Collective Intuition: Implications for Improved Decision Making and Organizational Learning

This article establishes the foundation for research on collective intuition through a study of decision making and organizational learning processes in police senior management teams. We conceptualize collective intuition as independently formed judgement based on domain‐specific knowledge, experience and cognitive ability, shared and interpreted collectively. We contribute to intuition research, which has tended to focus its attention at the individual level, by studying intuition collectively in team settings. From a dual‐process perspective, we investigate how expert intuition and deliberation affect decision making and learning at various levels of the organization. Furthermore, we contribute to organizational learning research by offering an empirically derived elaboration of the foundational 4I framework, identifying additional ‘feed‐forward’ and ‘feedback’ loop processes, and thereby providing a more complete account of this organizational learning model. Bridging a variety of relevant but previously unconnected literatures via our focal concept of collective intuition, our research provides a foundation for future studies of this vitally important but under‐researched organizational phenomenon. We offer theoretical and practical implications whereby expert intuitions can be developed and leveraged collectively as valuable sources of organizational knowledge and learning, and contribute to improved decision making in organizations.     

Discursive strategies for internal legitimacy: Narrating the alternative organizational form

A significant body of academic work has explored the ways in which hybrid organizations seek to secure external legitimacy. However, there is a more limited understanding of the ways in which organizational units in hybrid organizations seek to acquire internal legitimacy – legitimacy which is conferred by internal stakeholders. This study draws on more than a century of communications in a Dutch cooperative bank to uncover how a major organizational unit enacted distinct discursive strategies to seek internal legitimacy. The paper extends prior work by showing how internal legitimacy work – the efforts to shape, reinforce, or suppress internal legitimacy judgments – in a hybrid organization is a dynamic process whereby an internal unit generates multiple complementary narratives to promote a fit between its own attributes and the legitimacy evaluations by internal audiences. In addition, it shows how internal legitimacy work can promote this fit by attempting to manipulate not only the impressions of the internal unit's attributes, but also its audiences’ understanding of wider cultural norms of the day, on which their legitimacy judgments are based. In this vein, the paper highlights how discursive internal legitimacy work seeks to generate a taken-for-granted organizational position for the internal units concerned.     

Inter-Organizational Learning and Strategic Renewal in SMEs: Extending the 4I Framework

This article explores how mature SMEs which lack internal resources access external knowledge to facilitate strategic renewal. Organizational learning, in contrast to entrepreneurial learning, recognizes that owner-managers must distribute knowledge throughout the firm to achieve competitive benefits. Three case studies demonstrate how external ‘knowledge providers’ (customers, suppliers and educational institutions) help institutionalize ‘new’ knowledge. Initially, learning from inter-organizational relationships requires owner-managers to be proactive in accessing and extending appropriate inter-organizational relationships. Second, external organizations can play an active role by ‘intertwining’ knowledge to support the development of processes, systems and routines that distribute and institutionalize learning throughout the organization. The three cases have practical implications for owner-managers and add to academic knowledge via the extension of Crossan et al's 4I model of organizational learning.     

What Do We Mean by Performativity in Organizational and Management Theory? The Uses and Abuses of Performativity

John Austin introduced the formulation ‘performative utterance’ in his 1962 book How to Do Things with Words. This term and the related concept of performativity have subsequently been interpreted in numerous ways by social scientists and philosophers such as Lyotard, Butler, Callon and Barad, leading to the coexistence of several foundational perspectives on performativity. This paper reviews and evaluates critically how organization and management theory (OMT) scholars have used these perspectives, and how the power of performativity has, or has not, stimulated new theory‐building. In performing a historical and critical review of performativity in OMT, the authors’ analysis reveals the uses, abuses and under‐uses of the concept by OMT scholars. It also reveals the lack of both organizational conceptualizations of performativity and analysis of how performativity is organized. Ultimately, the authors’ aim is to provoke a ‘performative turn’ in OMT by unleashing the power of the performativity concept to generate new and stronger organizational theories.     

Network learning: Episodes of interorganizational learning towards a collective performance goal

Little is known about learning processes in horizontal networks. This study focuses on networks as learning entities, i.e. learning by multiple organizations as a group, and the mechanisms involved in developing and addressing a network-level performance goal. By using a narrative approach, we gather in-depth primary data from network members to examine: how do firms engage in network learning? and, how is network learning coordinated towards a performance goal in a horizontal inter-firm network? Our findings comprise two learning episodes: ‘learning how to compete’ and ‘learning how to perform’. These episodes help us to understand network learning processes; the relationship between network learning and organizational learning; and the regulatory role a hub firm provides towards a collective performance goal.     

