The fast-paced development of modern technology occurs at the center of current social, economic and organizational transformation, hence constituting an urgent object of research and teaching in a business school context. This elective covers both ‘classic’ thinking on modern technology as well as contemporary theories and analyses. We will work with philosophical and theoretical reflections as well as concrete cases from contemporary organizations and our individual lives. Themes include new technology in work-life, algorithmic profiling, data-driven surveillance and marketing, and contemporary warfare.

The course will thus explore the adoption of new technology in work-life, primarily centered on new communication technology. We discuss the ways in which smart phones are adopted as working tools in work life. Under the theme of new technology and work/life balance, we will explore the justifications that professional technology users give for using their company sponsored smart phones to engage in escalating work-related communication routines. We will also discuss the implementation of 'intelligent' design technologies in the care sector, exploring employees’ diverse handling strategies, which span from happy embrace to ardent resistance. The course will also take inspiration from Villadsen’s recent book, Foucault’s Technologies (Oxford University Press, Nov 2024), discussing how Michel Foucault’s work can be used to explore how people are increasingly ‘turned into data’ in recent phenomena like algorithm-based profiling and web-based surveillance. Finally, the course will explore how novel technology has shaped modern warfare in the use of drones, satellite data, and the ‘gamification’ of battle.

The seminar format requires a high student engagement in a small format (max. 30 students), which aims to ensure a lively learning environment. The seminar will make use of a dialogue-based learning atmosphere, centred on close discussion of the texts and subject matter, involving the students’ experiences in the dialogue. There is a requirement of oral student presentations and a short midterm essays to spur the intensity of the learning experience, which will also involve visual, aesthetic, and sensorial means. To this end, the seminar will include field visits, exposure to design and technological inventions. Possible field sites include DTU Skylab, and Global Connect data center.

The course prioritizes classroom discussion and debate over lectures in order to help participants develop their analytical capacity, self-refelction, and presentation skills that will enable them to address the increasingly significant role of technology in society, organizations, management, and our private lives.

In brief, topics and themes covered in the course: the nature of modern technology; how technology gives shape to organizational practices; the relationship between technology, power, and management; algotrithmic profiling, digital technology in warfare, and how technology has become part of our identity.