Showing papers in "Journal of Management Inquiry in 2011"

Institutional Work: Refocusing Institutional Studies of Organization

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss an alternative focus for institutional studies of organization - the study of institutional work. Research on institutional work examines the practices of individual and collective actors aimed at creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions. Our focus in this paper is on the distinctiveness of institutional work as a field of study and the potential it provides for the examination of new questions. We argue that research on institutional work can contribute to bringing the individual back into institutional theory, help to re-examine the relationship between agency and institutions, and provide a bridge between critical and institutional views of organization.

Counting in Qualitative Research: Why to Conduct it, When to Avoid it, and When to Closet it

Abstract: In this essay we discuss the issue of counting: the process of assigning numbers to data that are in nonnumerical form. We review why counting is a controversial issue in qualitative research, and explain how this controversy creates what we call the “multiple audience problem” for qualitative researchers. We then identify the purposes that can be served by four different types of counting, explore when counting should be avoided entirely, and discuss when the results of counting should be concealed, or as Sutton put it, kept in the closet.

Problematizing Actors and Institutions in Institutional Work

Abstract: The growing popularity of institutional work suggests a broad agentic turn in institutional approaches to organizational studies. We briefly describe the contribution of the evolving institutional-work research agenda. Then, we identify two problematic areas in this line of research: the privileged causal status of "actors" and the under-theorized nature of institutions. We suggest that re-engagement with insights of the earlier, foundational work in neo-institutional theory would benefit this emerging research agenda.

Spirituality in the Workplace: Theory and Measurement:

Abstract: To integrate existing literature on spirituality in different disciplines and move it forward, the authors propose a new theoretical conceptualization of spirituality, based on which they develop a new scale of spirituality. Using structural equation modeling, the authors conduct confirmatory factor analysis on survey data collected from 2,230 individuals to test and cross-validate the spirituality scale. The authors find the construct of spirituality is best captured by three correlated, yet distinct, factors: interconnection with a higher power, interconnection with human beings, and interconnection with nature and all living things. Results show that the spirituality scale demonstrates content validity, face validity, discriminant validity, convergent validity, and structural reliability. In addition, the authors theoretically argue and empirically validate that the notion of spirituality incorporates and transcends religiousness.

Implicit Leadership Theories: Think Leader, Think Effective?:

Abstract: In general, although research into leadership acknowledges negative aspects of leadership, research into implicit leadership theories lags behind in this respect. Most implicit leadership theories research implies that the image of a leader in general reflects an effective leader. However, recent results in leadership research as well as headlines and reports in the popular press cast doubt on this assumption. This article reports a qualitative study, focusing on general implicit leadership theories rather than effective images of leaders. The analysis of 349 statements results in 15 categories that describe leaders in general. The results imply that implicit leadership theories are composed of both effective and ineffective attributes. The study challenges previous assumptions on the effectiveness implied in implicit leadership theories.

Emerging Multinationals Venturing Into Developed Economies: Implications for Learning, Unlearning, and Entrepreneurial Capability:

Abstract: The entry of young and aggressive multinational corporations from emerging economies into developed countries’ markets is an important trend that promises to shape the global competitive landscape. Brazilian, Chinese, and Indian multinationals typify this growing trend. The individual and collective experiences of these multinationals provide an interesting context in which organizational unlearning becomes a means for inducing multifaceted learning that enables these companies to develop and exploit their entrepreneurial capabilities. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges associated with unlearning and how it sets the stage for learning and exercise of entrepreneurial capability for competitive advantage. The authors also identify important research questions that deserve exploration.

Leading Beautifully: The Creative Economy and Beyond

Abstract: “These times are riven with anxiety and uncertainty” asserts John O’Donohue.1 “In the hearts of people some natural ease has been broken. . . . Our trust in the future has lost its innocence. We kn...

