Organizations vary significantly in the rates at which they learn from experience (i.e., learning by doing). While prior work has explored how different categories of prior experience affect learning outcomes, limited attention has been paid to the role played by the organizational context. We focus on one important aspect of an organization’s context—goals—and examine how the degree of goal relatedness across an organization’s diverse set of activities affects the rate at which it learns from experience. In doing so, we argue that even where otherwise diverse activities are knowledge related, if they are not goal related, learning by doing is likely to suffer. Using data from the hospital industry our findings suggest that goal relatedness is an important consideration when it comes to learning. Although goal-related teaching aids learning by doing in clinical care, we find that strong academic affiliations (and the research-oriented tasks and goals they bring with them) may detract from it.
{"title":"Goal Relatedness and Learning: Evidence from Hospitals","authors":"Jonathan R. Clark, Venkat Kuppuswamy, B. Staats","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1166","url":null,"abstract":"Organizations vary significantly in the rates at which they learn from experience (i.e., learning by doing). While prior work has explored how different categories of prior experience affect learning outcomes, limited attention has been paid to the role played by the organizational context. We focus on one important aspect of an organization’s context—goals—and examine how the degree of goal relatedness across an organization’s diverse set of activities affects the rate at which it learns from experience. In doing so, we argue that even where otherwise diverse activities are knowledge related, if they are not goal related, learning by doing is likely to suffer. Using data from the hospital industry our findings suggest that goal relatedness is an important consideration when it comes to learning. Although goal-related teaching aids learning by doing in clinical care, we find that strong academic affiliations (and the research-oriented tasks and goals they bring with them) may detract from it.","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"35 1","pages":"100-117"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87511088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studies of failures in organizational information gathering, learning, and decision making highlight psychological and institutional causes. However, organizations are also political coalitions that face internal contestation over strategies, policies, and goals. The decision of whether to collect information impacts both the goals that organization members try to meet and the organization’s capacity to meet them. This paper develops a formal model that introduces political conflict into a theory of organizational learning. The model has a key insight: organizations characterized by political conflict will forego learning when leaders do not need to learn to build consensus in support of change, and will learn when leaders are unable to build such a consensus without learning. As a result, political conflict leads organizations to implement changes without first learning and to frequently learn when no changes are forthcoming. These tendencies toward ignorant decision making and educated inertia will be m...
{"title":"Ignorant Decision Making and Educated Inertia: Some Political Pathologies of Organizational Learning","authors":"Scott C. Ganz","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1164","url":null,"abstract":"Studies of failures in organizational information gathering, learning, and decision making highlight psychological and institutional causes. However, organizations are also political coalitions that face internal contestation over strategies, policies, and goals. The decision of whether to collect information impacts both the goals that organization members try to meet and the organization’s capacity to meet them. This paper develops a formal model that introduces political conflict into a theory of organizational learning. The model has a key insight: organizations characterized by political conflict will forego learning when leaders do not need to learn to build consensus in support of change, and will learn when leaders are unable to build such a consensus without learning. As a result, political conflict leads organizations to implement changes without first learning and to frequently learn when no changes are forthcoming. These tendencies toward ignorant decision making and educated inertia will be m...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"21 1","pages":"39-57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78354357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The proposition that outsiders often are crucial carriers of novelty into an established institutional field has received wide empirical support. But an equally compelling proposition points to the following puzzle: the very same conditions that enhance outsiders’ ability to make novel contributions also hinder their ability to carry them out. We seek to address this puzzle by examining the contextual circumstances that affect the legitimation of novelty originating from a noncertified outsider that challenged the status quo in an established institutional field. Our research case material is John Harrison’s introduction of a new mechanical method for measuring longitude at sea—the marine chronometer—which challenged the dominant astronomical approach. We find that whether an outsider’s new offer gains or is denied legitimacy is influenced by (1) the outsider’s agency to further a new offer, (2) the existence of multiple audiences with different dispositions toward this offer, and (3) the occurrence of an...