A ‘No Blame’ Approach to Organizational Learning

In high‐reliability organizations (HROs) even minor errors can seriously hinder the very existence of the firm and the safety of employees and customers. Field studies have shown that HROs encourage the reporting of errors and near misses, exploiting these incidents to improve their operative processes. In this paper, we describe this practice as a ‘no blame’ approach to error management, and link it to learning theory, showing how no blame practices can enhance organizational learning. By taking a cognitive perspective of organizations, we draw on existing contributions and on a set of empirical case studies to discuss the characteristics of no blame practices, and their applicability in traditional, non‐HROs. Our findings show that, in exploiting information from error‐reporting, no blame practices are beneficial in environments where learning and reliability issues are particularly relevant. Empirical evidence suggests that a no blame approach can be extremely constructive for organizations that want to enhance their learning processes. We conclude that a no blame approach is a valuable way to achieve an organization that has flexibility and variability. However, no blame practices imply a set of organizational issues and costs that pose significant challenges to firms operating in non‐high‐reliability settings. The findings from our study contribute to the literature on HROs and organizational learning.     

Patterns of Strategic Change in Health Care: District Health Authorities Respond to AIDS*

The literature on strategic change is based mostly on research in the private sector. This paper suggests that change in public sector organizations is equally worthy of study and can offer novel insights. Findings from research into the development of services for HIV/AIDS in NHS health districts are used to illustrate six generic themes in strategic change processes. The first theme concerns the role of context in potentiating change, and in promoting a diverse response in different localities despite unifying government guidelines. A second theme introduces the initiators of change, the ‘product champions’, a less homogeneous group than is sometimes suggested. Although personal status, energy and pro-activity were shared characteristics, individuals differed in style and methods used to attain goals. Theme three highlights social movements as mediators of change. Consumerism has affected both private and public sector industry, but for HIV/AIDS the process has been particularly visible. The mobilising role of crisis comes next. A three phase model is suggested, linking ‘crisis-as-threat’ and ‘crisis-as-opportunity’ theories. A fifth theme concerns changes in organizational culture provoked by HIV/AIDS, and the role played by symbolism - often unpredictable and not easily manipulated by management. The last theme is organizational learning; how learning about HIV/AIDS diffused through the districts, and how well learning generalizes to other issues. In conclusion, it is argued that the study of processes of change in a public sector organization can contribute to general models of strategic change and help to develop organizational theory.     

An Examination of the Relationship Between Absorptive Capacity and Organizational Learning,and a Proposed Integration

Since its inception, the concept of absorptive capacity has been closely linked with notions of organizational learning. Yet the precise nature of the relationship between these two concepts has never been established. This relationship is examined in a variety of ways, and it is suggested that the literature on these two concepts shares a conceptual affinity which needs to be delineated. It is suggested that absorptive capacity (a dynamic capability) is a concrete example of organizational learning that concerns an organization's relationship with new external knowledge. Using the 4I Model for organizational learning ( Crossan, M.M., Lane, H.W. and White, R.E. (1999 ). An organizational learning framework: from intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24, 522–537) and Zahra and George's conceptualization of absorptive capacity ( Zahra, S.A. and George, G. (2002 ). Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization, and extension. Academy of Management Review, 27, 185–203), this paper proposes an integration of the two concepts.     

The New CEO and the Post‐succession Process: An Integration of Past Research and Future Directions

The early tenure of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), also referred to as ‘the CEO post‐succession process’, is a critical phase in the history of an organization, because it is associated with a high rate of organizational failure and CEO dismissal. Research on this important process has grown rapidly over the last decade, focusing particularly on the question of how the match between the CEO, the organization and the environment is created in the post‐succession process. Yet, the respective literature is highly fragmented, which suggests that there is a need for a systematic review and evaluation of existing works. Adopting the conceptual vocabulary of the practice perspective, the authors review this literature in terms of what it reveals about (1) the practices adopted by new CEOs and other actors involved in the post‐succession process, (2) the properties of the key practitioners involved, and (3) the practical context of the post‐succession process. This review suggests that new CEOs are primarily involved in practices aimed at integrating the new CEO into the organization, and practices aimed at realigning the organization with its environment. The important insights that the existing literature affords are identified, and the gaps in this body of research are highlighted. On this basis, a concrete research agenda is developed in terms of topics, methodologies and theories.     