"Institutional work" for what? Problems and prospects of institutional theory

Abstract: The problems and prospects currently facing Institutional Theory are addressed by scrutinizing recent proposals for focusing upon ‘institutional work’ in a way of that promises to overcome some limitations of its “old,” “neo,” and “entrepreneurialist” incarnations. Current proposals to pay closer attention to ‘institutional work’ are seen to reproduce the dualism of individual (agency) /institution (structure) as they invite a further flip-flop between these poles, To escape this cycle, a start can be made by incorporating into Institutional Theory a critically reflexive appreciation of the ‘individual’ as an institution. Such a move is consistent with a contemporary interest in bridging institutional and critical scholarly traditions. In constructing this bridge, the challenge is to advance scholarship in a direction that, being collaborative rather than predatory, does not obfuscate or domesticate the emancipatory intent of critical analysis.

Reflections on Organizational Memory and Forgetting

Abstract: Organizational memory plays a central role in theories of organizational learning and forgetting. However, we still know little about how knowledge becomes embedded in organizational memory or the reasons and processes through which organizational memory decays. The objective of this article is to clarify the relationship between organizational memory and forgetting, and identify areas that require development if we are to improve our understanding of these constructs. Specifically, we point to the importance of theorizing about (a) the dynamic nature of organizational memory and forgetting, (b) the role of time in theories and research of organizational memory and forgetting, and (c) the processes through which individuals maintain, discard, or remember knowledge, including the dynamics of power.

In Praise of Organizational Forgetting

Abstract: This article reviews and evaluates the concept of organizational forgetting Drawing on established literature in the field of organizational learning, the authors analyze forgetting from three perspectives—cognitive, behavioral, and social They argue a counterintuitive line that forgetting, in the right circumstances, can be beneficial for companies and demonstrate how the advantages and disadvantages vary according to the perspective adopted The authors conclude with some practical suggestions about how companies can increase their ability to forget and also offer suggestions about the academic research agenda

The BP Oil Spill as a Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict, and Change

Abstract: This article argues that the BP Oil Spill is, potentially, a “cultural anomaly” for institutional changes in environmental management and fossil fuel production. The problem as defined by the spill’s context, the potential solutions provided by the competing logics in that context, and the selection of problem—solution bundles through the fortuitous timing of events, and more calculative efforts of institutional entrepreneurs within that context have come close to acting as a catalyst for deeper change, but not quite. For reasons that this article discusses, true change in the approach to handling issues related to oil drilling, oil consumption, and environmental management have yet to occur.

Institutions and Work

Abstract: In this article, we argue that the flowering conversation under the label of “institutional work” can be productively enriched by segregating the notions of “institutions” and “work, and by engaging more fully with both micro- and macro-sociological contributions of the “old institutionalism.” We illustrate the value of these extensions by discussing three areas of theoretical and empirical interest: methodological groupism, the relationship between social structure and social process at both micro and macro levels, and the relationship between social analysis and social critique. By pursuing these directions, we believe the notion of institutional work can avoid conflation with variants of methodological individualism, and might usefully contribute to ongoing conversations about agency across the social sciences.

Financial Crisis 2008-2009: What Does the Silence of Institutional Theorists Tell Us?

Abstract: This article is a reflection on why the 2007-2009 financial crisis was largely ignored by organization theorists, in particular, institutional theorists. The general lack of engagement with the events that transpired in this period of turmoil is surprising given their potential to inform the ongoing inquiries into the dynamics of organizations, markets, communities, and society in general. Given corporate excesses that led to the crisis, it is difficult to imagine how life could go on as usual for organization theorists. Losing the forest for the trees is no longer an option. Nor is continuing to act as a cheerleader for big business. Who knows, the time may even have come to turn prescriptive!

