Background

Regulatory changes in Austrian public administration have led to the introduction of New Public Management strategies. In response, the prison systemis undergoing a process of reorganization, unfolding along formal and informal structures and actions. In tandem with the transformation, the development of a software for impact monitoring—the so-called 'Cockpit' — has taken place. As organizational transformation is interwoven with the tool’s implementation, it reflects the ongoing changes. Thus, in this project, we build on this connection and examine the Cockpit tool through an interpretative artifact analysis. Organizational routines and action patterns are classified, enabling a better understanding of how the penal system is organized. This provides valuable insights for both research and practice.

Project Content, Aims and Research Questions

The penal system, a well-established sociological research field, has not yet been the subject of an interpretative analysis that reconstructs its organizational transformation through digitalization and technologization. While interpretative analysis tracing changes in public institutions are rare, digitalization in organizational settings is a well-researched field. The current project draws from both research fields and aims to provide a deeper understanding of a public sector's organization by examining its artifacts – specifically the “Cockpit” software in this case, which emerged through the digitalization process.

Against this background, the following main research question arises:

• How is organizational change processed through the introduction and implementation of the "Cockpit" artifact in the prison system?

To give a profound answer the questions below also need to be explored:

• Which actions in the prison system become effective in the course of the development and implementation of the "Cockpit" software?
• Which organizational processes can be reconstructed by analysing the use of  "Cockpit".
• Which action patterns and routines can be identified as characteristic of organizational change during the implementation of impact monitoring?

Method

Using the qualitative artifact analysis method by Froschauer and Lueger (2016), the development and implementation of "Cockpit" are reconstructed through six analytical steps including the conduction of interviews, document analysis and participating observation. This lays the foundation for inferring the formal and informal structures of the prison system's organization. Through a cyclical research process and a final comparative analysis, organizational routines and action patterns are examined.  

References:

Froschauer, Ulrike; Lueger, Manfred (2016): Artefact Analysis in Organisational Research. In: Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Center for Empirical Research Methods. Master Thesis Supply Chain Management (02).

Funding

The content does not necessarily represent the views of the state of Lower Austria or the Society for the Promotion of Research in Lower Austria as a funding agency. Therefore, neither the state of Lower Austria nor the funding agency can be held responsible for the content.