Technological and Organisational Dynamics

This research line investigates themes on the dynamics of organisations, technology, institutions, and the market. This line of research includes topics on Organisational, labour, and economic sociology studies; Institutional economics and governance; Engineering design, work, and ergonomics and studies on knowledge management and learning. It is an interdisciplinary area and includes researchers from different areas, such as Engineering, Administration, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. Studies in this line of research also use a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods.

Research topics addressed in the Technological and Organisational Dynamics research line

The sub-areas of the Technological and Organisational Dynamics research line, in which faculty members teach, concentrate on the following research topics:

  • Organisational, labour and economic sociology studies
  • Institutional economics and governance
  • Engineering, labour and ergonomics design
  • Knowledge management and organisational learning

Organisational, labour and economic sociology studies
This area starts from the premise that an organisation is a multifaceted phenomenon that cannot be satisfactorily understood from a single theoretical perspective, which allows a certain degree of theoretical pluralism. It focuses, above all, on the social constitution of the dynamics of markets, organisations and work, analysing them as historically, culturally and politically constituted phenomena. By addressing the social conditions that produced certain organisational configurations, it can encourage reflection on dominant approaches in the "here and now". Research topics involving not only the organisation itself, but the analysis of trajectories and positions of social agents that comprise it, such as entrepreneurs, executives, and certain professional categories are explored. Topics of interest include transformation of company models, including their strategies and organisational structures; financialisation processes of the economy and organisations; new organisational models aimed at innovation; the configuration of “platform capitalism” and its impacts on work; processes for re-legitimising business considering criticism from different stakeholders, such as environmental movements; the study of organisational cultures and collective action; the relations between state and economy. Methodological pluralism is valued, but there is a special interest in the use of relational analysis techniques, including analysing social networks and multiple correspondences. Professor Mário Sacomano Neto and Professor Silvio Eduardo Alvarez Candido work in this area.

Institutional economics and governance
This area proposes to study the influence of institutions on economic life focusing on the costs of negotiation between agents, on the market power resulting from coordinations considered more efficient and on the regulation policies of the various markets. Asymmetric information, uncertainty and moral risks in signing contracts and tacit agreements, vertical integration and quasi-integration schemes in production chains receive specific attention for studies concerning competitiveness and strategies of firms in the market. Forming cooperation networks as alternative and hybrid forms of market governance are studied in order to improve concepts and variables to analyse institutional economics. Professor Luiz Fernando de O. Paulillo and Professor Mário Sacomano Neto work in this area.

Engineering, labour and ergonomics design 
This area is focused on producing descriptive, explanatory and/or propositional models to design products, processes and work. Emphasis is placed on constructivist and dialogical design approaches, which integrate ascending and descending perspectives, favouring social actors´ communication and interactions in the design processes. Using digital technologies involving computer graphics, capturing scenarios, building evolutionary scenarios, using various simulation tools, capturing movements and using games is emphasised. Work is understood as a singular, historical and socially contextualised human activity, constituting, at the same time, the centre of analysis and a structuring and organising element of productive situations. It is assumed that it must be understood considering the conditions imposed by Technology, the Organisation and Society and from its descriptive aspects, related to an instrumental rationality aimed at efficiency and effectiveness, as well as the normative, relative aspects socially defined norms or criteria, which help designers and organisers make choices. Professor João Alberto Camarotto and Professor Sérgio Luis Silva work in this area.

Knowledge management and organisational learning
This area focuses on investigations regarding the dynamics of knowledge exchange and learning interactions between actors in the organisational space, especially in processes and environments where products, technologies, and innovation are developed. The different ways of working with knowledge and learning, the obstacles and incentives to these practices and cultures, are researched using a wide range of theoretical schools, particularly those of essential competences, strategic approaches, competitive intelligence, information systems, and human relationships. Empirical studies on these themes, in realities found in Brazil in private companies of various different sizes and sectors, and different public institutions, and comparisons with similar international studies, are required and encouraged as future research projects and contributions to the sub-area. Professor Sérgio Luis Silva works in this area.

Faculty members who teach Technological and Organisational Dynamics

Permanent faculty members who comprise the Technological and Organisational Dynamics research line are:

Specific courses in Technological and Organisational Dynamics research line are:

Research Groups of faculty members in Technological and Organisational Dynamics

The Technological and Organisational Dynamics line of research consists of faculty members from the following research groups registered in the CNPq directory: