| 1. |
- Alvesson, Mats, et al.
(author)
-
Unraveling HRM: Identity, ceremony, and control in a management consulting firm
- 2007
-
In: Organization Science. - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 18:4, s. 711-723
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper addresses human resources management (HRM) systems and practices in a large multinational management consultancy firm. The firm invests considerable resources in HRM, and is frequently praised by employees for its accomplishments in hiring, developing, and promotion. However, this general faith in HRM does not align particularly well with employees' experiences and perceptions of the specific HRM practices in the firm. The paper critically interprets the meaning and the functions of the HRM system and the beliefs supporting it. The paper suggests a reinterpretation of HRM systems and practices based on a cultural-symbolic perspective. It introduces the concepts of excess ceremonialism, identity projects, and aspirational control to highlight and interpret the significance of organizational symbolism in accounting for the role of HRM systems and practices, and the various effects of HRM systems and practices on employee identity and compliance.
|
|
| 2. |
- Barry, Daved, et al.
(author)
-
Going mobile : Aesthetic design considerations from Calder and the Constructivists
- 2006
-
In: Organization science (Providence, R.I.). - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 17:2, s. 262-276
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Design thinking has long tried to join form, function, and aesthetic appeal. In cars, furniture, architecture, typography, clothes, or photography, good designs regularly solve problems of movement, massing, and balance in attractive and inspiring ways. The field of organization design is comparatively young in this regard, having mostly focused on questions of efficiency and expediency rather than aesthetics; nevertheless, designers are increasingly being called on to create organizations that “sing” rather than just “work.” Here, we consider how aesthetically sophisticated design thinking from the arts might be applied in organizational design. Specifically, we consider the case of Learning Lab Denmark—a research institute that has experimented extensively with aesthetically informed organizational design—in light of the mobile art of Alexander Calder and other constructivist artists who championed flexible design. We conclude that in such organizations, (1) designers must strike an ongoing, interactive balance between centric and acentric design orientations and practices, (2) aesthetic consideration is fundamentally important when it comes to crafting effective design, and (3) designing processes should be given as much attention as design solutions.
|
|
| 3. |
- Bird, Miriam, et al.
(author)
-
Relational Embeddedness and Firm Growth : Comparing Spousal and Sibling Entrepreneurs
- 2018
-
In: Organization Science. - : Informs. - 1526-5455 .- 1047-7039. ; 29:2, s. 264-283
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Integrating relational embeddedness arguments with Penrosean growth theory, we compare the growth of firms run by spousal entrepreneurs with firms run by sibling entrepreneurs. We theorize that trust, identification, and mutual obligations-the three facets of relational embeddedness-are more pronounced in spousal teams than in sibling teams, which provides spousal teams with advantages over sibling teams in generating firm growth. Probing a sample of all private firms in Sweden over a three-year period, we find support for this conjecture. Exploring boundary conditions to this baseline relationship, we also find that firm age weakens the growth advantages of spousal teams over sibling teams and that industry experience heterogeneity within the entrepreneurial team reinforces these growth advantages. These results provide important contributions for research on firm growth, the social embeddedness of firms, entrepreneurship, and family business.
|
|
| 4. |
- Burt, Ronald S., et al.
(author)
-
Cooperation Beyond the Network
- 2022
-
In: Organization Science. - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 33:2, s. 495-517
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is well known in economics, law, and sociology that reputation costs in a closed network give insiders a feeling of being protected from bad behavior in their relations with one another. A person accustomed to doing business within a closed network is, therefore, likely to feel at unusual risk when asked to cooperate beyond the network because of absent reputation-cost security. It follows that business leaders in more closed networks should be less likely to cooperate beyond their network (Hypothesis 1). Success reinforces the status quo. Business leaders successful with a closed network associate their success with the safety of their network, so they should be even less likely to cooperate with a stranger (Hypothesis 2). We combine network data from a heterogeneous area probability survey of Chinese CEOs with a behavioral measure of cooperation to show strong empirical support for the two hypotheses. CEOs in more closed networks are less likely to cooperate beyond their network, especially those running successful businesses: successful CEOs in closed networks are particularly likely to defect against people beyond their network. The work contributes to a growing literature linking network structure with behavior: here, the closure that facilitates trust and cooperation within a network simultaneously erodes the probability of cooperation beyond the network, thereby reinforcing a social boundary around the network. Taking our results as a baseline, we close sketching new research on personality, homophily, network dynamics, and variation in themeaning of "beyond the network."