{"title":"Deconstructing the Outsider Puzzle: The Legitimation Journey of Novelty","authors":"G. Cattani, S. Ferriani, Andrea Lanza","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1161","url":null,"abstract":"The proposition that outsiders often are crucial carriers of novelty into an established institutional field has received wide empirical support. But an equally compelling proposition points to the following puzzle: the very same conditions that enhance outsiders’ ability to make novel contributions also hinder their ability to carry them out. We seek to address this puzzle by examining the contextual circumstances that affect the legitimation of novelty originating from a noncertified outsider that challenged the status quo in an established institutional field. Our research case material is John Harrison’s introduction of a new mechanical method for measuring longitude at sea—the marine chronometer—which challenged the dominant astronomical approach. We find that whether an outsider’s new offer gains or is denied legitimacy is influenced by (1) the outsider’s agency to further a new offer, (2) the existence of multiple audiences with different dispositions toward this offer, and (3) the occurrence of an...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"52 1","pages":"965-992"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90063452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Metaphors are central in organization theory for they help the creation of knowledge by altering concepts or generating new ones. Yet, despite their importance, little is known about how metaphors are used in processes of knowledge creation across worldviews. In such contexts, participants maintain their specialization, work separately, and resort to interpretable devices like metaphors to create together. With a longitudinal study of a multidisciplinary scientific project aimed at repairing broken spinal cord tissues, we show how metaphors facilitate collective knowledge creation. We contribute to the theory of knowledge creation across worldviews by showing the consequences of the diverse creative outcomes of metaphors on the orientation and stability of the collective work. Moreover, we propose how to control and predict the creative outcomes of metaphors by modifying the knowledge bases that are engaged in the creative process. We contribute to the theory on cycles of knowledge creation by showing tha...
{"title":"Knowledge Creation Across Worldviews: How Metaphors Impact and Orient Group Creativity","authors":"C. Biscaro, Anna Comacchio","doi":"10.1287/ORSC.2017.1163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/ORSC.2017.1163","url":null,"abstract":"Metaphors are central in organization theory for they help the creation of knowledge by altering concepts or generating new ones. Yet, despite their importance, little is known about how metaphors are used in processes of knowledge creation across worldviews. In such contexts, participants maintain their specialization, work separately, and resort to interpretable devices like metaphors to create together. With a longitudinal study of a multidisciplinary scientific project aimed at repairing broken spinal cord tissues, we show how metaphors facilitate collective knowledge creation. We contribute to the theory of knowledge creation across worldviews by showing the consequences of the diverse creative outcomes of metaphors on the orientation and stability of the collective work. Moreover, we propose how to control and predict the creative outcomes of metaphors by modifying the knowledge bases that are engaged in the creative process. We contribute to the theory on cycles of knowledge creation by showing tha...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"205 1","pages":"58-79"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76575481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Organizational performance is often dependent on the timing of critical processes and the simultaneous use of both technology and routines. Existing publications emphasize the importance of time sensitivity but also reflect divergent, untested perspectives. Prior works do not clearly explain or examine how different mechanisms are associated with achieving time-sensitive versus general (or non-time-sensitive) performance. We build on concepts from organizational mindfulness and organizational routines to address these gaps. Specifically, this paper examines how the mindful use of information technologies and adherence to specified routines are associated with both time-sensitive and general organizational performance. We employ split-group structural equation modeling based on high and low levels of information technology adoption to account for potential technology contingencies in performance. We use time-sequenced data from 262 U.S. hospitals to analyze two categories of clinical care quality: time-sen...
{"title":"Achieving Time-Sensitive Organizational Performance Through Mindful Use of Technologies and Routines","authors":"J. Gardner, Kenneth K. Boyer, Peter T. Ward","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1159","url":null,"abstract":"Organizational performance is often dependent on the timing of critical processes and the simultaneous use of both technology and routines. Existing publications emphasize the importance of time sensitivity but also reflect divergent, untested perspectives. Prior works do not clearly explain or examine how different mechanisms are associated with achieving time-sensitive versus general (or non-time-sensitive) performance. We build on concepts from organizational mindfulness and organizational routines to address these gaps. Specifically, this paper examines how the mindful use of information technologies and adherence to specified routines are associated with both time-sensitive and general organizational performance. We employ split-group structural equation modeling based on high and low levels of information technology adoption to account for potential technology contingencies in performance. We use time-sequenced data from 262 U.S. hospitals to analyze two categories of clinical care quality: time-sen...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"29 1","pages":"1061-1079"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74399230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dennis Jancsary, Renate E. Meyer, Markus A. Höllerer, V. Barberio
In this article, we develop a structural model for studying how constellations of multiple institutional logics are instantiated at the organizational level. Conceptually, we complement an institutional logics perspective with structural interactionism and network theory and model a constellation as a nexus of organizational role identities and counterroles. The structure of such a nexus reveals degrees of differentiation and interconnectedness between logics as well as distinct interfaces. We validate and further develop our model through qualitative content analysis and semantic network analytical methods applied to the website of a large organization. Our study contributes to recent literature on institutional pluralism by further specifying the structural aspects of constellations of logics and different types of institutional pluralism (monolithic, fragmented, and modular). Specifically, we show how systems of role categories enable the identification of logics, and how multivocal roles create interf...
