Marlot Kuiper

74 Connective Routines The concept of affordances is nowadays backed in psychology, human–computer interaction, sociology, information systems and organisation practice literatures. In studies on organisational practice the matter of ‘materiality’ gains increasing attention. Barrett et al., (2012), Fayard & Weeks, (2007) and Orlikowski (2000) have all emphasized that practice is always situated in socio-material environments. If we want to understand such organizational processes, we need to consider how organisational structure, social practice, material context, and physical artefacts are intertwined. This adds to the assumption of Berg (1997) that artefacts can transform workplaces in important ways, but that their generative power can neither be attributed to the tool or its users but arises from their interrelationship in action. In this thesis, I distinguish between material and spatial affordances of artefacts. With material affordances, I mean the material properties of the artefact itself. The design of an artefact affords different action possibilities. A digitalized checklists, on an Ipad for example, is assumed to afford quick information exchange. With a checklist printed on paper that needs to filled out by hand, this is less the case. In short, material properties generate different utilities. With spatial affordances, I refer to the possibilities to use an artefact in its physical context. Giddens nicely puts the influence of the environment on possible action patterns in his structuration theory. Although Giddens considers agency restricted to humans (cf. Latour’s notion of ‘actants’), he states “people do what they do […] in physical contexts, which are highly relevant to the possibilities and constraints facing any individual or group […] We live in a physical world that has causal effects in the sense that you can’t walk through a wall” (Giddens & Pierson, 1998, p. 821). Previous research has demonstrated that the physical environment is important for understanding behaviour patterns. Wineman & Peponis (2010) for example conducted a study in the cultural sector, in which they explored the role of spatial layout in shaping the ways in which visitors explore, engage and understand museums and museum exhibitions. I consider the spatial affordance of artefacts – thus their possible uses – of great importance since in hospital settings, “jobs by nurses, physicians, and others often require a complex choreography of direct patient care, critical communications, charting, filling meds, access to technology and information, and other tasks” (Ulrich et al., 2004, p. 5). Professional work in these settings thus encompasses high levels of mobility, in which transfer and accessibility of artefacts is of crucial importance. Analyses of the number