The Misfits in Knowledge Work: Grasping the Essence with the Lens of the IT Knowledge Artefact

The workplace is changing rapidly and knowledge work is conducted increasingly in settings that are global, digital, flat and networked. The epicenter of value-creation are the individuals and their interactions. Unified Communication and Collaboration Technology (UC&C) supports individual interactions, collaboration and knowledge creation. The use of this technology is growing globally. In a previous study, we found that UC&C in collocated and distributed settings, produced misfits and fits between situated enacted practice-use of UC&C and the experienced productivity. We respond to the KITA 2015 call with this work-in-progress paper. We apply the IT Knowledge Artefact (ITKA)-interpretive lens from Cabitza and Locoro (2014) to a case of knowledge workers struggling with appropriation of UC&C for creating and sharing practice knowledge. We evaluate the framework - and discuss the usefulness of the lens in this specific setting. To further improve and enrich, we pose questions, aiming at contributing to the communication of valuable insights informing the design and use of future ITKAs in knowledge work.