Mindfully performed organisational routines: reconciling the stability and change duality view

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a process model on how mindfully performed organisational routines can simultaneously enable organisational stability and organisational change. Design/methodology/approach Via conceptual analysis, the authors develop several propositions and a process model integrating the theory of mindfulness and performative aspects of organisational routines with organisational stability and change. To do so, the authors review the literature on organisational routines, mindfulness, stability, inertia and change. Findings First, the authors demonstrate that, based on levels of mindfulness employed, performative aspects of organisational routines can be categorised as mindless, mindful and collectively mindful (meta-routines). Second, in the process model, the authors position the mindless performance of routines as enabling organisational stability, mediated through inertial pressure and disabling change, mediated through constrained change capacities. Finally, the authors state that engaging routines with mindfulness at an individual (mindful routines) or collective (meta-routines) level reduces inertia and facilitates change. Such simultaneous engagement leads to either sustaining stability when required or implementing continuous organisational change. Research limitations/implications The framework uses continuous, versus episodic, change; future research can consider the model’s workability with episodic change. Future research can also seek to empirically validate the model. The authors hope that this model informs research in organisational change and provides guidance on addressing organisational inertia. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to categorise the performative aspects of organisational routine based on the extent of mindfulness employed and propose that mindfulness-based practice of routines stimulates either inertia-induced or inertia-free stability and continuous change.

Homeworking Project Management & Agility as the New Normal in a Covid-19 World

The Covid-19 global pandemic crisis has had a deep and profound impact on fundamental elements of society, the economy, and the environment as a whole. Key organisations, businesses, sectors and industries vital for delivering crucial projects have been affected by the relatively fast onset of Covid-19 on a global scale. As a result, organisational routines and project management processes that would have focused on established methods and practices have incurred dramatic changes leading to a greater emphasis on agility as part of a more exhaustive strategic Covid-19 world, where new routines and processes become embedded as the new normal. This research focuses on the increased demand in Homeworking Project Management (HPM) and more significant agility requirements across dispersed virtual project management teams. Initial insights from semi-structured interviews with a cross-section of 12 high-level project professionals suggest that; (i) Transitional homeworking project management processes have a direct impact on collaborative and operational routines; (ii) There is a greater level of demand on agility with HPM teams which do not necessarily have the organisational infrastructure to support these, (iii) Technological resources are becoming a primary concern with inequality of information across HPM teams, and (iv) Increasing critical bottlenecks across dispersed HPM teams is adversely affecting tenable project outcomes.

Reframing Project Management Process Paralysis: An Autoethnographic Study of the UK Fire Service

The Covid-19 pandemic has created new social, environmental, and economic challenges for organisational routines, and a multilevel perspective of project management processes and decision making is required to untangle the complex nature of projects and phenomena. This research hence aims to investigate reframing of traditional project failure reasoning in pressurised situations by adopting a wider organisational view of the causation of failure using models from high-risk industries which support good decision-making practices and highlighting the project, programme and organisational structures which inherently position a project manager to fail in conditions with cognitive overload, limitations, and constraints. Through an institutional perspective, both individuals (the project managers) and organisations are considered under the influence of normative and cognitive pressures, and both are sources of change.

Instantiation of Organisational Routines in Cross-Expertise Collaborative Enterprise Systems

This study aims to explore the dynamics between the performative and ostensive aspects of organisational routines in the context of cross-expertise collaborative enterprise systems. Specifically, through an ongoing empirical case study of technology, media and communication businesses focusing on social and mobile systems, we will explore cross-expertise collaborative enterprise systems routines and how those influence, and are guided by the concept of gamification.

