Lecture by Cinthia Stohl

You are cordially invited to a public lecture given by Cynthia Stohl entitled:

"Does emerging technology mean the end of organizations as we know them?"  

Based on her recently published book, Collective action in organizations: Interaction and engagement in an era of technological change (Cambridge University Press, co-authored with A. Flanagin and B. Bimber) Professor Stohl challenges the popular argument that the increasing presence and use of social media and emerging new communication technologies mean the end of traditional formal organizations in collective action. Rather, Professor Stohl suggests that to understand the relationship between individuals and organizations in the contemporary era, we need to develop theories of technology that go beyond media use and the functionalities afforded by these new technologies and focus on two defining features of contemporary media, end-to end structure and ubiquity.  Professor Stohl will examine how these technological features have consolidated and accelerated many historical boundary-spanning developments that strongly influence the relationship between organizations and organizing.  Paradoxically, organizations flourish when spatial contexts and time frames become reconstituted within webs of increasing personal connectivity and entrepreneurial activity.

Cynthia Stohl, President of the  International Communication Association (2012-2013)  is Professor of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Information Technology and Society. Her work focuses on organizing and network processes across a wide range of global contexts, including workplace participation programs, corporate/NGO partnerships, activist organizing, and clandestine organizations.  A signature of Stohl’s work is global connectivity and her empirical studies span several countries in Europe and Asia as well as New Zealand and the United States.  Her interests in communication technologies arose from her studies of boundary permeability and emerging networks in organizational collaborations and the contemporary global social justice movement.  Stohl is the author of more than 100 articles and two books including Collective action in organizations: Interaction and engagement in an era of technological change (2012, Cambridge University Press, co-authored with A. Flanagin and B. Bimber)  and Organizational Communication: Connectedness in Action (1995, Sage) . The recipient of several research and teaching awards Professor Stohl  is a  fellow of the International Communication Association. 

Feel free to contact Robyn Remke (rr.ikl@cbs.dk) with questions.