|
|
| 5. |
- Jonsson, Stefan
(author)
-
Refraining from Imitation : Professional Resistance and Limited Diffusion in a Financial Market
- 2009
-
In: Organization science (Providence, R.I.). - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 20:1, s. 172-186
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Why do some practices not spread? Although this is an important question for both diffusion theorists and those interested in institutional change, we know surprisingly little about the limitations on diffusion because most diffusion studies sample on successful diffusion. I address the question of why some practices fail to spread by introducing the concept of a "deviance discount." A deviance discount is a systematic downgrading of the observed adoption performance of controversial practices, which limits the contagion of such practices. I test and find qualitative and quantitative support for my thesis in the product introduction behavior of Swedish mutual fund firms. My findings hold implications for diffusion theory and theories of endogenous institutional change.
|
|
| 6. |
- Jonsson, Stefan, 1969-, et al.
(author)
-
The Limits of Media Effects : Field Positions and Cultural Change in a Mutual Fund Market
- 2011
-
In: Organization science (Providence, R.I.). - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 22:2, s. 464-481
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Our paper examines how field structures moderate the effect of the business press on organizational outcomes. Prior research suggests that the business press shapes organizational outcomes, but the question of how these effects depend on organizations' positions in a field has attracted limited attention. We address this theoretical limitation in an analysis of how mutual funds in Sweden were affected by periods when the business press increased its negative coverage of mutual fund fees. First, we expect that negative coverage influences the way customers evaluate mutual funds. Second, banks have long occupied a dominant position in this market, and we thus expect banks to be less affected by the negative coverage of fees than other mutual fund managers. We find support for our argument in a longitudinal quantitative analysis of financial net flows into mutual funds. The findings indicate the value of contextualizing media effects and considering how field positions moderate the effects of cultural processes.
|
|
| 7. |
- Kacperczyk, Aleksandra, et al.
(author)
-
Vertical and Horizontal Wage Dispersion and Mobility Outcomes: Evidence from the Swedish Microdata
- 2018
-
In: Organization science (Providence, R.I.). - : INFORMS. - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 29:1, s. 17-38
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using employer-employee matched data from Sweden between 2001 and 2008, we test hypotheses designed to assess the contingent nature of the relationship between wage dispersion and cross-firm mobility. Whereas past research has mostly established that dispersed wages increase interfirm mobility, we investigate the conditions under which pay variance might have the opposite effect, serving to retain workers. We propose that the effect of wage dispersion is contingent on organizational rank and that it depends on whether wages are dispersed vertically (between job levels) or horizontally (within the same job level). We find that vertical wage dispersion suppresses cross-firm mobility because it is associated with outcomes beneficial for employees, such as attractive advancement opportunities. By contrast, horizontal wage dispersion increases cross-firm mobility because it is associated with outcomes harmful for employees, such as inequity concerns. We further find that the vertical-dispersion effect is amplified (mitigated) for bottom (top) different-levelwage earners because bottom (top) wage earners have the most (least) to gain from climbing the job ladder. Similarly, the horizontal-dispersion effect is amplified (mitigated) for bottom (top) same-levelwage earners because bottom (top) wage earners are most (least) subject to negative consequences of this dispersion. More broadly, this study contributes to our understanding of the relationship between wage dispersion and cross-firm mobility.
|
|
| 8. |
- Karthikeyan, Soorjith, et al.
