Showing papers in "Administrative Science Quarterly in 1997"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop one of perhaps multiple specifications of embeddedness, a concept that has been used to refer broadly to the contingent nature of economic action with respect to cognition, social structure, institutions, and culture.
Abstract: This chapter aims to develop one of perhaps multiple specifications of embeddedness, a concept that has been used to refer broadly to the contingent nature of economic action with respect to cognition, social structure, institutions, and culture. Research on embeddedness is an exciting area in sociology and economics because it advances understanding of how social structure affects economic life. The chapter addresses propositions about the operation and outcomes of interfirm networks that are guided implicitly by ceteris paribus assumptions. While economies of time due to embeddedness have obvious benefits for the individual firm, they also have important implications for allocative efficiency and the determination of prices. Under the conditions, social processes that increase integration combine with resource dependency problems to increase the vulnerability of networked organizations. The level of investment in an economy promotes positive changes in productivity, standards of living, mobility, and wealth generation.
9,137 citations
4,242 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an argument and evidence for a structural ecology of social capital that describes how the value of an individual's social capital to an individual is contingent on the number of people doing the same work.
Abstract: I present argument and evidence for a structural ecology of social capital that describes how the value of social capital to an individual is contingent on the number of people doing the same work. The information and control benefits of bridging the structural holes—or, disconnections between nonredundant contacts in a network—that constitute social capital are especially valuable to managers with few peers. Such managers do not have the guiding frame of reference for behavior provided by numerous competitors, and the work they do does not have the legitimacy provided by numerous people doing the same kind of work. I use network and performance data on a probability sample of senior managers to show how the value of social capital, high on average for the managers, varies as a power function of the number of people doing the same work.
3,376 citations
2,784 citations
2,234 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a multifaceted qualitative investigation of everyday conflict in six organizational work teams, with repeated interviews and on-site observations providing data on participants' perceptions, behaviors, and their own analyses of their conflicts, resulting in a generalized conflict model.
Abstract: I thank the interviewed organizational members for their assistance and patience and Jonathon Blake, Roxanne Jones-Toler, Keith Murnighan, and Keith Weigelt for their assistance on this paper. This paper presents a multifaceted qualitative investigation of everyday conflict in six organizational work teams. Repeated interviews and on-site observations provide data on participants' perceptions, behaviors, and their own analyses of their conflicts, resulting in a generalized conflict model. Model evaluation indicates that relationship conflict is detrimental to performance and satisfaction; process conflict is also detrimental to performance; and task conflict's effects on performance depend on specified dimensions. In particular, emotionality reduces effectiveness, resolution potential and acceptability norms increase effectiveness, and importance accentuates conflict's other effects. Groups with norms that accept task but not relationship conflict are most effective. The model and the findings help to broaden understanding of dynamics of organizational conflict and suggest ways it can either be alleviated or wisely encouraged.'
1,857 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of a chief executive officer's hubris in explaining the large size of some premiums paid for acquisitions, and found that four indicators of CEO hubris are highly associated with the size of premiums paid: the acquiring company's recent performance, recent media praise for the CEO, a measure of the CEO's self-importance, and a composite factor of these three variables.
Abstract: This study examines the role of a chief executive officer's hubris, or exaggerated self-confidence, in explaining the large size of some premiums paid for acquisitions. In a sample of 106 large acquisitions, we found that four indicators of CEO hubris are highly associated with the size of premiums paid: the acquiring company's recent performance, recent media praise for the CEO, a measure of the CEO's self-importance, and a composite factor of these three variables. The relationship between CEO hubris and premiums is further strengthened when board vigilance is lacking-when the board has a high proportion of inside directors and when the CEO is also the board chair. On average, we found losses in acquiring firms' shareholder wealth following an acquisition, and the greater the CEO hubris and acquisition premiums, the greater the shareholder losses. Thus, CEO hubris has substantial practical consequences, in addition to having potentially great theoretical significance to observers of strategic behavior.
1,583 citations
1,579 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a theoretical framework that integrates institutional and network perspectives on the form and consequences of administrative innovations and found strong evidence for the importance of institutional factors in determining how innovations are defined and implemented.
