On attitudes to change in a payroll accounting unit—A study of everyday practices

Abstract

Today, organisations face great challenges due to, for example, globalisation and rapid technological development (Norris, 2001). Since the twentieth century, the development of automation, manufacturing technology and digital communication have begun a sustained period of rapid socio-economic transformation. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics influence every industry. Technological advancement is a part of online interactions, communication and working life. (Gulliford & Parker Dixon, 2019.) In this thesis, I discuss and analyse how a public organisation’s payroll accountants experience the changes in their work and how their daily work practices are organised. The purpose of this study is to increase awareness about payroll accountants’ attitudes to change at Kansaneläkelaitos (Kela) by studying work practices described by the employees of the payroll accounting. In this study, a sampling of payroll accountants was interviewed. The payroll accountants work in the HR sector in a payroll accounting unit at the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). The payroll accountants work under the department of shared services. In Finland the attitude towards technological development is positive. According to the surveys of European Commission (2017), respondents in Finland (71 %) are most likely to say they have a positive view of robots and artificial intelligence. I describe an imaginary workday of payroll accountants through a narrative. I have used Gherardi’s practice theory in building the framework to analyse the results.