Introduction

The title ‘Ghosts in the machine’ is used here to draw attention to how organisations comprise people who in turn shape – and are shaped by – their ways of organising. These include organisational structures such as how tasks are divided between labour and rules of accountability and authority, as well as the applications of technologies-in-use. Job roles and tasks concentrate individual and collective experiences in particular ways. This is because these features concentrate workplace experiences and enculturate people into established ways of acting. Over time people collectively develop routines which then become habits and work norms, establish collective meaning and identity.