The Internationalisation of PTT Telecom: A Cultural Perspective - Free

46Latour (1994) calls these products of the interaction of nature and societyhybrids. He propounds that the more modern science tries to separate the twodifferent zones of nature and society, the larger the production of hybrids willbe. One of the examples of a hybrid is the Eclipse MV/8000 mini-computerdescribed by Latour in his book The Action of Science (1988). The constructionof the computer prototype was delayed by the close down of the computer chipproduction line, by social problems in the research team, by the debuggingprogram and met pressure by the sales department to develop the computer asfast as possible. By the time the construction of the mini-computer was it wasperceived as a black box. Latour claims that the Eclipse MV/8000 computer wasconstructed out of natural artefacts, such as the computer chip and societalartefacts, such as the interaction in the team. The computer is thus not a blackbox but a hybrid.The ‘symmetric anthropology’ investigates these hybrids by assuming themas networks, which like a railway never goes beyond the local as long as onestays on the rail. In this way, large organisations can be studied.The organisation of an American company is not like the Kafka organisation.It is a basket-work of networks that is embodied by order notes andorganisation flows, local procedures and specific arrangements that canstretch over a continent just on the condition that it does not cover the wholecontinent. One can follow networks in an organisation without ever a changeof level or without ever discovering a deconstructed rationality (Latour1994: 171).The anthropologist follows networks within the organisation and by doing sohe does not go beyond the local level. As a result the global always stays local.The hybrids can be unravelled by means of following the local network ofconnections because macro actors are constructed with micro actors. Latourtherefore, proposes to follow the construction and production of hybrids. If thisis done it will become clear that at a specific point the ‘quasi object’ has thecharacter of a natural artefact and at another point it assumes the character of asocietal artefact and at other times it has the character of a social relationship.This theoretical perspective of Latour can be used as a methodology to studycross-cultural cooperation in the telecom sector. By following the network of anactor different connections can be made. These connections lead to technicalartefacts, social constructions, national cultures, the restructuring of the telecomindustry and to personal coping strategies. The network of the actor isapproached from the actors’ perspective and follows the actions and dailyactivities. The connections are made by free associations and are not restrictedby presuppositions of its reality. Latour calls the mapping of heterogeneousassociations ‘sociologica’ (Latour 1988: 261). The connections in the actor’snetwork are always ‘logical’ from the actor’s perspective even when differentlevels within or outside an organisation are being passed. The theoreticalframework constructed to study the cross-cultural cooperation in the telecomsector is thus a combination of Chanlat’s multi-level model and the‘sociologica’ of Latour. Chanlat’s framework is used to explore the telecom