Reinterpreting Organizational Literature

1999 ◽  
pp. 151-184
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Literature

EXPRESS: Exploring the dynamics of slack in extreme contexts: A practice-based view

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872672110077
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Leuridan ◽  
Benoît Demil
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Critical Care Unit ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
New Public ◽  
Management Context ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Extreme Contexts ◽  
Organizational Literature

Organizations that operate in extreme contexts have to develop resilience to ensure the reliability of their operations. While the organizational literature underlines the crucial role of slack when facing unanticipated events, a structural approach to slack says little about the concrete ways in which organizational actors produce and use this slack. Adopting a practice-based perspective during a 14-month ethnographic study in a French critical care unit, we study the slack practices, which consist in gathering, arranging and rearranging resources from both inside and outside the medical unit. This permanent process is captured in a dynamic model connecting situations, their evolutions and slack practices. Our research highlights the importance of situational slack production practices to ensure resilience. We also argue that these micro-practices are constitutive of the context in which actors are evolving. Finally, we discuss why these slack practices, although essential for ensuring resilience, can be endangered by the New Public Management context.

scholarly journals Rediscovering the Cooperative Enterprise: A Systematic Review of Current Topics and Avenues for Future Research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Felipe Camargo Benavides ◽  
Michel Ehrenhard
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Multilevel Studies ◽  
Cooperative Enterprise ◽  
Organizational Literature

AbstractFor decades, the cooperative enterprise (CE) produces market goods and/or provides services in the interest to its members, such as communities, customers, and suppliers. The upsurge of interest in social enterprises, and their balancing of social and economic interests, has also led to a renewed interest in CEs, often seen as a specific type of social enterprise. However, from an organizational perspective, this renewed interest has been both limited and scattered over a variety of fields. In this paper, we systematically review papers on CE in the mainstream organizational literature, defined as literature in the fields of economics, business, management and sociology. Our review integrates and synthesizes the current topics in the mainstream organizational literature and provides a number of avenues for future research. In addition, we compare our findings in the organizational literature to the social issues literature as these appeared to be quite complimentary. We found multilevel studies, determination of social impact—in particular measurable impact, managerial practices for sustainable (organisational) development, and the entrepreneurial opportunity generation process as the four key avenues for future research.

Three generational issues in organizational learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese A. Sprinkle ◽  
Michael J. Urick
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Intergenerational Learning ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Concepts ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Improved Learning ◽  
Organizational Literature

Purpose Methods for facilitating learning and knowledge transfer in multigenerational workplaces are of importance to organizations. Yet, intergenerational learning is vastly understudied in academic organizational literature. This conceptual paper aims to recommend future directions for studying intergenerational learning by examining three interrelated considerations. Design/methodology/approach General knowledge management concepts, various generationally based perspectives on training and low-stakes development initiatives, are examined by integrating the existing literature. Findings The authors suggest that improved learning will occur in organizations that facilitate targeted socialization, respond to new preferences and trends in development programs while leveraging multiple approaches including informal/individualized initiatives (such as on-the-job education, mentorship programs) and embrace multiple types of volunteering activities. Originality value Although other work has reviewed intergenerational learning, this is the first research to focus on multigenerational learning while considering tacit and practical learning transference from inside and outside the organization.

A Review of Measurement Equivalence in Organizational Research: What's Old, What's New, What's Next?

2021 ◽  
pp. 109442812110565
Author(s):  
Ajay V. Somaraju ◽  
Christopher D. Nye ◽  
Jeffrey Olenick
Keyword(s):  
Review Paper ◽  
Measurement Equivalence ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
Organizational Constructs ◽  
Organizational Literature ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Made In ◽  
Highly Cited

The study of measurement equivalence has important implications for organizational research. Nonequivalence across groups or over time can affect the results of a study and the conclusions that are drawn from it. As a result, the review paper by Vandenberg & Lance (2000) has been highly cited and has played an important role in understanding the measurement of organizational constructs. However, that paper is now 20 years old, and a number of advances have been made in the application and interpretation of measurement equivalence (ME) since its publication. Therefore, the goal of the present paper is to provide an updated review of ME techniques that describes recent advances in testing for ME and proposes a taxonomy of potential sources of nonequivalence. Finally, we articulate recommendations for applying these newer methods and consider future directions for measurement equivalence research in the organizational literature.

Deinstitutionalization revisited

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman Aksom
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Institutional Isomorphism ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Organizational Fields ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Alternative Practices ◽  
Organizational Literature