Introduction to “Songs of Ourselves: Employees’ Deployment of Social Identity in Workplace Encounters”

Abstract: Although many of us may fitfully or even emphatically rue the fact that mainstream journals choose not to print articles that deviate from their narrowly construed publishing norms, this has enabled Journal of Management Inquiry’s (JMI’s) “Nontraditional” research section to fill a crucial niche in our field, providing a home to many provocative and impactful scholarly investigations over the years. “Songs of Ourselves: Employees’ Deployment of Social Identity in Workplace Encounters” by Doug Creed and Maureen Scully (2000) is an exemplar of this section, offering imaginative theoretical insight, drawing on novel and interesting empirical data, and encouraging us to be reflective about the nature of research as well as social reality. It is also among the most highly cited articles in JMI and winner of the annual “Breaking the Frame Award” that honors “the work that best exemplifies a challenge to existing thought or the use of alternative research methodologies or learning from either experience or other settings” (Boal, 2004, p. 189). In this article, that we are delighted to reprint, Creed and Scully (2000) zoom in on workplace encounters between gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) employees and their allies on one hand, and managers or other, often straight, workplace colleagues on the other hand. Interested in how employees promulgate diversity change projects, especially domestic partner benefits, they focus on how different kinds of “encounters” provide opportunities for the selected deployment of hidden and stigmatized social identities in an effort to catalyze change. They conceptualize such encounters as instances of micromobilization linked to broader social movement activism. As they suggest, “Faceto-face encounters can be the context for critical challenges to social definitions and expectations that shape the microfoundations of macrosocial arrangements” (Creed & Scully, 2000, p. 393). Drawing on 66 interviews with GLBT advocates and targets of their advocacy across multiple organizations, Creed and Scully (2000) identify three main types of encounters: claiming, education, and advocacy. They highlight how these different kinds of encounters blur the boundaries of radical and reformist forms of activism (see, for example, Meyerson & Scully, 1995, on tempered radicals), and provide a foundation for the acceptance of marginalized social identities. In addition, as Golden-Biddle and Greenwood (2000) remark, Creed and Scully also provide personal reflections on “how they as researchers not only recorded the encounters of those they interviewed but also themselves encountered the encounters during the interviews. That is, they experienced the small moments that came to characterize the encounters they studied” (pp. 374-375). Their study provides great insight into the management of multiple identities and micromobilization, highlighting how more micro-intraorganizational dynamics relate to broader societal-level change processes. It is a truly remarkable piece of scholarship that we should all read and is worthy of celebration in the context of JMI’s 20th anniversary.

On the Nature of Institutional Entrepreneurs: Insights From the Life of Rachel Carson

Abstract: Institutional entrepreneurship is important for creating and transforming institutions, yet little is known about the individuals who conceive, initiate, and champion institutional projects. Extant...

Agency in Voluntary Organizational Forgetting

Abstract: This paper studies the different mechanism used in organizations to enact voluntary organizational forgetting. Based on a literature review, previous and original research, four main mechanisms are identified: assets and technologies, routines and procedures, structure and understandings. Each mechanism is discussed and implications are drawn for future research.

Commentary on ‘Why Compassion Counts!’: Compassion as a Generative Force

Abstract: >> Twelve years ago, Peter Frost called upon us to consider why compassion counts. More than a decade later, we can see, feel, and understand why compassion counts both in the field of organizational studies and in our lives as scholars. As he was so many times during his career, Peter was prophetic in identifying and animating a core idea that is central to our field and to our lives. We approach this essay with three goals in mind, all focused on elaborating how compassion is a generative force. By generative, we mean that compassion as an idea opens up new vistas, expands resources, and creates new insights (Carlsen & Dutton, 2011). It is a force in the sense that it propels and motivates action. Given these definitions, we hope this essay achieves three goals. First, we aspire to celebrate the generative capacity of compassion by illustrating the wisdom and insight contained in compassion stories, and in particular in one of Peter’s compassion stories. Second, we invite reflection on the meaning of being a compassionate scholar through immersion in stories about Peter left by his colleagues after he died. Third, we discuss how compassion alters our focus, our work, and our imagination in organizational studies. Together, we hope all three angles on how compassion counts celebrate the contribution that Peter’s article is continuing to make in our field and in our lives.

