On mobility and context of work: exploring mobile police work

This article aims to propose some elements for a theory of mobility. Mobility is the structural attribute of an age that heavily relies on information and mobile devices as identified by observed, cross-contextual research. It pervades most work and social organizations in various cultural and institutional expressions. Organizational structures rely heavily on the relationships of construction and utilization of information and on the context of interaction of the various actors. This paper explores issues of mobility within work activities of two distinct roles in a police force in the UK. Departing from the concept of mobility as interaction, this article seeks to put forth a more comprehensive theory of how to study the phenomenon of mobility within work organizations and across various roles. It advances the idea that mobility is linked strongly to work conditions and that in order to increase such state within organizations, we must use a triangulated analysis to understand both the relation with the environment of work as well as the relation with information.