Artifacts in Interaction:The Production and Politics of BoundaryObjects

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine how boundary objects are produced and the role ofpower in this process. To do so, we investigated the use of boundary objects by managers to developa customer oriented culture in a newly formed telecommunications company. The boundary object inquestion comprise an artifact – a culture toolkit that contains a brochure explaining the new culture –accompanied by a video of the CEO explaining the new culture and workshop instructions andguidance - and the workshops themselves. In addition to these sources of data, a series of follow upinterviews were also conducted. Using discourse analysis, our findings suggest that an artifact canonly be developed and maintained as a boundary object through the interactions...