Connectivity, Extremes, and Adaptation: A Power-Law Perspective of Organizational Effectiveness

Abstract: Managers are often required to respond in adaptive ways to the threats and opportunities presented by rare, extreme outcomes. Given these, management scholars frequently face a stark choice: say something useful to practitioners using narratives in which dramatic effects are often achieved at the expense of academic rigor or maintain the latter by sacrificing practitioner relevance. Recent developments in complexity science offer a new perspective. The article distinguishes between the simplicities achieved by reductionism (equilibrium, law-like equations, linearity, and predictability) and the complexity triggered by initiating “butterfly events”—nonlinearity, scale-free causes, and power laws (PLs). Schema formation and adaptation within Gaussian and PL ontologies are framed in terms of Ashby’s law of requisite variety. Variety perceived to be requisite is sensitive to the type of ontological assumptions that are made. PL approaches to management inquiry focusing on rank/frequency distributions, fractal structures, and scale-free dynamics are outlined.

Viewing the Language of Space: Organizational Spaces, Power, and Resistance in Popular Films:

Abstract: Working within the tradition that sees space as narrative, in this paper we argue that the way space is constructed in popular films frames certain meanings about corporations that reflect the way that power relations are produced and reproduced in organizational contexts. We see power in Foucaultian terms and analyze the relationship of space and power in regard to three interrelated dimensions: the power enacted by the individuals in space, the symbolic power enacted by organizations through the use of space, and the power that space carries in and of itself so that space structures (or restructures) relationships. At the same time, we discuss how resistance is enabled in organizations both despite and due to space. Although physical space is often seen as a source of organizational power, both physically and symbolically, its relationship to resistance is much less well understood. We focus then on how the constitution of a “resistant subject” becomes central to the narrative about organizational space...

Developing Global Business Capabilities in MBA Students

Abstract: The need to develop global business capabilities in MBAs is clear and growing, and faculty must create efficient and effective processes for developing these capabilities.The author offers for consideration an approach that utilizes theory combined with practice to begin developing global business capabilities during a one-semester course. The five global mind-sets (reflective, analytical, worldly, collaborative, and action) offered by Mintzberg provide a useful framework for categorizing the desired learning. He demonstrates that by using a variety of complementary approaches, including case analyses in multicultural teams, local and foreign business-opportunity analyses, a business-venture proposal that bridges two countries, and a focused study tour, students can make real progress in learning the five mind-sets. Pre—post questionnaires and qualitative data support the conclusion that MBAs who participate in an organized and diverse learning experience can begin to develop global business capabilities ...

Two Cheers for Institutional Work

Abstract: This article responds to the preceding Lawrence, Suddaby, and Leca paper and offers comments that are both laudatory and critical. It also poses three key questions about the emerging field of institutional work.

Reasonability and the Linguistic Division of Labor in Institutional Work

Abstract: We examine institutional work from a discursive perspective and argue that reasonability, the existence of acceptable justifying reasons for beliefs and practices, is a key part of legitimation. Drawing on philosophy of language, we maintain that institutional work takes place in the context of ‘space of reasons’ determined by widely held assumptions about what is reasonable and what is not. We argue that reasonability provides the main contextual constraint of institutional work, its major outcome, and a key trigger for actors to engage in it. We draw on Hilary Putnam’s concept ‘division of linguistic labor’ to highlight the specialized distribution of knowledge and authority in defining valid ways of reasoning. In this view, individuals use institutionalized vocabularies to reason about their choices and understand their context with limited understanding of how and why these structures have become what they are. We highlight the need to understand how professions and other actors establish and maintain the criteria of reasoning in various areas of expertise through discursive institutional work.

