| 1. |
- Alvesson, Mats, et al.
(author)
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Habitat and Habitus: Boxed-in versus Box-Breaking Research
- 2014
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 1741-3044 .- 0170-8406. ; 35:7, s. 967-987
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper argues that scholarly work is increasingly situated in narrowly circumscribed areas of study, which are encouraging specialization, incremental adding-to-the-literature contributions and a blinkered mindset. Researchers invest considerable time and energy in these specialized areas in order to maximize their productivity and career prospects. We refer to this way of doing research and structuring careers as boxed-in research. While such research is normally portrayed as a template for good scholarship, it gives rise to significant problems in management and organization studies, as it tends to generate a shortage of novel and influential ideas. We propose box-breaking research as a strategy for how researchers and institutions can move away from the prevalence of boxed-in research and, thus, be able to generate more imaginative and influential research results. We suggest three versions: box changing, box jumping and, more ambitiously, box transcendence.
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| 2. |
- Barry, Daved, et al.
(author)
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Seeing more and seeing differently : Sensemaking, mindfulness, and the workarts
- 2010
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 31:11, s. 1505-1530
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The past years have seen a marked rise in arts-based initiatives in organizations, a field we term the workarts. In this paper, we review the workarts in light of sensemaking theory, and especially the role of mindfulness within it. We propose that the workarts foster mindfulness by directing attention away from immediate work concerns and towards analogous artifacts. We identify three distinctive workarts movements - art collection, artist-led intervention, and artistic experimentation. In each movement, we find analogous artifacts that defamiliarize organizational members' habitual ways of seeing and believing, enabling them to make new distinctions and to shift contexts: to see more and see differently. Our review raises a number of questions for the workarts in particular and research on analogical artifacts in general.
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| 3. |
- Bejerot, Eva, et al.
(author)
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Forms of Intervention in Public Sector Organizations : Generic Traits in Public Sector Reforms
- 2013
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 34:9, s. 1357-1380
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The present paper argues that recent research on public sector reforms offers few contributions to the body of knowledge on this topic because it adds little to the conclusions drawn during the first generation of research in this area. Although these later studies have often been context-specific and have explored the details of the process of change in some depth, it is rather difficult to compare their results or to make reasoned judgements of the comprehensiveness and centrality of the analysed change. Although most public sector reforms that affect hospitals, schools or social services are initiated and designed by national governments, individual case studies of local administrations often fail to capture the generic traits of nationwide reforms. However, public sector change cannot be approached as if it comprises collections of nominally independent local events. The present paper argues for two new approaches to the study of public sector change: (i) the systematic categorization of the different forms of governmental intervention under study and (ii) analysis of the ways in which these forms of intervention are linked and interact. Based on extensive empirical research, this paper suggests a generic classification of these forms of intervention that can be used in empirical research on comprehensive public sector change. Consequently, five interventions in public sector organizations are suggested, namely political intervention, intervention by laws and regulations, intervention by audit and inspection, intervention by management and intervention by rationalizing professional practice. The model is particularly well suited to the longitudinal analysis of complex public sector reforms. This approach provides a conceptual tool to distinguish between interventions based on different forms of knowledge and to investigate how they are linked to each other vertically and horizontally. We demonstrate the usefulness of the model by analysing two empirical examples of reforms in which a variety of interventions were imposed at the local level, through legislation as well as a spectrum of voluntary measures proposed by government agencies, by national associations for local and regional councils and by other national or regional actors.
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| 4. |
- Bolander, Pernilla, et al.
(author)
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How Employee Selection Decisions are Made in Practice
- 2013
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications (UK and US). - 1741-3044 .- 0170-8406. ; 34:3, s. 285-311
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Existing literature on employee selection contains an abundance of knowledge of how selection should take place but almost nothing about how it occurs in practice. This paper presents an ethnomethodological-discourse analytical real-time study of how selection decisions are made in situ. The main findings suggest that selection decision making is characterized by ongoing practical deliberation involving four interrelated discursive processes: assembling versions of the candidates; establishing the versions of the candidates as factual; reaching selection decisions; and using selection tools as sensemaking devices. In addition, this paper identifies two basic forms of selection decision making: one characterized by initial agreement and one characterized by initial disagreement. In each basic form of decision making, selectors reason through the four discursive processes in a methodical, situated and practical manner in order to construct local versions of the candidates and make 'reasonable' selection decisions.
