Developmental Work Research

Developmental work research is an innovative approach to the study and reshaping of work and learning. It expands cultural-historical activity theory by bringing it to the domains of work, technology and organizations. The world of work is in turmoil, increasingly dominated by 'runaway objects' generated by globalization and greed. Developmental work research rediscovers and expands use values in runaway objects. In workplace interventions it engages practitioners in expansive re-forging of the objects of their work. In 18 chapters, this book lays out the theoretical and methodological foundations of developmental work research. The practical potential of the approach is demonstrated in a number of case studies, ranging from courts of law and factories to schools and health care clinics. Yrjö Engeström is Professor of Communication at University of California, San Diego and Professor of Adult Education at University of Helsinki. He is Director of the Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research in Helsinki.

Inhalt
1;Titel
;3
2;CONTENTS;5
3;FOREWORD;6
4;INTRODUCTION: IN SEARCH OF THE SAMPO;8
5;PART I: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY;14
5.1;1. Activity theory and individual and social transformation
;15
5.2;2. Development as breaking away and opening up:
A challenge to Vygotsky and Piaget;35
5.3;3.
Interobjectivity, ideality, and dialectics;47
5.4;4.
Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity-theoretical reconceptualization;57
5.5;5.
Object-oriented interagency: Toward understanding collective
intentionality in distributed activity fields;86
5.6;6.
Values, objects and rubbish;115
5.7;7.
Communication, discourse and activity;134
5.8;8.
Activity theory and the social construction of knowledge:
A story of four umpires;153
5.9;9.
From individual action to collective activity and back:
Developmental work research as an interventionist methodology;164
6;PART II: EMPIRICAL APPLICATIONS;190
6.1;10.
Coordination, cooperation and communication in courts:
Expansive transitions in legal work;191
6.2;11.
Polycontextuality and boundary crossing in expert cognition:
Learning and problem solving in complex work activities;209
6.3;12.
Mundane tool or object of affection? The rise and fall of the
Postal Buddy;233
6.4;13.
Change Laboratory as a tool for transforming work;282
6.5;14.
Learning actions and knowledge creation in industrial work teams;297
6.6;15.
On the materiality of social capital: An activity-theoretical exploration;357
6.7;16.
Can a school community learn to master its own future? An activitytheoretical
study of expansive learning among middle school teachers;371
6.8;17.
The discursive construction of collaborative care;388
6.9;18.
New forms of learning in co-configuration work;425
7;References;437
8;Index ;466