Handoff World: Challenges to Meaningful Work in a Fragmented Knowledge Economy

Abstract

In contrast to the experience of alienation in classic industrial labor, knowledge workers have been shown to seek self-realization in and identify with their work. Yet scholars have also begun to note that distributions of knowledge work are becoming increasingly fragmented. Handoffs appear to have become a key aspect of the experience of knowledge work, as the interdependent knowledge and skills necessary to complete a job are now more frequently distributed across intra- and extra-organizational boundaries. In order to better understand how knowledge workers perceive and strategically respond to the loss of ownership and control inherent in handoffs, we draw on an intensive ethnography of practitioners at a global product design consultancy. Our data detail how practitioners' emotional discourse and strategic behavior are primarily directed at preventing the sudden death of their initiatives after handoff and at preserving the spirit and intent of their initiatives despite loss of direct control. We di...