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Consumerist Organizations: a Visual Analysis

Bakó Rozália Klára, PhD

Sapientia EMTE Csíkszereda

 bakorozalia@sapientia.siculorum.ro

Abstract

Status symbols play a key role in identifying and differentiating organizational members

through dress and personal adornment, office design, technology and dramaturgical props

(Pratt–Rafaeli 2001). Since today’s organizations tend to use more and more portable and

instrumental status symbols, information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a key

role both as mediators and carriers of power and status. In spite of early warnings on

gadgetization (Stern–Zahzah 1975), there is little public awareness on the environmental

impact of ICTs, a recent global report has shown (Association for Progressive

Communications 2010). We propose a presentation of the Greening Information Technology

 Project  carried out by the Region, Environment, Culture Research Group1, as part of the

 broader  Action Research Network programme2, and guidelines of future participatory visual

research assessing ICT use in Romanian organizations.

 Keywords: greening organizations, status symbols, information technology, visual studies

1. Greening information technologies: a project overview

The Region, Environment, Culture Research Group (an interdisciplinary taskforce of 

researchers and practitioners founded in 2007 by Transylvanian scholars from the Sapientia – 

Hungarian University of Transylvania) has been involved in ICT- and environmental

sustainability-related research activities since 2009, proposed and coordinated by the

Association for Progressive Communications. The Greening Information Technology project

(2010–2012) had a preliminary research startup in 2009: we completed a national and a

regional policy scan, developed a research agenda and brainstormed ideas for a future

collective global campaign dedicated to greening information technologies. Next year the

group has participated at the Global Information Society Watch report dedicated to ICTs and

environmental sustainability (Bakó 2010).

A climate change- and ICT policy overview for Romania has shown that the country

has made significant steps ahead since the fall of the communist regime in terms of aligning

to European and international policy-making standards (1989–2009). Accession to the

European Union (EU) in 2007 imposed stricter standards and regulations in all areas,

 particularly in highlighted fields like environmental protection and ICTs. Main gaps found in

the overall Romanian policymaking process were the lack of legislative stability; a

misconduct of the political elites; poor institutional capacity; a low level of public awareness

1 http://reconect.org/about-us/2 coordinated by the Association for Progressive Communications and funded by the International Development

Research Centre: http://nlf.apc.org/archives/283

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on policy making issues, and a low level of public participation in decision making processes

(Bakó–Péter–Sólyom 2010).

  In 2011 the Region, Environment, Culture Research Group has developed its capacity

  by conducting community development research projects and by learning about visual

methods and action research. We have disseminated results of our projects at more than tenconferences and workshops, both nationally and internationally. The Greening Information

Technology project agenda has been moved forward by public presentations at a televised

conference (Bakó 2011a) and at a local community workshop3. Both presentations were

needs-driven: from a range of topics proposed to media and community organizers, they have

chosen “Greening Organizational Communication”.

 Image 1: Green virtual office: light, minimal, ergonomic

 _______________________________________________ 

Source: Követ.hu (a green office tutorial in Hungarian, presented at a community workshop)

In May (Bakó 2011b) we have raised the idea of consumerism in organizations at a Sociology

Conference4 and presented key findings of the Global Information Society Watch on climate

change and ICTs from an organizational perspective (APC 2010). Although EU policies and

large telecommunications companies are leading the way towards a greener use of their 

resources in general, ICTs in particular (Bakó 2011a), most organizations are unaware of the

risks and hazards of gadgetization (Stern–Zahzah 1975) at the workplace. Overconsumption,

 poor management of energy, time and space affect both our micro- and macro environment.

The carbon footprint of ICTs (Dunn 2010), the issues of tackling e-waste (Shanmugavelan

2010), and ways of greening the economy (MacLean–Akoh–Egede-Niessen 2010) are not partof the mainstream public discourse yet.

 

2. Status symbols in organizations: more and more instrumental and portable

Symbols are the the raw material of identity construction in organizations: they are

“visible, physical manifestations of organizations and indicators of organizational life”

(Rafaeli–Worline 1999: 2). Organizational symbols as physical markers of social and personal

locus in organizations “may signal and affirm an employee’s identity by defining his or her 

status and distinctiveness categorization” (Elsbach 2006: 63). An office’s size and location,

number of windows, and quality of furnishings indicate the organizational actor’s rank, prestige, and status. Research suggests that status markers have little impact on performance,

and yet “perceived inequalities in status markers evoke both strong emotional reactions from

employees and calls for changes in markers for more appropriate levels” (Elsbach 2006: 64).

People use symbols to reveal both how they are different from and how they are

similar with others (Pratt–Rafaeli 2001). Physical symbols enact relationshios and convey

messages on organizational identity and status – a complex web of intertwined meanings.