{"title":"Toward a Structural Model of Organizational-Level Institutional Pluralism and Logic Interconnectedness","authors":"Dennis Jancsary, Renate E. Meyer, Markus A. Höllerer, V. Barberio","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1160","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we develop a structural model for studying how constellations of multiple institutional logics are instantiated at the organizational level. Conceptually, we complement an institutional logics perspective with structural interactionism and network theory and model a constellation as a nexus of organizational role identities and counterroles. The structure of such a nexus reveals degrees of differentiation and interconnectedness between logics as well as distinct interfaces. We validate and further develop our model through qualitative content analysis and semantic network analytical methods applied to the website of a large organization. Our study contributes to recent literature on institutional pluralism by further specifying the structural aspects of constellations of logics and different types of institutional pluralism (monolithic, fragmented, and modular). Specifically, we show how systems of role categories enable the identification of logics, and how multivocal roles create interf...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"293 1","pages":"1150-1167"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79531457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Most ambidexterity theories deal with managing exploration-exploitation trade-offs among business units within firms or between alliance partners, but these theories remain yet to be extended to the buyer-supplier relationship level. Through an in-depth case study of the Toyota Motor Corporation, we illustrate how buying firms can simultaneously achieve short-term and long-term benefits with their long-standing suppliers. Taking two inherently different activities as a starting point-mass production with its focus on exploitation and product development with its focus on exploration-we show that the deliberate use of ambiguity and explicitness can function as a countervailing mechanism against overemphasizing either exploration or exploitation. We also show that structural separation and structural integration are two organizational systems that can be used by buying firms to help suppliers realize ambidexterity in their operations. Finally, we argue that "requisite security" can help to motivate suppliers to address the paradoxical tensions deliberately created by buying firms.
{"title":"The Role of Ambidexterity in Managing Buyer-Supplier Relationships: The Toyota Case","authors":"K. Aoki, Miriam M. Wilhelm","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1156","url":null,"abstract":"Most ambidexterity theories deal with managing exploration-exploitation trade-offs among business units within firms or between alliance partners, but these theories remain yet to be extended to the buyer-supplier relationship level. Through an in-depth case study of the Toyota Motor Corporation, we illustrate how buying firms can simultaneously achieve short-term and long-term benefits with their long-standing suppliers. Taking two inherently different activities as a starting point-mass production with its focus on exploitation and product development with its focus on exploration-we show that the deliberate use of ambiguity and explicitness can function as a countervailing mechanism against overemphasizing either exploration or exploitation. We also show that structural separation and structural integration are two organizational systems that can be used by buying firms to help suppliers realize ambidexterity in their operations. Finally, we argue that \"requisite security\" can help to motivate suppliers to address the paradoxical tensions deliberately created by buying firms.","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"90 1","pages":"1080-1097"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76790537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Community differences in organizing capacity have been attributed to cohesion and trust among population members and from population members to organizations and have been seen as an enduring feature of communities. The experience of a crisis, and the handling of the crisis, can be seen as a test of cohesion that verifies community support of organizations or proves its absence. Using data on two bank panics 14 years apart, we explore whether a crisis event affects whether banks in a community handle the subsequent crisis through community collective action or through executing interorganizational solutions. We find that banks are less likely to seek community support when a prior financial crisis exposes the lack of trust from community members but are more likely to do so when having the experience of successfully avoiding a looming crisis. Organizational memory carries past experience into the future, and the banks that have directly experienced the absence of community trust prefer an interorganizatio...
