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Becoming (a) Practice

University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, bjorkeng{at}sintef.no

Stewart Clegg

University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, s.clegg{at}uts.edu.au

Tyrone Pitsis

University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

This article presents findings from longitudinal ethnographic research of a mega-project alliance. For five years we followed the leadership team of a large Australian Alliance Program made up of a large public and several private organizations, analyzing `practice' as novel patterns of interaction developed into predictable arrays of activities, changing and transforming while at the same time continuing to be referred to as `the same'. In this article we focus on three such arrays of activities: authoring boundaries, negotiating competencies and adapting materiality. We suggest that these are essential mechanisms in becoming a practice. While most studies of practice deal with already established practices, the significance of our research is that we develop a notion of practice as it unfolds. In this way we can provide a better account of the constant change inherent in practices.

Key Words: alliancing • construction • practice • project management

Management Learning, Vol. 40, No. 2, 145-159 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1350507608101226


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