Pulling out a singular symbol and analyzing it out of its context would distort the whole

3Bakó R.K. (2011): Környezettudatos szervezeti kommunikáció: zöldülő irodák. [Greening Offices] Caritas

Gyulafehérvár Vidékfejlesztés szeminárium, Székelyudvarhely, november 23.4 Bakó R.K. (2011): Organiza ia consumeristă.ț  Prezentare la Conferin a anuală a Facultă ii de Sociologie iț ț ș  

Asisten ă Socială – Societatea Sociologilor din România, 27-28 mai, Bucure tiț ș

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 picture of identity construction in organizations: “the study of symbols needs to go beyond

discrete treatment of the meaning of  individual  symbols to looking at  patterns of symbols”

(Pratt–Rafaeli 2001: 13). There are four types of organizational status symbols, according to

the Pratt and Rafaeli interpretation scheme: a) dress and personal adornment; b) physical

landscape and office design; c) technology (computers, phones, cars), and d) dramaturgical props (letterhead, diplomas, awards). When looking at organizational status symbols, two

main dimensions should be taken into consideration: instrumentality and portability. Today’s

organizations tend to use more and more instrumental and portable status symbols (Pratt– 

Rafaeli 2001: 24) and technology plays a key role in this process (Bakó 2010b).

Gadgetization and a poor management of organizational resources are characterizing

consumerist organizations: in spite of the economic downturn, businesses, governments and

civil society actors are unaware of greening ICTs advantages and good practices. A pilot

research conducted on environmental NGOs from Romania5 has shown that lead activists

were uninformed about the impact of ICTs on climate change. The Greening Information

Technology research project is moving forward in Romania by conducting an online survey to

assess nongovernmental organizations’ environmental awareness related to ICTs issues; on

the other hand, we plan to conduct a participatory visual research in order to involve local

communities in climate change action.

3. Consumerist organizations: participatory visual research in 2012

In January 2012 the Association for Progressive Communications and the

International Development Research Centre are organizing a research capacity building

workshop for their researchers and activists6

. Action research and participatory methodologiesare on the frontpage of the agenda, since most network members are conducting research and

evaluation activities.

Participatory research frameworks will be also discussed at the workshop, and visual

methodologies’ approach will be proposed by the Region, Environment, Culture Group as an

exercise. As a principle, we shall start with a pilot case study in Transylvania and gradually

expand it to other communities.

Web 2.0 applications – blogs, social networking sites, photo and video sharing

channels will also be used both in collecting and disseminating research results within the

community. An empirical research on ICT use in Romanian organizations will be conducted

in 2012, with a focus on environmental awareness and green office practices. For example,

environmental organizations will be asked to assess their online communication:

 Image 2: How “green” is your organization’s webpage?

 _______________________________________________ 

Source: http://eng.zoldszekely.ro/

Participant organizations will be involved during the whole proces, from planning and

implementing to the dissemination stage of the research. Environmental organizations from

5twelve structured interviews conducted with environmental NGO leaders in May 2011.

6 Johannesburg, 23-28 January 2012

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Szeklerland region of Romania will play a lead role in mobilizing other community

stakeholders to participate actively in the research project.

References

Association for Progressive Communications (APC)(2010): Global Information SocietyWatch. ICTs and Environmental Sustainability. http://giswatch.org/en/2010

Bakó R. K. (2010a): Europe. ICTs and Environmental Sustainability. Global Information

Society Watch. http://giswatch.org/en/europe/europe

Bakó R. K. (2011a): Környezettudatos szervezeti kommunikáció. Adatbank Café konferencia-előadás, május 12. [Greening Organizational Communication]

http://adatbankcafe.adatbank.ro/?v=64

Bakó R. K. (2010b): Organizational Discourses as Status Symbols. Acta Sapientiae, Philologica, 2(1): 151–160.

Bakó R.K. (2011b): Organiza ia consumeristă.ț  Prezentare la Conferin a anuală a Facultă ii deț ț  

Sociologie i Asisten ă Socială – Societatea Sociologilor din România, 27-28 mai,ș ț  

Bucure tiș

Bakó, R.K. – Péter, P. –Sólyom, A. (2010): Greening Information Technologies in Romania.

A Research Agenda. Reconect, 2(1): 51–59.

Elsbach, K. (2006): Perceptual Biases and Misinterpretation of Artifacts. In: Rafaeli, A. – 

Pratt, M. G. (Eds.) Artifacts and Organizations. Beyond Mere Symbolism, 61–85.  NewJersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Dunn H. (2011): The Carbon Footprint of ICTs. Global Information Society Watch, 15–16. 

MacLean, D. – Akoh, B. – Egede-Nissen, B (2010): ICTs, sustainability and the green economy.

Global Information Society Watch, 17–19.

Pratt, M. G. – Rafaeli, A. (2001): Symbols as a Language of Organizational  Relationships. Haifa: Technion Institute of Technology 

Rafaeli, A. – Worline, M. (1999): Symbols in Organizational Culture. Haifa: Technion

Institute of Technology 

Shanmugavelan, M. (2010): Tackling e-waste. Global Information Society Watch, 23–25. 

Stern, L.W. – Zahzah, T. (1975): The resources crisis. Intereconomics, 10(6): 179–181.

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 Image 1: Green virtual office: light, minimal, ergonomic

 

 Image 2: How “green” is your organization’s webpage?