Organisational Adaptation

Originally, the Taliban were also poorly organized. Under pressure from 2009 onwards, they had to complement their trademark polycentric organization with centralized structures, which enabled great coordination in the battlefield and unity of command.

e-Waste trading zones and the economy of greening

Purpose In the context of the environmental impacts caused due to the increasing volumes of discarded technologies (e-Waste), this paper aims to critically evaluate whether environmental policy, the Waste of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) legislation in particular can contribute to a shift in logic from neoliberal growth to green growth. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon empirical research, this paper shows how three computer waste organisations evolve through the imbrication of pre- and post-policy logics in collaborative and heterogeneous ways to create an “economy of greening”. Findings Extending the concept of a fractionated trading zone, this paper demonstrates the heterogeneous ways in which computer sourcing is imbricated, providing a taxonomy of imbricating logics. It is argued that what is shared in a fractionated trading zone is a diversity of imbrications. This provides for a nuanced perspective on policy and the management of waste, showing how post-WEEE logics become the condition to continue to pursue pre-WEEE logics. Research limitations/implications This research focuses on three organisations and the EU 2003 and UK 2006 versions of the WEEE legislation. Practical implications The research findings have important implications, more specifically, for how e-Waste policy is enacted as an “economy of greening” to constitute managerial and organisational adaptation needed to create a sustainable economy and society. Originality/value This paper’s contribution is threefold. First, theoretically, the literature on trading zones and imbrication is extended by considering how they can complement one another. Our focus on imbrication is a “zooming in” on the managerial and organisational implications and dynamics of a trading zone. Second, the literature on imbrication is added to by identifying a diverse range of imbricating logics that can be used to discern a more nuanced understanding of the translated effects of policy. Last, these ideas are ground in a relevant empirical context – that of e-waste management in the UK, providing a deeper knowledge, over time, of specific actors’ translations of policy into organisational practices.

Triangle of dynamics factors in inter-organizational networks

Purpose – the main scientific purpose of this article is to conceptualise the categories of dynamics of interorganisational networks strategy. The scientific problem presented in the article concerns initially identified connections between three major elements (based on literature studies and authors’ previous experiences), describing the dynamism of the strategy as mentioned above. Those elements were named by the authors as the Triangle of Dynamics Factors (TDF), and are (1) propensity of taking the risk and real ability to accurately assess opportunities, (2) skills, and processes of opportunities identification, creation, and exploitation, as well as (3) leadership skills of contemporary managers. Basing on those connections, the article concerns on clarifying research hypotheses in the areas of the three mentioned differentiating factors. Research methodology – in order to achieve the main goal of the article both quantitative (survey research) and qualitative (case study) methods were chosen for future research. Findings – the conducted research is focused on positioning previously mentioned categories in the micro-scale strategy, as well as on determining variables constituting the dynamics of inter-organisational networks strategies. The article presents research hypotheses that will be verified. Research limitations – the limitations are primarily related to a variety of factors influencing the dynamics of interorganisational network strategies, observed both inside and outside the networks. The article focuses on those factors that decision-makers in networks can influence, which is tantamount to omitting most factors within the networks' environment. At the same time, the article focuses on selected types of inter-organisational networks – both decentralised and centralised. The article is conceptual; therefore, it does not contain the results of empirical research directly oriented on all three identified factors, which is its specific limitation. Partial results of the previously conducted research indicated in the article relate only to one of the identified elements. It is the area of skills, and processes of opportunities identification, creation, and exploitation. Practical implications – the practical business implications concern mostly the necessity of organisational adaptation to changing environmental conditions, the imperative of being flexible and striving for the success by inter-organisational networks. The article identifies those factors being under the actual influence exerted by networks' representatives. Originality/Value – this article is the authors' third joint work, and hitherto in the examined literature, there were no publications dedicated to the study of strategy dynamics and dynamism of the inter-organisational networks' strategy, researched in the triad: risk – opportunities – leadership. This creates a wide interpretative and research area for the indicated topic