Joking Aside, Insights to Employee Dignity in “Dilbert” Cartoons: The Value of Comic Art in Understanding the Employer—Employee Relationship

Abstract: Catholic social teaching makes the moral argument for the importance of dignity at work, and organization studies scholars have documented workers’ plight. Yet, neither perspective sufficiently provides a sense of the feelings that managers and employees have toward one another. Adopting an aesthetics approach, and drawing from comic art and the cartoon strip Dilbert, this research provides an alternative view to understand challenges to employee dignity. Like aesthetics and art, comic art reflects feelings and attitudes and aims to provide insight into contemporary life. The results from surveying Dilbert found that managers often viewed their subordinates as exploitable commodities and threatened them with abuse. They point to a possible structural explanation for why employers view their workers so disparagingly and why employees feel their dignity challenged. This research makes evident the potential value of an aesthetics/comic arts perspective to understand and address issues concerning human behavi...

Changing the Tune of Academic Writing: Muting Cognitive Entrenchment

Abstract: Much academic writing sounds the same—stilted, distant, and overly qualified. The “sound” of academic writing is primarily the result of institutional pressures that lead authors to become cognitiv...

Transforming Realities—Making the Improbable Possible: Reclamation of Sacredness as a Source of Generative Capacities:

Abstract: Understanding the nature and source of generative capacities for radical change has been an enduring concern for researchers of organizations and social movements. However, the role of spirituality as a resource in social movements is an undertheorized area. Based on the field study of a successful, long-term social movement in India and drawing on the emerging discourse on spirituality in organizational literature, the author describes how in a community reclamation of the sacred came to be a source of generative capacities for transformation. This article describes a dynamic model of change that begins with recognition of the sacred and positive action that has the potential to spiral to escalating levels of positive change. The article also describes how the sacred in this community is manifested as a socioecological, relational ethic. The author concludes by discussing the implications of this framework for social movements and organizational change theories.

The Maven of Mentoring Speaks: Kathy E. Kram Reflects on Her Career and the Field

Abstract: Mentoring has received significant attention in the management literature for nearly 30 years and has been a practice pervasive in organizational lifelong before its introduction as a phenomenon of study. This interview with Kathy E. Kram assesses her seminal and continued influence on the field. Arguably, no other mentoring scholar has made such indelible marks on the field; Kram laid the foundation with her research in the early 1980s and has since made lasting contributions in the areas of diversity, developmental networks, and alternative relational vehicles. Throughout her career, Kram’s approach to scientific inquiry has been guided by her numerous consulting experiences, which have allowed her to ask questions and provide insights that are relevant to formal mentoring programs and the cultivation of informal relationships. The interview involves a discussion of influences on Kram’s career, the field’s evolution and future, mentoring as a practice, and her current research pursuits.

Confessions of a Job Crafter: How We Can Increase the Passion Within and the Impact of Our Profession

Abstract: Job crafting, engaging in practices that alter our jobs for the better, has enormous potential to enliven scholars and to enhance our field’s societal impact. Drawing upon a personal tale, I outline various job crafting techniques in which I have engaged and note how these practices have transformed the level of satisfaction I feel for my job, profession, and life, while also enriching the quality of my research and teaching contributions. As profoundly positive as has been my experience with job crafting, I have also encountered some significant systemic obstacles. For the tenured, such obstacles would likely be frustrating, constraining passion and undermining contributions. For the untenured, many become pitfalls that can endanger careers. I address some of the obstacles that I encountered while engaging in job crafting practices, framing them in terms of what we can do to remove them. I am optimistic that, collectively, we can dramatically diminish and even abolish the obstacles outlined here for the ...

Lessons Learned, Ignored, Forgotten and Reborn: Organizations and Management 1960 to Today

Abstract: Current firm experiments within a set of knowledge driven segments of the global economy suggest the possible rebirth of the managerial values and commitments to participative leadership and collaborative creativity that flourished in the US in the 1960s. Potential barriers include a focus on short term profits and intellectual property protection that restrict both within and between firm knowledge sharing to drive innovations across complementary markets. While growing knowledge resources suggest possible achievements well beyond previous levels, the required collaborative capabilities appear to demand a recommitment among management scholars to field research and the sharing of insights with managers across levels and firms.