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| 5. |
- Brunsson, Nils, 1946-, et al.
(author)
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The Dynamics of Standardization : Three Perspectives on Standards in Organization Studies
- 2012
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 33:5-6, s. 613-632
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper suggests that when the phenomenon of standards and standardization is examined from the perspective of organization studies, three aspects stand out: the standardization of organizations, standardization by organizations and standardization as (a form of) organization. Following a comprehensive overview of existing research in these three areas, we argue that the dynamic aspects of standardization are under-represented in the scholarly discourse. Furthermore, we identify the main types of tension associated with standardization and the dynamics they generate in each of those three areas, and show that, while standards and standardization are typically associated with stability and sameness, they are essentially a dynamic phenomenon. The paper highlights the contributions of this special issue to the topic of standards as a dynamic phenomenon in organization studies and makes suggestions for future research.
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| 6. |
- Buhr, Katarina, 1980-
(author)
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The Inclusion of Aviation in Emissions Trading : Temporal Conditions for Institutional Entrepreneurship
- 2012
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 35:11, s. 1565-1587
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent literature on institutional entrepreneurship has examined the enabling conditions under which actors may influence institutional arrangements. Whereas conditions at field level and among actors have been highlighted, scholars have paid little attention to how and why the field is amenable to change at certain times and how actors act upon these conditions in a timely fashion. This paper examines the temporal conditions for institutional entrepreneurship. I propose that a collective of time-aware institutional entrepreneurs opens a window of opportunity for policy breakthrough by relating its activities to temporally favorable conditions of the multidimensional institutional process. These theoretical propositions are illustrated through an empirical case study of how aviation was targeted for its climate change impact by inclusion in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Drori, I., et al.
(author)
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A Process Model of Internal and External Legitimacy
- 2013
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In: Organization Studies. - : Sage Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 34:3, s. 345-376
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the results of a longitudinal case study depicting the relationship between internal and external legitimacy at Orion, an emergent creative professional firm. We address the following questions: How do different types of legitimacy emerge, and how do they interact to shape organizational evolution? Introducing a staged process model, we demonstrate that organizational legitimacy is a product of action, which is continually reproduced and reconstructed by members of an organization in concert with external legitimation activities. Internal and external legitimacy evolve through a process of emergence, validation, diffusion and consensus, sometimes recursively repeating the cycle when imbalances result in conflict and friction.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Haug, Christoph, 1975
(author)
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Organizing spaces: Meeting arenas as a social movement infrastructure between organization, network, and institution
- 2013
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 34:5-6, s. 705-732
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years, social movement scholars have shown increasing interest in the internal lives of social movements, but this turn from “social movements as actors” to “social movements as spaces” has not yet led to a conceptual apparatus that addresses the key role of face-to-face meetings, especially in the inter-organizational domain of mesomobilization. Building on the concept of “partial organization”, the paper develops the concept of “meeting arena” as a hybrid of three forms of social order: organization, institution, and network. It is argued that the complex figuration of meeting arenas in a social movement or protest mobilization constitutes an infrastructure that synchronizes the dispersed activities of movement actors in time and space. This infrastructure is not an entirely emergent phenomenon but is also the result of conscious decisions by organizers. Heuristic, methodological, and theoretical implications of this novel perspective on social movements are discussed, highlighting especially the potential of the distinction between organizing and mobilizing as two intertwined but essentially different types of social movement activity.
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| 13. |
- Helin, Sven, et al.
(author)
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Resisting a corporate code of ethics and the reinforcement of management control
- 2010
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 31:5, s. 583-604
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study is about how a corporate code of ethics travels into a multinational corporation's subsidiary, focusing on how members of the subsidiary recontextualize, relabel and explain the code (to themselves and others). What emerges is the story of a code that is disliked by its receivers, but yet signed by them all, avowing that they have 'read, understood and accepted' it, thereby reinforcing the parent's control system. We argue that this seeming contradiction can be explained in terms of the receivers resisting the code by distancing themselves from it through the devaluation of (i) social referents, (ii) the code's core ethical content and (iii) the expected outcome of implementing the code. These distancing practices enable the receivers to position themselves as outside of power, which, in turn, enable them to sign the code.
