

In addition, two doctoral students presented their work, with Steve Jaynes presented his study into a discursive approach to study strategic change and Primo Garcia presenting his doctoral work on identity work in universities in response to recent higher educational reforms.

February
Melbourne

Workshop on Discourse and Technology

University of Melbourne ICRODSC members hosted an international workshop on Discourse and the Fate of Technologies, which was attended by 27 academics and doctoral students from Australia and overseas.

Papers presented as part of the workshop included,

• genetic modification by Bill Doolin, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand,
• DDT by Steve Maguire, McGill University, Canada,
• the Israeli high-tech industry by Tammar Zilber, Hebrew University, Jerusalem,
• nanotechnology by Mike Lounsbury, University of Alberta, Canada,
• global financial markets by Marc Ventresca, Oxford University, England,
• web-based portals by Zelinna Pablo, University of Melbourne, Australia, and
• Enterprise Resource Planning by David Grant and Richard Hall, University of Sydney, Australia.

The second day of the workshop included a debate concerning the future of organisational discourse in the study of organisations and a Q&A on the topic focusing on the topic 'That first job: What I'd like to know?'