Empowering Organisations to Gain From Uncertainty: a Conceptualisation of Antifragility Through Leveraging Organisational Routines in Uncertain Environments

Economic shifts, disruptive innovations, and competitive rivalries continuously reshape the operating environment of organisations. Such uncertainty impacts organisations and raises significant challenges. While many organisations tend to respond to uncertainty by adopting loss minimisation strategies, others see uncertainty as an opportunity to achieve gains. The latter view is exemplified in Taleb’s (2012) concept of ‘antifragility’, a property of systems that gain when exposed to uncertainty. For organisations, the challenge lies in the identification and execution of fundamental artefacts to accomplish work to achieve antifragile outcomes. One such artefact is the organisational routine; repeatable, regular patterns of behaviour and actions that influence performance. This paper conceptualises the intersection between antifragility, uncertainty management, and organisational routines literatures to identify four routine archetypes that can guide actions that contribute to organisational antifragility. Theoretically, this paper identifies how these archetypes arise from the interplay between temporal action (as tendencies towards proactive or reactive action) and risk mitigation strategies (as preference towards redundancies or flexibilities). Developed insights bring forth a foundation for predictive models of performance, and guidance for organisations aiming to thrive, rather than just survive, in uncertain environments. This paper concludes with the identification of further research avenues.

Physiotherapists’ perceptions of challenges facing evidence-based practice and the importance of environmental empowerment in fall prevention in the municipality – a qualitative study

Background Falls in older adults are an increasingly important public-health concern. Despite abundant research, fall rates have not been reduced, because implementation of evidence-based fall-prevention measures has been slow and limited. This study aims to explore physiotherapists’ perceptions on external factors, such as public policy, organisation and leadership, regarding the relation between knowledge translation and the three elements of evidence-based practice (EBP) to effectively address barriers and facilitate the uptake of EBP in fall prevention. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 physiotherapists (men = 7; women = 11) working with fall prevention in the primary healthcare system. The physiotherapists ranged in age from 27 to 60 years (median 36 years) and had worked as a physiotherapist from 1 to 36 years (median 7 years). Data are analysed using thematic analysis. Results The analysis revealed one main theme and four sub-themes. The main theme was ‘Environmental empowerment enhances physiotherapists’ capabilities for using EBP’. A resourceful work environment facilitates EBP, having access to information about research-based knowledge, supportive leadership, enough human resources and opportunities to learn and grow at work. The four sub-themes were as follows: 1) ‘Tension between attributes of research-based knowledge and organisational routines and practices’; 2) ‘Evidence must be informed by policymakers—What works?’; 3) ‘Empowering culture and work environment—A steppingstone to EBP’ and 4) ‘Organisation readiness for EBP, managerial and clinical relations’. Success in environmental empowerment depends on the leader’s role in creating preconditions at the workplace that may lead to important positive personal and organisational outcomes for EBP. Two-way communication and transfer-of-information are also key factors in the development of positive work engagement when using EBP. Conclusion The findings of this study outline tension between policy, leadership, organisational facilitators and EBP. Leadership is influenced by policy with ripple effects for the organisation and clinicians. Organisational facilitators form structural empowerment, which is the foundation for creating an EBP environment. Trial registration 2018/2227/REC south-east C. Registered 19 December 2018, Norwegian Ethics Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics.

Guest editorial

PurposeThis paper examines and discusses the need for micro-level analyses of academic entrepreneurship and outlines a micro-level research agenda for the study of academic entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachBased on a review of academic literature on academic entrepreneurship, this study focuses on individual actors and suggests some future research agendas.FindingsThe authors highlight that more studies dealing with academic entrepreneurship need to take a micro-level perspective, thereby outline several fruitful avenues of research: (1) star scientists and principal investigators, (2) TTO professionals, (3) graduate entrepreneurs, (4) university administrators, (5) policy makers and funders as well as (6) micro-level organisational routines.Practical implicationsThis paper derives three main implications for management practice and policy. First, there is a real need to develop the managerial skills, competencies and capabilities of scientists and individuals. Second, policy makers need to ensure the necessary resources to pursue a paradigm shift towards more entrepreneurial thinking and action and create adequate incentives. Third, firms need to offer support and guidance on how to best commercialise and transfer scientific knowledge and ideally complement support structures of universities and research institutes.Originality/valueThis paper provides an organising framework for the study of micro-level academic entrepreneurship and emphasises the need to focus further on individual actors and how their actions, behaviours and approaches contribute to academic entrepreneurship in different institutional, environmental and cultural contexts.