‘We no longer live in a time of separation’: A comparative analysis of how editorial and commercial integration became a norm

The separation between editorial and business activities of news organisations has long been a fundamental norm of journalism. Journalists have traditionally considered this separation as both an ethical principle and an organisational solution to preserve their professional autonomy and isolate their newsrooms from profit-driven pressures exerted by advertising, sales and marketing departments. However, many news organisations are increasingly integrating their editorial and commercial operations. Based on 41 interviews conducted at 12 newspapers and commercial broadcasters in six European countries, we analyse how editors and business managers describe the changing relationship between their departments. Drawing on previous research on journalistic norms and change, we focus on how interviewees use rhetorical discourses and normative statements to de-construct traditional norms, build new professionally accepted norms and legitimise new working practices. We find, first, that the traditional norm of separation no longer plays the central role that it used to. Both editors and managers are working to foster a cultural change that is seen as a prerequisite for organisational adaptation to an increasingly challenging environment. Second, we find that a new norm of integration, based on the values of collaboration, adaptation and business thinking, has emerged. Third, we show how the interplay between declining and emerging norms involves a difficult negotiation. Whereas those committed to the traditional norm see commercial considerations as a threat to professional autonomy, our interviewees see the emerging norm as a new way of ensuring professional autonomy by working with other parts of the organisation to jointly ensure commercial sustainability.

Adaptive Public Administration. Managerial and Evaluation Instruments

The adaptive public administration occurs frequently in theoretical and empirical analyses. The concept itself represents the finality of multiple approaches, assessing and operationalizing the impact of the changes induced by internal and external environment on the current status of a public or private organization. The current paper aims the first integrative synthesis of those processes or state-of-the-art, in view to provide a complex framework and vision to the development of more profound future analyses. Our approach sustains the implementation of a conscious and substantiated vision concerning adaptation in public organizations and/or public administration, revealing their specificity, need for improving the managerial and evaluation instruments, as well as multidisciplinary valorisation of various aspects on organisational adaptation.

Determinants of the perceived importance of organisational adaptation to climate change in the Australian energy industry

Climate change will pose considerable risk to organisations in the 21st century. However, organisational adaptation to climate change has not yet received much attention in the management literature. Drawing on strategic choice theory, we put forward a model proposing that environmental attitudes and climate change knowledge are antecedents of how important adaptation is perceived to be by organisational decision-makers and that the perceived risk towards climate change acts as a mediator in this relationship. We tested the model with responses from 101 managers in the Australian energy industry. Findings of the study show that both environmental attitudes and climate change knowledge have a significantly positive effect on the perceived importance of climate change adaptation and that this relationship is mediated by risk perception. The study highlights the need to draw climate knowledge to the attention of executives and discusses avenues for future research, including the extension of the findings to other industries and settings.

Intra-organisational drivers of purchasing social responsibility

Purpose This study aims to identify intra-organisational drivers that enhance the implementation of a purchasing social responsibility (PSR) approach and drivers that influence PSR throughout the phases of the process. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual framework presents PSR as a process, rather than merely a decision. It focuses on three dimensions (centralisation, specialisation and formalisation) to highlight the role and evolution of key drivers through a three-phase process (set-up, operating and sustaining). The empirical analysis is based on a single qualitative case study of Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), France’s state-owned railway company, which is particularly advanced in its PSR-related practices. Findings The intra-organisational drivers differ according to the phase of the PSR process. Transitions across the three phases entail organisational adaptation, which require the company to transform from a mechanistic to an organic structure. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to a better understanding of the PSR implementation process through an in-depth study focused on intra-organisational drivers. Although relatively understudied, these drivers play important roles. Practical implications This study identifies operational, intra-organisational leverage actions that can benefit firms that aim to adopt or maintain a PSR approach. It also provides comprehensive guidance for activating these leverages throughout the PSR implementation process, and it helps firms identify their level of PSR. Originality/value This study proposes the first processual, organisational interpretation of PSR approaches.