Abstract: The authors thank Rakesh Khurana, Mark Shanley, and Edward Zajac for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. The paper has also benefited from the helpful comments of Christine Oliver and three anonymous reviewers for ASQ, as well as the editorial assistance of Linda Johanson. The following groups provided data used in this study: The AHA Hospital Research and Educational Trust, the AHA Data Survey Group, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, and the Health Care Investment Analysts. We also thank the Baxter Foundation and the Graduate Program in Health Services Management at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management for generously funding this research. Additional support was provided by the A.C. Buehler Chair in Health Services Management at the Kellogg School. An earlier version of the paper received the 1996 West Press Best Paper Award in the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management. This study develops a theoretical framework that integrates institutional and network perspectives on the form and consequences of administrative innovations. Hypotheses are tested with survey and archival data on the implementation of total quality management (TQM) programs and the consequences for organizational efficiency and legitimacy in a sample of over 2,700 U.S. hospitals. The results show that early adopters customize TQM practices for efficiency gains, while later adopters gain legitimacy from adopting the normative form of TQM programs. The findings suggest that institutional factors moderate the role of network membership in affecting the form of administrative innovations adopted and provide strong evidence for the importance of institutional factors in determining how innovations are defined and implemented. We discuss implications for theory and research on institutional processes and network effects and for the literatures on innovation adoption and total quality management.*
1,464 citations
TL;DR: The authors distinguish three distinct modes of selective interorganizational imitation: frequency imitation, trait imitation, and outcome imitation (imitation based on a practice's apparent impact on others) and investigate whether these imitation modes occur independently and are affected by outcome salience and contextual uncertainty in the context of an important decision: which investment banker to use as adviser on an acquisition.
Abstract: We thank Jim Baron, Alison Davis-Blake, Werner DeBondt, Mike Hannan, Matthew Kraatz, Dan Levinthal, Craig Olson, Jeff Pfeffer, Thekla Rura, Andreas Schwab, Sidney Winter, and seminar participants at the Wharton School, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford University for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper Drawing on neoinstitutional and learning theories, we distinguish three distinct modes of selective interorganizational imitation: frequency imitation (copying very common practices), trait imitation (copying practices of other organizations with certain features), and outcome imitation (imitation based on a practice's apparent impact on others) We investigate whether these imitation modes occur independently and are affected by outcome salience and contextual uncertainty in the context of an important decision: which investment banker to use as adviser on an acquisition Results of testing hypotheses on 539 acquisitions that occurred in 1988-1993 show that all three imitation modes occur independently, but only highly salient outcomes sustain outcome imitation Uncertainty enhances frequency imitation, but only some trait and outcome imitation The results highlight the possible joint operation of social and technical indicators in imitation, illuminate factors that moderatewvicarious learning processes, and show asymmetries between learning from success and failure'
1,166 citations
TL;DR: JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals as mentioned in this paper, which is used by the JSTOR Open Access Program.
Abstract: Stable URL:http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0001-8392%28199709%2942%3A3%3C421%3AIFAACA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8Administrative Science Quarterly is currently published by Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University.Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtainedprior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content inthe JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/journals/cjohn.html.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. Formore information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.http://www.jstor.orgTue May 29 05:39:41 2007
TL;DR: Abrahamson et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the extent to which executives' boundary spanning relations inside and outside their industry affect organizational strategy and performance and found that the alignment of executives' external ties with the firm's strategy will be beneficial to firm performance.
Abstract: We are grateful to Eric Abrahamson, Ron Burt, Eric Leifer, Aneil Mishra, and Bob Yavitz for their contributions on earlier drafts of this manuscript. The paper has also benefited from the constructive comments of Associate Editor Mark Mizruchi and three anonymous ASO reviewers. We examine the extent to which executives' boundary spanning relations inside and outside their industry affect organizational strategy and performance. We posit that the informational and social influences of external ties will be reflected in the degree to which the organization's strategy conforms to or deviates from the central tendencies of its industry and that the alignment of executives' external ties with the firm's strategy will be beneficial to firm performance. Using a multiyear sample of firms in the branded foods and computer industries, we find that executives' intraindustry ties are related to strategic conformity, that extraindustry ties are associated with the adoption of deviant strategies, and that alignment of executives' external ties with the informational requirements of the firm's strategy enhances organizational performance. Our results also show that a unique or differentiated strategy is not universally advantageous and that the benefits accruing from strategic conformity are especially strong in the more uncertain computer industry.'
