#12731. Shock Troops and Shock Absorbers: IT Support and Emotional Labor in the Rationalizing University

September 2026publication date
Proposal available till 10-05-2025
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Journal’s subject area:
Cultural Studies;
Anthropology;
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous);
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Abstract:
Drawing on 200 hours of observation at The Help Desk, an IT Support (ITS) unit at a medical school, and interviews with 30 ITS workers from across the university, this article shows how organizational-level IT rationalization was affected at the microlevel through ITS workers’ extensive emotional labor and involvement in meaning-making projects. Successful implementation required ITS workers to function as shock troops, introducing and enforcing new policies, and shock absorbers, encouraging compliance and insulating administrators from discontent about those changes. This article contributes to inhabited institutions theories of organizational change by demonstrating the importance of service workers’ interactive and emotional labor to the coupling of institutional myth, organizational policy, and the interactions and practices of constituent members.
Keywords:
emotional labor; IT support; organizational change; rationalization; street-level bureaucrats

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