Towards a Processual Understanding of Task Complexity: Constructing task complexity in practice

Abstract

This study uses a process perspective to examine the construction of task complexity as a social practice that is continuously created and recreated. For this approach, we conducted an ethnographic case study of an intensive care unit in a large university hospital. By shifting the analytical focus from measuring task complexity to task complexity as a social practice, our research provides insight into the microprocesses involved in constructing task complexity. This paper stresses the importance of a processual view of task complexity by analysing how paths form, keep open, are enacted in parallel and eventually dissolve. We conclude with a process model of how task complexity is constructed. Our findings contribute to research on task complexity by (1) elaborating on the process of enacting task complexity in practice, (2) explaining the mechanisms driving the dynamics of task complexity and (3) stressing the dynamics of task complexity.