TL;DR: This article used data from a field study of five large U.S. restaurant chains to model how chains use a plural form-simultaneous use of company and franchise units-to maintain uniformity and achieve systemwide adaptation to changing markets.
Abstract: The paper profited greatly from the careful reading and helpful comments given by Nitin Nohria, Herminia Ibarra, Steve Barley, and the three ASO reviewers. The author is grateful to Robert Eccles, Paul Lawrence, Peter Marsden, and Pat Kaufmann for their early help in framing the issues, to the companies that served as research sites, and to the Division of Research at Harvard Business School for its financial support. This article uses data from a field study of five large U.S. restaurant chains to model how chains use a plural form-simultaneous use of company and franchise units-to maintain uniformity and achieve systemwide adaptation to changing markets. From interview and observational data, I identify organizational structure, control systems, career paths, and strategy-making processes as four means through which the combination of company and franchise units helps chains achieve their objectives. The paper shows how the control and innovation processes provided by this plural form ameliorate some of the weaknesses and leverage some of the strengths of the company and franchise arrangements, enhancing the performance of the chain overall.'
TL;DR: Brockner et al. as mentioned in this paper found that employees' trust in organizational authorities would be more strongly related to their support for the authorities when they perceived the outcomes associated with authorities' decisions to be relatively unfavorable.
Abstract: The authors thank Keith Murnighan, Batia Wiesenfeld, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript Please address correspondence to Joel Brockner, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 The studies reported here evaluated the conditions under which the relationship between employees' trust in and support for organizational authorities will be more or less pronounced We hypothesized that employees' trust in organizational authorities would be more strongly related to their support for the authorities when they perceived the outcomes associated with authorities' decisions to be relatively unfavorable The results of three field studies, in markedly different contexts, supported this prediction In essence, the establishment of trust seems to be a potent force in overcoming the otherwise adverse reactions that employees may exhibit in reaction to decisions yielding unfavorable outcomes Theoretical implications for the literatures on organizational trust and organizational justice are discussed, as are some practical implications and limitations of the studies'
TL;DR: This paper developed the theme of resistance from below in everyday organizational life, focusing on material circumstances and subjective states that lead to subtle forms of subversion and sabotage, as well as to more overt forms of defiance and protest.
Abstract: This collection develops the theme of resistance from below in everyday organizational life. Building on a body of theory dealing with power, control and domination in the labour process, international contributors expand the analysis by focusing on material circumstances and subjective states that lead to subtle forms of subversion and sabotage, as well as to more overt forms of defiance and protest. Discussion is supported throughout by case studies, interviews, surveys and ethnographic data drawn from around the world, to reveal resistance practices which range from those hidden in the "crawl spaces" of organizations to those that are more public and demonstrative. Recent developments in critical social theory are used to provoke thinking about resistance, both as a response to power and a form of power. The contributions show that oppressive practices at work can be met with powerful counterforces.
TL;DR: Abrahamson et al. as discussed by the authors examined how the movement of top managers across organizations (executive migration) over an 18-year period in the semiconductor industry influences strategic change, specifically, entry into new product markets.
Abstract: This research was supported by grants from Columbia Business School's Management Institute. I thank Eric Abrahamson, Min-Jer Chen, Donald Hambrick, and Michael Tushman for ideas and thoughtful comments. This study examines how the movement of top managers across organizations (executive migration) over an 18-year period in the semiconductor industry influences strategic change, specifically, entry into new product markets. Results support the argument that executive migration brings managers into the organization with prior exposure to different products and strategies, which in turn is reflected in subsequent product-market entry decisions by the executive's new firm. Results also show that the effects of executive migration are influenced by attributes of the executive and characteristics of the top management team of the focal firm. The effects of executive migration on product-market entry are stronger when the new managers came from the functions of R&D and engineering, when they reported to the chief executive in their former organization, and when they had greater industry experience. Attributes of the focal firm's top management team also appear to moderate the influence of the new executive. Smaller top management teams and teams with shorter tenures demonstrate a stronger relationship between executive migration and strategic change.'
