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703199 JMIXXX10.1177/1056492617703199Journal of Management InquiryGärtner and Huber
research-article2017
Essay

Journal of Management Inquiry
Journal of Management Inquiry
Pick Up Your Tools: Integrating Tools 2018, Vol. 27(3) 267
2018, Vol. 27(3) 267 –283 –283
© The Author(s) 2017
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1056492617703199
https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617703199
https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617703199
https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617703199
Organizing DOI: 10.1177/1056492617703199
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1
Christian Gärtner and Christian Huber 2
Abstract
Mindful organizing has been heralded as an important way of managing unexpected events. Prior studies have mostly taken
a human-centered approach to mindful organizing. To account for the relevancy of tools in organizational practice, we draw
on the notions of inscriptions and sociomateriality to examine how a computer-based tool shapes mindful organizing in
a German hospital. This perspective on tools brings aspects of mindful organizing to the fore—inscribing the big picture,
inscribing temporality, and inscribing accountability—that have rarely been considered so far. Interestingly, some of the
tool’s shortcomings also fostered mindful organizing. The contribution of our study is to “pick up” the importance of
tools and integrate their role in a model of mindful organizing. This allows discussing issues of temporality that go beyond
conceptualizing time as a mere resource and the impact of accountability as it is produced in everyday work.

Keywords
health care, information systems, organizational behavior, tools, sociomateriality

Introduction organizing, in particular open communication and teamwork
or safety culture (Hines et al., 2008; Pronovost et al., 2006;
The stage is seldom set in an operation theater because unex- Vogus et al., 2010). Possibly, Weick’s (1996) famous call
pected events happen within as well as outside the theater: “Drop your tools” may have been taken too literally and led
emergency patients arrive, scheduled patients become ill so to a neglect of nonhuman factors such as tools in studies
that the surgery cannot be performed, the hospital-intern about mindful organizing. Notable exceptions focus on the
patient transport service arrives with the wrong patient or too impact of computer-based tools on mindful organizing (Butler
late at the operation theater, the planning and monitoring tool & Gray, 2006; Carlo, Lyytinen, & Boland, 2012; Melby &
gets crashed, and so on. In such a dynamic environment, Toussaint, 2011; Valorinta, 2009) but yield ambiguous, some-
actors on the stage of the operation theater have to perform times contradictory, findings about whether they facilitate or
what has been called mindful organizing to maintain highly inhibit mindful organizing. As a consequence—and although
reliable work processes (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007; Weick, the call for research about the role of tools in mindful organiz-
Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 1999). The challenge is to get the work ing is not new (see Gärtner, 2011; Jordan, 2010)—we know
done with high quality despite uncertainties, and there is evi- little about how tools shape processes of mindful organizing.
dence that mindful organizing is a means to achieve this high This article presents the findings of a case study in which
reliability in hospitals (Carroll & Rudolph, 2006; Hines, we explored how a computer-based tool—the operation the-
Luna, Lofthus, et al., 2008; Pronovost et al., 2006; Vogus, ater allocation plan (OTAP) that was used to manage the orga-
Sutcliffe, & Weick, 2010). nization of a hospital’s operation theaters—influences mindful
In health care organizations, computer-based tools, which organizing. To analyze this influence, we draw on the notions
incorporate standards or clinical practice guidelines, are ubiq- of sociomateriality and inscriptions because they emphasize
uitous (Ferlie & Shortell, 2001; Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, the constitutive role of nonhuman actors as part of social pro-
2000; Nigam, 2012; Timmermans & Berg, 2003). Despite the cesses, and pay particular attention to their materiality (Latour
omnipresence of tools in medical work, previous studies on
mindful organizing in this context are mostly human cen- 1 Quadriga University Berlin, Germany
tered. They often focus on directly transferring the five pro- 2 Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany
cesses of mindful organizing as outlined by the seminal work
of Weick et al. (1999) to medical work (e.g., Carroll & Corresponding Author:
Christian Gärtner, Department of Management & Economics, Quadriga
Rudolph, 2006; Sutcliffe, 2011; Vogus & Sutcliffe, 2007a, University Berlin, Werderscher Markt 13, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
2007b). Alternatively, they deal with antecedents of mindful Email: christian.gaertner@quadriga.eu