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a new analysis and understanding of the notion of deinstitutionalization. Deinstitutionalization of taken-for-granted practices as a natural consequence of ever-increasing entropy seems to directly contradict the major institutional thesis, namely, that over time isomorphic forces increase and, as a result, possibilities for deinstitutionalization decrease culminating in the impossibility of abandoning in highly institutionalized fields. Design/methodology/approach This paper is conceptual in nature. Oliver’s 1992 paper on deinstitutionalization is taken as a key text on the subject and as a starting point for building an alternative theory of deinstitutionalization. More broadly, institutional theory and organizational literature on diffusion/adoption are reviewed and synthesized. Findings The authors argue that possibilities for deinstitutionalization have been overestimated in institutional literature and offer a revisited account of deinstitutionalization vs institutional isomorphism and institutionalized vs highly diffusing-but-not-institutionalized practices. A freedom for choice between alternative practices exists during the pre-institutional stage but not when the field is already institutionalized. In contrast, institutionalized, taken-for-granted practices are immutable to any sort of functional and political pressures and they use to persist even when no technical value remains, thus deinstitutionalization on the basis of a functional dissatisfaction seems to be a paradox. Research limitations/implications By revisiting the nature and patterns of deinstitutionalization, the paper offers a better conceptual classification and understanding of how organizations adopt, maintain and abandon organizational ideas and practices. An important task of this paper is to reduce the scope of application of deinstitutionalization theory to make it more focused and self-consistent. There is, however, still not enough volume of studies on institutional factors of practices’ abandonment in institutional literature. The authors, therefore, acknowledge that more studies are needed to further improve both the former deinstitutionalization theory and the framework. Originality/value The authors offer a solution to this theoretical inconsistency by distinguishing between truly institutionalized practices and currently popular practices (highly diffused but non-institutionalized). It is only the latter that are subject to the norms of progress that allow abandoning and replacing existing organizational activities. Deinstitutionalization theory is, thus can be applied to popular practices that are subject to reevaluation, abandonment and replacement with new optimal practices while institutions are immutable to these norms of progress. Institutions are immutable to deinstitutionalization and the deinstitutionalization of optimal practices is subject to the logic of isomorphic convergence in organizational fields. Finally, the authors revisit a traditional two-stage institutional diffusion model to explain the possibility and likelihood of abandonment during different stages of institutionalization.

The State of Teledensity Diffusion in Least Developed Countries

2011 ◽  
pp. 268-292
Author(s):  
Victor W.A. Mbarika
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The State ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Geographical Factors ◽  
Organizational Literature

This chapter reviews research from academic and major international organizational literature to examine and synthesize the current understanding of teledensity development in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The obstacles to the growth of teledensity are discussed, and the importance and opportunities for growth of teledensity to solve priority problems and to realize sustainable development in LDCs are examined. The literature findings suggest that various policy, economical, financial, managerial, organizational, technological, political, and geographical factors are important determinants for growth of teledensity in LDCs. A variety of strategies to advance teledensity in LDCs are suggested.

Disabling organizational spaces: Exploring the processes through which spatial environments disable employees with impairments

Organization ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135050841989469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koen Van Laer ◽  
Eline Jammaers ◽  
Wendy Hoeven
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Spatial Understanding ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Disabled Employees ◽  
Physical Comfort ◽  
Relations Of Power ◽  
Organizational Literature ◽  
The Ideal

Adopting a Lefebvrian perspective that draws attention to the connection between space and power, this study aims to contribute to the organizational literature by offering an in-depth understanding of the processes through which organizational spaces can disable employees with impairments and contribute to the unequal power relations between disabled and non-disabled employees. Based on 65 interviews, it shows how organizational spaces can disable employees with impairments through disabling productivity, social inclusion, independence, and physical comfort and safety. A first contribution this allows this study to make is identifying the different aspects involved in the production of ableist organizational spaces and the way they are connected to the relations of power between disabled and non-disabled employees. It shows how ableist organizational spaces are conceived in an ableist way, become dominated by ableist spatial practice and infuse lived experiences with ableism. Second, this study extends debates on disability in organizations by offering a spatial understanding of ableist notions of the ‘ideal employee’, the reproduction of ableist discourses, and embodied experiences of ableism in organizations. A third contribution this article makes is providing an understanding of the strategies employers and disabled employees use to (attempt to) manage ableist organizational spaces. It argues that as these strategies mainly aim to secure productive participation, they do not address, or can even contribute to, other disabling processes. In this way, they not only reproduce relations of power between employers and disabled employees but also do not fundamentally challenge those between disabled and non-disabled employees.

Metamorphosis of a kibbutz industry: an Israeli case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaffa Moskovich ◽  
Yuval Achouch
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
A Current ◽  
Organizational Literature

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on a current trend in kibbutz industries, and to examine the numerous changes at Millennium Industries. Design/methodology/approach – A case study was carried out documenting the organizational biography of Millennium Industries. Ethnographic interviews were held with kibbutz members employed by the organization, former CEO’s and with other workers. Findings – The research describes the life cycle of the plant from its beginnings, through its maturity, its growth until its decline. It also explains the organizational failure of the plant, in terms of its background and the difficulties of managing a kibbutz industry in an era of global economy. The causes of its decline stem mainly from a kibbutz-style management based on non-professional involvement of the community in business, and incompatible with the rough competition of capitalistic markets. The plant was finally sold to a private investor, thereby losing its identity as a kibbutz plant. Research limitations/implications – As a single case-study this research cannot pretend to statistical generalization of the findings but linked to the kibbutz and the organizational literature, findings seem to allow generalization of theoretical propositions concerning evolution of the kibbutz industry (an analytic generalization according to Yin, 2013). Originality/value – While the kibbutz society and its industry are involved in deep changes for the two last decades, very little research was made on kibbutz industry. This paper should contribute to actualize the social knowledge about these specific and interesting phenomena.

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