Dispositioning it all

towards a theory for thriving without models

pp. 401-422

in: Chrisanthi Avgerou, Lanzara, Leslie Willcocks, Bricolage, care and information, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

Against the background of Heidegger's Being and Time, we take the ancient Chinese philosophy of chance, together with some core insights from Clausewitz's On War, in order to claim that it is the way in which a company is already disposed that opens up opportunities for a competitive edge over its rivals. We remind that any specific organization already exists, and as such it already has a disposition towards its environment; it is already committed in a self-meaningful manner towards its own survival and prosperity. We contend that plans, intentions, or technologies do not drive action, but rather the disposition in which the company, as a whole, grasps the environment, and from which it assesses its possibilities for profit. We submit that the central notion of disposition, introduced in this paper, best serves us in coping and profiting in a world now entangled in information and communication technologies.