{"title":"Hereafter: How Crises Shape Communities Through Learning and Institutional Legacies","authors":"H. Greve, L. Yue","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1157","url":null,"abstract":"Community differences in organizing capacity have been attributed to cohesion and trust among population members and from population members to organizations and have been seen as an enduring feature of communities. The experience of a crisis, and the handling of the crisis, can be seen as a test of cohesion that verifies community support of organizations or proves its absence. Using data on two bank panics 14 years apart, we explore whether a crisis event affects whether banks in a community handle the subsequent crisis through community collective action or through executing interorganizational solutions. We find that banks are less likely to seek community support when a prior financial crisis exposes the lack of trust from community members but are more likely to do so when having the experience of successfully avoiding a looming crisis. Organizational memory carries past experience into the future, and the banks that have directly experienced the absence of community trust prefer an interorganizatio...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"21 1","pages":"1098-1114"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83997086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the relationship between cognitive abilities and team performance in a start-up setting. We argue that performance in this setting hinges on three tasks: opportunity recognition, problem solving, and implementation. We theorize that cognitive ability at the individual level has a positive effect on opportunity recognition and problem solving but no clear effect on implementation. Within teams, a combination of higher and lower cognitive ability levels may be productive insofar as some individuals can be assigned to mundane tasks (that are often involved in implementation), while others can be assigned to tasks that impose a greater cognitive load (problem solving or opportunity recognition). We present the results of a field experiment in which 573 students in 49 teams started up and managed real companies. We ensured exogenous variation in—otherwise random—team composition by assigning students to teams based on their measured cognitive abilities. Each team performed a variety of task...
{"title":"Smart or Diverse Start-up Teams? Evidence from a Field Experiment","authors":"S. Hoogendoorn, S. Parker, M. Praag","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1158","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1158","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the relationship between cognitive abilities and team performance in a start-up setting. We argue that performance in this setting hinges on three tasks: opportunity recognition, problem solving, and implementation. We theorize that cognitive ability at the individual level has a positive effect on opportunity recognition and problem solving but no clear effect on implementation. Within teams, a combination of higher and lower cognitive ability levels may be productive insofar as some individuals can be assigned to mundane tasks (that are often involved in implementation), while others can be assigned to tasks that impose a greater cognitive load (problem solving or opportunity recognition). We present the results of a field experiment in which 573 students in 49 teams started up and managed real companies. We ensured exogenous variation in—otherwise random—team composition by assigning students to teams based on their measured cognitive abilities. Each team performed a variety of task...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"10 1","pages":"1010-1028"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80442047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recent research shows that audiences sometimes respond to organizational performance in ways that seem anomalous according to prior theory. In this paper we propose that variations in the extent to which an organization conforms to the norms and expectations of a known organizational category can affect the way evaluators construct reference groups, and subsequently shape their responses to organizational performance. In an experiment on investing in and evaluating the performance of a certain kind of financial organization, we show that organizational atypicality increases an evaluator’s likelihood of choosing a nonconforming referent for the purpose of making (enhancing) evaluations of the organization’s performance. Evaluators’ ex ante feelings of commitment toward the organization further moderate this relationship. Our results have several implications for research related to organizational and categorical identity, performance evaluation, and judgment and decision making. The online appendix is avai...
{"title":"The Effect of Organizational Atypicality on Reference Group Selection and Performance Evaluation","authors":"E. B. Smith, Heewon Chae","doi":"10.1287/orsc.2017.1154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1154","url":null,"abstract":"Recent research shows that audiences sometimes respond to organizational performance in ways that seem anomalous according to prior theory. In this paper we propose that variations in the extent to which an organization conforms to the norms and expectations of a known organizational category can affect the way evaluators construct reference groups, and subsequently shape their responses to organizational performance. In an experiment on investing in and evaluating the performance of a certain kind of financial organization, we show that organizational atypicality increases an evaluator’s likelihood of choosing a nonconforming referent for the purpose of making (enhancing) evaluations of the organization’s performance. Evaluators’ ex ante feelings of commitment toward the organization further moderate this relationship. Our results have several implications for research related to organizational and categorical identity, performance evaluation, and judgment and decision making. The online appendix is avai...","PeriodicalId":93599,"journal":{"name":"Organization science (Providence, R.I.)","volume":"15 1","pages":"1134-1149"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81505211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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