(author)
-
The Travails of Identity Change: Competitor Claims and Distinctiveness of British Political Parties, 1970-1992
- 2016
-
In: Organization science (Providence, R.I.). - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 27:1, s. 106-122
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- How does an organization change its identity, yet maintain distinctiveness? This question is especially interesting when we consider the fact that identityrepositioning often takes place among several organizations at the same time-giving rise to interrelated identity change and distinctiveness concerns. We investigate this question in the setting of British political parties, during a period when questions of identity change and distinctiveness were heightened, following a decline of political ideologies. Parties, we argue, sought to handle this situation through two broad strategies that we call identity affirmation and reformation. Identity distinctiveness was affirmed by identity claims that sought to counter and neutralize competing claims on aspects that were thought central to the identity of the party. To alter the identity, parties also sought to reform it by expanding identity claims to elements that were considered to be popular. Reformation efforts are however not unchecked expansion, but tempered by concerns of identity consistency and distance from other parties. We discuss contributions to theories of organizational identities and competitive rivalry.
|
|
| 9. |
- Larsson, Rikard, et al.
(author)
-
The Interorganizational Learning Dilemma : Collective Knowledge Development in Strategic Alliances
- 1998
-
In: Organization Science. - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 9:3, s. 285-305
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alliances are volatile key components of many corporations' competitive strategies. They offer fast and flexible means of achieving market access, scale economies, and competence development. However, strategic alliances can encounter difficulties that often lead to disappointing performance. The authors suggest that the way partners manage the collective learning process plays a central role in the success and failure of strategic alliances. Present understanding of interorganizational learning primarily focuses on how the individual organization can be a "good partner" or try to win the internal "race to learn" among the partners. The interorganizational learning dilemma is that (1) being a good partner invites exploitation by partners attempting to maximize their individual appropriation of the joint learning, and (2) such opportunistic learning strategies undercut the collective knowledge development in the strategic alliance. The authors develop a framework for understanding the dilemma through consideration of trade-offs between how collective learning is developed in alliances and how the joint learning outcomes are divided among the partners. They create a typology of five different learning strategies based on how receptive as well as how transparent an organization is in relation to its partners. The strategies are: collaboration (highly receptive and highly transparent); competition (highly receptive and nontransparent); compromise (moderately receptive and transparent); accommodation (nonreceptive and highly transparent); and avoidance (neither receptive nor transparent). Interorganizational learning outcomes are proposed to be the interactive results of the respective partners' type of adopted learning strategy. By synthesizing strategic alliance, organizational learning, collective action, and game theories, the framework contributes to understanding the variety in alliance development, performance, and longevity. Interorganizational learning is likely to be hindered by lack of either motivation or ability to absorb and communicate knowledge between the partner organizations. The dynamics of power, opportunism, suspicion, and asymmetric learning strategies can constitute processual barriers to collective knowledge development. In contrast, prior related interaction between the partners, high learning stakes, trust, and long-term orientation are likely to empower the collective learning process. Comparison of previous case studies and surveys of interorganizational learning provides partial empirical support for the proposed framework. The comparison also indicates several omissions in previous research, such as failure to consider either how receptive or how transparent the partners are, the interaction between their learning strategies, and their dynamic processes over time. Because these omissions are due partly to the methodological limitations of traditional case studies and cross-sectional surveys, the authors suggest a bridging case survey design for a more comprehensive test of their interactive, dynamic, and situational framework.
|
|
| 10. |
- Mikael, Holmqvist
(author)
-
Experiential Learning Processes of Exploitation and Exploration. An Empirical Study of Product Development
- 2004
-
In: Organization science (Providence, R.I.). - : Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). - 1047-7039 .- 1526-5455. ; 15:1, s. 70-81
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article examines a fundamental characteristic of modern organizations: the dynamics of exploitation and exploration in intra- and interorganizational learning processes. Exploitation is about creating reliability in experience, and thrives on productivity and refinement. Exploration is concerned with creating variety in experience, and thrives on experimentation and free association. The findings of a case study on product development within a leading Scandinavian software producer and its interorganizational collaborations with business partners suggest how experiential learning processes of exploitation and exploration within the organizations concerned generate interorganizational exploitation and exploration. Conversely, the data suggest how exploitation and exploration between the organizations generate intraorganizational exploitation and exploration. A conceptual framework describing the nature of such learning dynamics is proposed. This framework emphasizes that experiential learning is a driving force behind much intra- and interorganizational change in the form of transformations between exploitation and exploration.
|
|