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| 14. |
- Håkansson, Kristina, 1959, et al.
(author)
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Work organizational outcomes of the use of temporary agency workers
- 2012
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 33:4, s. 487-505
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article examines work organizational dynamics in workplaces using temporary agency workers. Previous research has principally either emphasized one effect, the division into core and periphery, or criticized this effect. This article contributes to a more nuanced analysis of how the work organization of user firms is affected by the use of temporary agency workers. Crucial factors influencing the outcome include: how agency workers are integrated into the work organization; the skills required for the work performed by agency workers; the duration of assignments; the induction time; and the access to competence development. Based on ten Swedish cases, our analysis shows that the use of temporary agency workers has three different outcomes: (1) The Core and Periphery outcome is in line with previous research on ‘the flexible firm’ whereby temporary agency workers are assigned simple work tasks and user firm employees perform advanced work tasks; (2) the All Core outcome entails using agency workers for the same advanced work tasks as user firm employees. Contradicting the theory of ‘the flexible firm’, our study shows that temporary agency workers contribute to functional flexibility; (3) the third outcome, All Periphery, occurs when the work organization is adapted to the use of low-skilled agency workers who are easily introduced into the workplace and easily terminated. However, adapting the work organization to the use of temporary agency workers also influences user firm employees, leading to deskilling and a deteriorated work organization for all workers at that workplace.
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| 15. |
- Jensen, Tommy, et al.
(author)
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Stakeholder theory and globalization : the challenges of power and responsibility
- 2011
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In: Organization Studies. - : Sage Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 32:4, s. 473-488
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Globalization is a blind spot in stakeholder theory and this undermines its explanatory power and usefulness to managers in global corporations. In this paper we build on Edward Freeman and colleagues’ attempts to construct divergent stories about how to create value for the corporation and its stakeholders when developing a stakeholder theory that is more sensitive to globalization. We achieve this by highlighting two particular challenges that globalization brings to stakeholder theory. The first challenge is to acknowledge new power relations (sub-political movements, new forms of bureaucracy and hierarchy) and the second is to acknowledge new dimensions of responsibility (a political responsibility). In the paper we relate our developments of stakeholder theory to two previously published case studies.
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| 16. |
- Kociatkiewicz, Jerzy, et al.
(author)
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The good manager : An archetypical quest for morally sustanable leadership
- 2012
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In: Organization Studies. - : Sage Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 33:7, s. 861-878
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper explores the potential for morally sustainable leadership, i.e., leadership with an awareness of both light and dark sides contained in the role of the leader, as symbolized by the archetype of the king. A narrative enquiry aiming at the study of fictive stories authored by management theorists and practitioners from different contexts, interweaving collective individual elements, brings to light how issues of leadership goodness are related to each other and to other themes. The stories are presented as archetypical tales, that is, stories that touch profound aspects of culture and the psyche. They reveal what happens when people are asked to imagine a good manager, and how this results in tragic ironic representations, rather than tales of straightforward goodness.
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
- Lampel, J., et al.
(author)
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Organizational Ingenuity : Concept, Processes and Strategies
- 2014
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In: Organization Studies. - : Sage Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 35:4, s. 465-482
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this introduction to the special issue we explore the main features of 'organizational ingenuity', defined as 'the ability to create innovative solutions within structural constraints using limited resources and imaginative problem solving'. We begin by looking at the changing views of the importance of ingenuity for economic and social development. We next analyse the nature of ingenious solutions. This is followed by a discussion of structural, resource and temporal constraints that face problem solvers. We next turn our attention to creative problem solving under constraints. We contrast 'induced' and 'autonomous' problem solving. The first arises when external stakeholders or top managers impose tasks that define problems for the individuals and groups that must solve them; the second arises when these individuals and groups recognize and define the problems for themselves. We argue that in both induced and autonomous problem solving, individuals and groups that wish to act creatively confront two types of constraint. The first are 'product constraints' that define the features and functionalities that are necessary for a successful solution. The second are 'process constraints' that stand in the way of creative problem solving in a given organizational context. We argue that both types of constraints can lead to organizational ingenuity, but that dealing with process constraints is crucial for organizational ingenuity, and hence for sustaining organizational ingenuity more generally. We provide an overview summary of the articles in the special issue, and conclude with suggestions for future research.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Raviola, Elena, 1981, et al.