Pluralism in Organizations: Learning from Unconventional Forms of Organizations

The bureaucratic organization is still regarded as the conventional organizational form, but is ill‐suited to an increasingly pluralistic world. Research on the variety of organizational forms has increased dramatically over the past three decades and offers the potential to understand better how pluralism is manifested and managed within organizations. However, this research remains fragmented. The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize research on unconventional organizations to explore how organizations resolve or attenuate the tensions related to pluralism. Drawing from research in leading management journals, it covers seven distinct literatures: ‘referent organization’, ‘temporary organization’, ‘pluralistic organization’, ‘meta‐organization’, ‘bridging organization’, ‘hybrid organization’ and ‘field‐configuring event’. For each literature, the authors trace the genealogy of the key concepts and review their distinct insights regarding organizational pluralism. They then synthesize and discuss their collective contributions and conclude with avenues of research for pluralism in organizations.     

Learning and development experiences of self-initiated expatriate women in the United Arab Emirates

The article explores self-initiated expatriate women's experiences of working and learning in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Adler's (Adler, N. 1987. Pacific basin managers: A Gaijin, not a woman. Human Resource Management 26, no. 2: 169–91) seminal study and Tung's (Tung, R.L. 2004. Female expatriates: The model of the global manager. Organizational Dynamics 33: 243–53) research suggest that expatriate women operating in a foreign host culture are categorized as a ‘Third Gender’: host nationals would perceive them as ‘foreign’ first and ‘women’ second, consequently according them different privileged treatment inworkplaces than host national women colleagues. This qualitative study of self-initiated expatriate women highlights how the women's constructions of themselves as ‘foreign’ and ‘female’ in the UAE provide a lens through which they reflect upon their own experiences of learning and development. In the absence of support from their own organizations and/or driven by their own aspirations, the women embarked upon their professional development initiatives; networking, coaching and formal qualifications. Key themes of vulnerability in being a foreigner, gendered workplaces, informal learning and women's agency in their own learning and development emerge from the analysis. The women's experiences suggest that their ‘Third Gender’ identity frames both constraints and opportunities within their social and work environment. The research focus on self-initiated expatriate women developing their professional practice, without the organizational Human Resource Development (HRD) support normally provided for assigned expatriates, is a key contribution to HRD, expatriate and international management literature where gender has tended to be ignored.     

‘Fantasies of Consensus:’ Planning Reform in Sydney, 2005–2013

This paper examines the battle to reform and streamline the planning system in Sydney, Australia, between 2005 and 2013. It analyses the strategies the State of NSW has pursued to manage ongoing conflicts over development, and reflects on the challenges the State has encountered in its attempt to redefine democratic engagement, justify decisions, claim legitimacy and forge a consensus around a more pro-development planning system. While New South Wales’ planning reform strategies have pursued an apparently ‘post-political’ agenda (Swyngedouw, Apocalypse forever? Post-political populism and the spectre of climate change, Theory Culture and Society, 27(2–3):213–232, 2010), using policy solutions to depoliticize difficult decisions, the reform process has exacerbated rather than defused conflicts. The story raises questions about the extent to which the new governing strategies of a post-political era can offer effective forums to forge consensus, or to stage-manage agreement over metropolitan development conflicts.     

‘Space,the final frontier’? Social movements as organizing spaces for applying HRD

This article suggests a qualitatively different type of ‘space’ that fits the classic definition of what constitutes an ‘organization’, but that is frequently rejected as being beyond the scope of HRD because it does not fit preconceived notions of an ‘organization’. In this article, I describe how social movements are spaces analogous to organizations that can enrich our understanding of HRD principles and that may benefit from our professional experience in fostering learning and development for and within organizations. Using concepts of sensemaking in the organizing process (Weick, K. E. 1979. The Social Psychology of Organizing. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications) and concepts of space (Foucault, M. 1986. “Of Other Spaces.” Translated by J. Miskowiec. Diacritics 16 (1): 22–27; Lefebvre, H. 1991. The Production of Space. Translated by D. Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Blackwell), I show how the social movement, Occupy Wall Street, can be seen as an important site of HRD practice and research.     

11 The Effects of Governments on Management and Organization

Abstract

We review and integrate existing research from organization theory, strategy, organizational behavior, economics, sociology and political science on the effects of governments on organization and management, with a focus on how governing ideology and government capability influence independent organizations’ forms, strategies, and their participants’ behavior. When brought together these works suggest significant research opportunities in the fields of management and organization, as well as new perspectives on public policy challenges. Several avenues of potentially profitable empirical research include more attention to the influence of government on corporate strategies, more research on the strategies of pursuing corruption and government capture for competitive advantage, the role of government in fostering innovation and the growth of entrepreneurial organizations, and extra‐organizational contextual effects on managerial and employee organizational behavior. Possible public policy implications are illustrated with an application to the role of organizations in national wealth generation and dispersion.     