TL;DR: This article presented preliminary findings from this research were presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 27, 1991, and the analyses and conclusions were current for 1989 and do not necessarily describe conditions in MinneapolisSt. Paul subsequently.
Abstract: Funding for this study was provided by the National Science Foundation (SES 80-08570, SES 83-19364, and SES 8812702), the Program on Nonprofit Organizations at Yale University, the Northwest Area Foundation, and the University of Minnesota. Special thanks to Denise Hesselton, Alisa Potter, Naomi Kaufman, Yoshito Ishio, Kimberly Simmons, and Lisa Atkinson for their help in collecting and filing the data and to Hilda Daniels for her word processing. I would also like to thank Paul DiMaggio, the Associate Editor Mark Mizruchi, and three anonymous ASQ reviewers for a careful and insightful reading of the manuscript. Preliminary findings from this research were presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 27, 1991. The author cautions readers that the analyses and conclusions were current for 1989 and do not necessarily describe conditions in MinneapolisSt. Paul subsequently.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how norms of reciprocity in social exchange relationships between CEO-directors and top managers can impede the diffusion of board independence, and conduct longitudinal analyses of changes in board structure, strategy and CEO compensation among 422 corporations over ten years.
Abstract: This study examines how norms of reciprocity in social exchange relationships between CEO-directors and top managers (and changes in those norms) can impede (and impel) the diffusion of board independence. We conduct longitudinal analyses of changes in board structure, strategy and CEO compensation among 422 corporations over ten years.
TL;DR: In this article, state agencies, local entrepreneurs, and transnational corporations shaped the emergence of computer industries in Brazil, India, and Korea during the seventies and eighties, and the success and failures of state involvement in the process of industrialization have been analyzed.
Abstract: From the Publisher:
In recent years, debate on the state's economic role has too often devolved into diatribes against intervention. Peter Evans questions such simplistic views, offering a new vision of why state involvement works in some cases and produces disasters in others. To illustrate, he looks at how state agencies, local entrepreneurs, and transnational corporations shaped the emergence of computer industries in Brazil, India, and Korea during the seventies and eighties. Evans starts with the idea that states vary in the way they are organized and tied to society. In some nations, like Zaire, the state is predatory, ruthlessly extracting and providing nothing of value in return. In others, like Korea, it is developmental, promoting industrial transformation. In still others, like Brazil and India, it is in-between, sometimes helping, sometimes hindering. Evans's years of comparative research on the successes and failures of state involvement in the process of industrialization have here been crafted into a persuasive and entertaining work, which demonstrates that successful state action requires an understanding of its own limits, a realistic relationship to the global economy, and the combination of coherent internal organization and close links to society that Evans calls \"embedded autonomy.\
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how conflicting ideologies affect organizational practice and find that ideological organizing principles are affected by resource dependence pressures, particularly from banks, and economic incentives for organizations to change their form.
Abstract: The authors' contributions were equal, and their names are listed in random order. Haim Barkai helped us obtain and understand the data file used here. We are grateful to David DeVries, Yitchak Haberfeld, Ron Ophir, Keith Poole, Anat Rafaeli, Raymond Russell, Mark Mizruchi, and three anonymous ASQ reviewers, as well as seminar participants at Carnegie Mellon University and the Australian Graduate School of Management for helpful comments on earlier drafts. In this paper, we examine how conflicting ideologies affect organizational practice. We theorize that the basic relationship between ideology and organization is moderated by social pressures and economic incentives that result from differences between the organization and its environment on issues of ideology. Using data from Israeli kibbutzim for 1951-1965, we examine how the ideology of a set of socialist organizations affects the practices they employ and how the influence of socialist ideology is moderated by an environment that is governed by capitalism. We assess the change in the extent to which kibbutzim employed hired labor, a practice that is incompatible with kibbutzim socialist-Zionist ideology. We find that ideological organizing principles are affected by resource dependence pressures, particularly from banks, and economic incentives for organizations to change their form. These external influences combined with internal influences, such as kibbutz size, age, and industrialization, to account for kibbutzim's transition to hired labor. The results indicate how interaction with the environment can lead to the forfeiture of ideological organizing principles.'
