Delve: What Robotic Surgery Reveals About Organizational Change

At first the operating room appears to be missing its surgeon—in the surgeon’s place, a robot, surgical tools at the ready, towers over the patient. Surgical robotic technology is specialized in design and purpose, yet in practice it illuminates more universal insights into how the introduction of new technologies spurs changes to people’s embodied actions, causing both intended and unexpected impacts.

“The introduction of new technology in organizations is an occasion to rethink how we organize, how we work, and how we coordinate,” says McGill Desautels Faculty of Management Professor Samer Faraj, who studied how the da Vinci robot reconfigured workplace coordination. When your workplace is a high-stakes hospital operating room, any changes to movement, workflow, and professional roles require immediate attention and a significant rethinking of coordination.

For more insights, read the full article with Professor Samer Faraj on Delve and read the research paper, Losing Touch: An Embodiment Perspective on Coordination in Robotic Surgery.

Bringing Insight to the Surface

Founded in 2019, Delve is the official thought leadership publication of McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Under the direction of Professor Saku Mantere, inaugural Editor-in-Chief, Delve features the latest in management thinking that stretches perspectives, sparks new ideas, and brings clarity to decision-makers at all levels and across sectors.