The Communicative Constitution of Organizations in an Era of Re-materialization: A Case Study of Three Organizations

This chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation from the perspective of three organizations captured through continuous interview and observation data gathered between late 2018 and the end of 2020. The purpose of the chapter is to cast light on the importance of spatial co-existence and the significance of spatiality for meaningful organizational interaction. Each of the investigated organizations have been selected because of how their core activities are spatially conditioned, and due to the fact that they share a history of spatial and societal importance, where physical space has served to legitimize core activities while also establishing and maintaining trust. Drawing on theories and perspectives of the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO), this chapter attempts to provide an answer to what happens to organizational members and the constitution, preservation and development of organizations when the activity of “work” becomes detached from physical space, and how the move from place-bound interactions to digital interactions affect the communicative constitution of organizations.