Abstract
Field operations in municipal governments have undergone fundamental adjustments. This empirical study investigated the ramifications of the strategic shift in government field operations when mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) were introduced for field crews in a multiyear process. The implementation had to overcome several serious socio-technical challenges. The data were collected using cognitive work analysis (CWA) and interpreted from a structurationist perspective. The study filled an important methodological gap: While structuration theory (ST) has been criticized for its paucity of guidance for empirical research, CWA has been denounced for its deterministic engineering approach to social systems. However, the subordination of the micro-meso-level CWA framework into the grand theory of ST resulted in an approach referred to as situated action analysis, which was found particularly useful for elucidating the observed feedbacks between human agency, the shaping of the information (technology) artifact, and the organizational structure.
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