TL;DR: In this paper, Cameron M Ford and Dennis A Gioia discuss the role of collaboration in creativity in organizations and present a multi-domain model of creative action taking guidelines for creative action in organizations.
Abstract: PART ONE: CONTEMPLATING CREATIVE ACTION IN ORGANIZATIONS Multiple Visions and Multiple Voices - Cameron M Ford and Dennis A Gioia Academic and Practitioner Conceptions of Creativity in Organizations Creativity is a Mystery - Cameron M Ford Clues from the Investigators' Notebooks PART TWO: IVORY TOWER VISIONS Boogie down Wonderland - Jay A Conger Creativity and Visionary Leadership Managing Creativity - Richard W Woodman Creativity and Entrepreneurship - Harry Nystrom Creative Values and Creative Visions in Teams at Work - Michael A West Discovering the Unknowable, Managing the Unmanageable - Teresa M Amabile Individual Creativity and Organizational Innovation - Nigel King An Uncertain Link Creativity as Heroic - Dean Keith Simonton Risk, Success, Failure, and Acclaim Creativity - Daniel J Brass It's All in Your Social Network The Role of Collaboration in Creativity - Nirma Kl Sethia How Organizations Channel Creativity - William H Starbuck Promoting Creativity in Organizations - Edwin A Locke and Shelley A Kirkpatrick The Many Facets of Creativity - Peter J Frost Is Your Creative Organization Innovative? - Fariborz Damanpour Training Creativity in the Corporation - Robert W Weisberg The View from the Psychological Laboratory Q: Does Feedback Enhance or Inhibit Creativity in Organizations? A: Yes! - James L Farr Everything New under the Gun - Connie J G Gersick Creativity and Deadlines Creativity Training and Hemispheric Function - Craig C Lundberg Bringing the Left Brain Back In Management of Cultural Innovations - Dag Bjorkengren Why No One Really Wants Creativity - Barry M Staw Shifting the Focus from Individual to Organizational Creativity - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Keith Sawyer Ten Tips toward Creativity in the Workplace - Robert J Sternberg and Todd I Lubart Creative Post-Processing - Kristian Kreiner and Majken Schultz On Making Turbulence Valuable Creativity and the Aesthetics of Imperfection - Karl E Weick PART THREE: REAL WORLD VOICES The Changing Face of Creativity - F Ben Jones Corporate America - Pedro Cuatrecasas Creativity Held Hostage Coaching Your Way to Creativity - Russell C Ford Creating a Creativity Revolution - Delbert H Jacobs Creativity in a Large Company - Alexander MacLachlan All You Have to Do is Ask for It Creativity by Decree - A New Approach - Isaac R Barpal Creativity and Innovation - Philip X Masciantonio Keys for Preventing Environmental Gridlock Creativity in Government - Wellington E Webb The Challenge of Reinventing State Government - John Engler Creativity Today - George Heard Are You Creating Solutions or Problems? - R Larry Wuench Organizing for Innovation - Thoralf Ulrik Qvale From Individual Creativity to Learning Networks Principle-Based Creativity - Timothy F Price Prompting Individual Initiative in Large Organizations Membranes for Gas Separation - Walter L Robb A Case Study in Creativity Why Do You Have to Go 'Off-Campus' to Get Creative? - Norman P Findley The Pro-Team - Karl-Erik Sveiby Solving the Dilemma of Organized Creativity in Production Fostering Creativity in Large Organizations - Carole F St Mark Creativity at Woolworth Corporation - C Jackson Gray Acquiring and Managing Creative Talent - Norman E Johnson Creativity through Self-Appraisal - F E Bailey and James R Bailey Organizing for Creativity - Terry O'Connor Ideas Dancing in the Human Being - Robert Michael Burnside Gee Whiz! - So What? - Alan G Chynoweth PART FOUR: UNDERSTANDING AND INFLUENCING CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS Contrasts and Convergences in Creativity - Dennis A Gioia Themes in Academic and Practitioner Views Striking Inspirational Sparks and Fanning Creative Flames - Cameron M Ford A Multi-Domain Model of Creative Action Taking Guidelines for Creative Action Taking in Organizations - Cameron M Ford and Dennis A Gioia