(author)
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Bringing Technology and Meaning into Institutional Work: Making News at an Italian Business Newspaper
- 2013
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 34:8, s. 1171-1194
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article we investigate the role of technology and meaning in the institutional work of newsmakers. By analysing ethnographic data from an Italian business newspaper undertaking a project integrating the print and online newsrooms, we show how technology makes certain actions possible - and even proposes action - for the journalists, in their enactment of the institution of business news. Drawing on Callon's notion of agencement and Battilana and D'Aunno's conceptualization of human agency in institutional work, our analysis shows that action is taken in the interaction between humans and non-humans, and changes in technology might trigger institutional work. The institutional work of journalists is performed by means of both old and new technologies; if new technologies trigger institutional work by proposing new actions that need to be made meaningful by the journalists, old technology functions as a law book', where the institution of business news is inscribed. The journalists then use this law book' to interpret the new actions.
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| 21. |
- Rennstam, Jens
(author)
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Object-control: A study of technologically dense knowledge work
- 2012
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 1741-3044 .- 0170-8406. ; 33:8, s. 1071-1090
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Drawing on the literature on active objects and combining it with an ethnographic study of engineering work, this paper offers an alternative and complementary understanding of the problem of control in knowledge-intensive work. This problem concerns largely the question of how creative processes of knowing are enabled on behalf of the organization. The dominant response to this question revolves around the idea that when work becomes complex, the management attempts to control the norms and identifications of employees, rather than their behaviours. Through the concept of object-control, the idea is introduced that organizational objects participate on behalf of the organization in processes of knowledge control by interpellating organizational members; that is, organizational members are invited to interact with the objects and to creatively develop knowledge in order to solve organizational problems. The study covers ground that the established notions of normative control and identity regulation have neglected, and suggests new ways of advancing the scholarship of organizational control by taking the active participation of organizational objects into account.
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| 22. |
- Yakhlef, Ali
(author)
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The corporeality of practice-based learning
- 2010
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In: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; 31:4, s. 409-430
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Practice-based approaches to learning and knowing can be credited with their contribution to, among other things, establishing the social basis for human cognition, action and interaction. However, although they emphasise the (ontological) significance of practice, inter/action and activity as the basis of learning and knowing, little attention has been paid to the body - that which makes all doing and performs all action. The aim of the present study is to suggest a corporeal ground for a practice-based learning theory. The body is regarded as our link to the practical (social and material) world, and is thus the medium of learning and knowing. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's (1962; 1964; 1968) advanced phenomenology learning is viewed as a process of incorporating and absorbing new competencies and understandings into our body schema, which in turn transforms our ways of perceiving and acting. Learning is corporeal, pre-discursive and pre-social, stemming from the body's perpetual need to cope with tensions arising in the body-environment connections. The study closes with some theoretical and practical implications for practice-based approaches to learning and knowing.
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| 23. |
- Bergström, Ola, 1968, et al.
(author)
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Exercising social responsibility in downsizing: enrolling and mobilizing actors at a Swedish high-tech company
- 2011
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In: Organization Studies. - 0170-8406. ; 32:7, s. 897-919
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper critically examines the claim made by previous research that companies exercise corporate social responsibility (CSR) by responding to stakeholder interests. It is based on a field study of the events following the announcement of collective redundancies at a Swedish high-tech company. Although more than 10,000 workers were dismissed, the company was accepted as being socially responsible. The study reveals that this outcome was the result of a process whereby corporate representatives managed to enrol and mobilize a network of actors into being faithful to, and defending, their definition of social responsibility. This indicates that a company can assume an active role in the construction of the same network of actors that it is asked to respond to and impose upon other actors its own definition of what it means to be socially responsible. As a result, the translation of CSR within the network of actors may reinforce the powerful position of the company, rather than curb it.
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