Things at Work: How Things Contribute to Performing Work (Sandberg et al., 2025)

Welcome to "Revise and Resubmit," the podcast where we dive into the latest, most impactful research from the world's top academic journals. And today, we’re exploring a fascinating study published in the prestigious Journal of Management Studies, part of the exclusive FT50 list. Title: "Things at Work: How Things Contribute to Performing Work"Authors: Jörgen Sandberg, Gloria Dall'Alba, Anna StephensPublished on: January 6, 2025 In a world increasingly driven by smart technologies and interconnected tools, have you ever stopped to wonder how much the "things" around us actually shape the way we work? This isn’t just about human skills and motivation anymore. This research sheds light on how things—algorithms, tools, and even raw materials—play critical roles in work performance. Drawing on ethnographic research in the biotechnology industry and grounded in Heidegger's ontology of things, the authors reveal three interrelated ways these "things" contribute to work: they belong to a nexus of usefulness, perform interlinked roles, and co-constitute performance alongside practitioners. They go further by identifying seven distinct roles things play—from providing and modifying, to framing and directing. This nuanced understanding opens up new avenues for enhancing organizational performance, and it challenges us to rethink how we design workspaces and adopt technologies. As we unpack these insights, I encourage you to think about your own work environment. How do the tools and technologies you interact with daily shape your performance? Could rethinking their roles help you or your team work more effectively? Before we dive into the details, a big thank you to the authors, Jörgen Sandberg, Gloria Dall'Alba, and Anna Stephens, and the publisher, the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd., for bringing us this groundbreaking study. Remember, you can catch every episode of "Revise and Resubmit" on Spotify, Amazon Prime, and Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, "Weekend Researcher," for more deep dives into the world of academic research. Now, here’s the curious question to ponder: If things could talk, what might they reveal about their true impact on our work lives? Reference Sandberg, J., Dall'Alba, G. and Stephens, A. (2025), Things at Work: How Things Contribute to Performing Work. J. Manage. Stud.. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.13182 Youtube Channel ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠ Support us on Patreon https://patreon.com/weekendresearcher