Unknown Knowns and Known Unknowns: Framing the Role of Organizational Learning in Corporate Social Responsibility Development

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now widely seen as an increasingly significant concern for firms because of moral, relational and instrumental motives. Nevertheless, practical aspects and challenges associated with CSR development in firms remains only partially understood. In this setting, the organizational learning (OL) discipline is recurrently put forward as key in the pursuit and successful development of CSR, but the existing literature remains disjointed. This study critically reviews the existing literature to conceptualize how research to date has approached CSR development in terms of OL, and to provide a two‐dimensional structuring framework of the role of OL in CSR development that emphasizes key OL‐related aspects supporting CSR development and goes beyond an organization‐centric viewpoint to consider not only learning within the organization, but also from others, and with others. In particular, the authors identify key learning processes and sub‐processes and critical areas that remain understudied. Overall, the authors propose a macro view of the work done to date at the intersection of OL and CSR, and in doing so help make the ‘OL for CSR development’ scholarship more recognizable as a sub‐discipline.     

Introduction: Knowledge Construction and Creation in Organizations*

While adopting a knowledge‐based perspective on organizations has been valuable, since, among other things, it enables us to see links between organizational learning and a firm's competitive advantage through the development of idiosyncratic capabilities, it has nonetheless tended to treat organizational knowledge as ‘given’, exploring how it is related to other ‘given’ variables. The focus of this special issue is to unpack the notion of organizational knowledge by exploring the processes and practices through which knowledge is constructed and created in organizations. A constructivist perspective assumes that ‘knowledge’ presupposes work and seeks to explore how what comes to be considered as organizational knowledge is established and validated (or fails to do so). By seeing organizational knowledge as work we can further probe into how knowledge is shaped by organizational strategies and incentives and, more radically, how power and politics influence the struggle between competing bodies of knowledge in organizations.     

The Ethics of Researching Friends: On Convenience Sampling in Qualitative Management and Organization Studies

Scholarship on the ethical complexities resulting from friendships which develop with respondents during qualitative data collection is well established. There has also been consideration of the ethics of researching existing friends across various disciplines. But, although management and organization scholars use convenience samples of the latter kind in qualitative research, there is virtually no discussion in our field of the ethical implications. In seeking to rectify this, I draw on my experiences of a project where I gathered data from six friends on their experiences of and attitudes towards sexual relationships, motherhood and life–work ‘balance’. I discuss the reportage of what sometimes felt like confidences, the use of ex ante data, the objectification of participants and difficulties relating to respondent validation in order to highlight some of the ethical challenges in qualitative management and organizational research with friends.     

Beyond trust: towards a practice-based understanding of governing ‘network organizations’

In recent past the concept of the ‘network’ or ‘network organization’ has emerged as one of the most prominent concepts for thinking, understanding and conceptualizing the coordination of ‘productive activities’. In the literature on network organizations, ‘trust’ is commonly understood to be the main coordinating mechanism of this organizational form. Highlighting the problematics involved in this prime focus on trust, this study combines practice-based theory (Schatzki in Social practices: a Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008) and a Foucauldian understanding of governing to contribute to a more differentiated understanding of the coordination of everyday activities in network organizations. By focusing on how the ‘network organization’ and its subjects are ‘produced’ in power-infused practices, this study provides insights into the complexity of mechanisms involved in such organizations. Empirically this is illustrated at the example of a consulting company which describes itself—internally and externally—as ‘network organization’. Based on an ethnographic participant observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews, the analysis of the case questions the centrality of trust as coordinating mechanism and provides deep insights into the constitution of this specific ‘network organization’.     

Speak! Paradoxical Effects of a Managerial Culture of ‘Speaking Up’

We explore the intrinsic ambiguity of speaking up in a multinational healthcare subsidiary. A culture change initiative, emphasizing learning and agility through encouraging employees to speak up, gave rise to paradoxical effects. Some employees interpreted a managerial tool for improving effectiveness as an invitation to raise challenging points of difference rather than as something ‘beneficial for the organization’. We show that the process of introducing a culture that aims to encourage employees to speak up can produce tensions and contradictions that make various types of organizational paradoxes salient. Telling people to ‘speak up!’ may render paradoxical tensions salient and even foster a sense of low PsySafe.