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Technology and organization: power, meaning and design
In: The Routledge series in analytical management
BPR: RIP?
In: Organization: the interdisciplinary journal of organization, theory and society, Band 9, Heft 1, S. 179-181
ISSN: 1461-7323
Knowledge à la mode: The rise of knowledge management and its implications for views of knowledge production
In: Social epistemology: a journal of knowledge, culture and policy, Band 15, Heft 3, S. 201-213
ISSN: 1464-5297
BPR and the knowledge-based view of the firm
In: Knowledge and process management: the journal of corporate transformation ; the official journal of the Institute of Business Process Re-engineering, Band 5, Heft 3, S. 192-200
ISSN: 1099-1441
The Unmaking of Management? Change and Continuity in British Management in the 1990s
In: Human relations: towards the integration of the social sciences, Band 51, Heft 6, S. 691-716
ISSN: 1573-9716, 1741-282X
In the late 1980s, a series of reports-notably, "The Making of Managers" by Charles Handy-outlined a development path for management in the U.K. This was to be based on the development of an education and training base and the model set by leading corporations. A decade later, this paper reviews current trends in managerial work and employment against the expectations of the late 1980s. In doing so, it distinguishes between the objective condition of British management and its institutionalized meaning within wider British society. It argues that recent accounts of changes in managerial work and employment have focused solely on incremental changes in the empirical domain and have neglected important discursive shifts in the way management is understood and enacted within organizations. These shifts have been catalyzed by the emergence of a series of organizational initiatives-first, Total Quality Management (TQM) and, latterly, lean production and Business Process Reengineering (BPR)-which aim to systematically deconstruct management by emphasizing worker empowerment, delayering, downsizing, and the redistribution of managerial functions. In short, initiatives such as these are contributing to the "unmaking of management." Managerial groups are subject to intensification and polarization, while managerial practices are diffused throughout the work process.
Blackboxes, Hostages and Prisoners
In: Organization studies: an international multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of organizations, organizing, and the organized in and between societies, Band 16, Heft 6, S. 991-1019
ISSN: 1741-3044
This paper uses empirical evidence drawn from a sample of IT-based innova tion projects to examine theoretical models of the organization of technical knowledge. It suggests that Williamson's transaction cost account is incom plete, in that it fails to take account of the role of social action in communicat ing technical knowledge and organizing transactions. As an alternative model, it describes the 'strategies of social closure' developed by IT experts to achieve effective knowledge trading and a mutually acceptable division of the eco nomic gains of innovation. Empirical data is used to describe three such strat egies : 'blackboxing', 'hostage' and 'prisoner' strategies.
Knowledge Governance for Open Innovation: Evidence from an EU R&D Collaboration
In: Knowledge Governance, S. 220-246
Social capital and political bias in knowledge sharing: An exploratory study
In: Human relations: towards the integration of the social sciences, Band 59, Heft 10, S. 1343-1370
ISSN: 1573-9716, 1741-282X
The benefits of social capital for the sharing of knowledge are frequently emphasized in the literature. However, a few authors have also begun to draw our attention towards the drawbacks of social capital for the working of organizations. In particular, instrumental social capital - as opposed to consummatory social capital - is seen as linked to power relations, which can inhibit the sharing of knowledge. To contribute to this debate on the role of social capital, we carried out a qualitative study in two Belgian companies. Our findings reveal that social capital generally tends to enhance the sharing of knowledge but that in its instrumental form it reflects opportunistic and political objectives, and promotes a highly selective form of knowledge sharing.
The politics of networked innovation
In: Human relations: towards the integration of the social sciences, Band 58, Heft 7, S. 913-943
ISSN: 1573-9716, 1741-282X
Existing studies suggest that, because knowledge is becoming more widely distributed, innovation increasingly needs to occur 'at the interstices' of collaborating groups and organizations. Networked innovation processes are therefore emphasized, over more hierarchical or market-based forms, as having distinct advantages for the creation and integration of knowledge. Whilst the structural properties of networks have been heavily scrutinized, there is relatively less understanding of processes, in particular the political dynamics that shape networked innovation. This article aims to develop understanding of networked innovation processes, by identifying and relating the characteristics of networked innovation to the productive, or constraining, effects of different dimensions of power (power of resource, meaning and process). It does this through comparative analysis of three case studies of networked innovation, each involving the development of new technology. This analysis suggests that understanding the politics of networked innovation depends on understanding the generative (and sometimes degenerative) relationship between power, knowledge integration, network formation, and the role of technology. Moreover, the co-ordination of networks, rather than simply their formation, is found to play a particularly crucial role.
Forget Japan: the very British response to lean production
In: Employee relations, Band 20, Heft 3, S. 224-236
ISSN: 1758-7069
Contrasts theories of the "Japanization" of British industry with empirical evidence from established car producers in that industry. Suggests that while the UK car industry has been heavily influenced by Japanese methods, established producers follow policies marked by indigenous influences rather than by any unmediated Japanese effect. Proceeds to explore relationships between processual change in plant‐level work organization and the overarching context of institutions and ideas. Investigates the relevance of the two major theoretical models of workplace change in the motor industry ‐ the "diffusion" and the "bolt‐on" models of change ‐ and their conflicting interpretations of the impact of the Japanese "lean production" approach. Compares models with case‐studies of changing work practices at Rover and Peugeot and suggests that neither model provides a satisfactory account of the patterns of change found. Develops instead a model of change which emphasizes the creative adaptation of production practices within the British context.
Technical Change in an Industrial Relations Context
In: Employee relations, Band 8, Heft 6, S. 17-22
ISSN: 1758-7069
Technical change and industrial relations are becoming inextricably linked together. There is a need for a clearsighted understanding of all the effects of technical change at the workplace. This would entail a conceptual framework in which the interaction between social and technical factors could be properly identified. At establishment level the innovation process typically involves a balancing of the social, economic and technological vectors of change. Three short case studies into the innovation process at one of the key manufacturing plants of a major British vehicle producer are presented, examining a Machine Monitoring System, Team Working and Maintenance Function. It is clear that the linked issues of work practices and labour productivity which are to the forefront of workplace industrial relations exert a significant impact on the economic consequences of technical change. Where technological innovation involves significant change in work practices, such change will be facilitated when the forms of co‐operation it demands and the costs and benefits it creates are congruent with the respective power and policies of management and unions.
Liminal roles as a source of creative agency in management: The case of knowledge-sharing communities
In: Human relations: towards the integration of the social sciences, Band 69, Heft 3, S. 781-811
ISSN: 1573-9716, 1741-282X
Studies suggest that the experience of liminality – of being in an ambiguous, 'betwixt and between' position – has creative potential for organizations. We contribute to theory on the link between liminality and creative agency through a study of the coordinators of 'knowledge-sharing communities'; one of the latest examples of a 'neo-bureaucratic' practice that seeks to elicit innovative responses from employees while intensifying control by the organization. Through a role-centred perspective, our study found that both the structural and interpretive aspects of coordinators' role enactments promoted a degree of creative agency. 'Front-stage' and 'back-stage' activities were developed to meet the divergent expectations posed by senior management and community members, and the ambiguity of their roles prompted an array of different role interpretations. Our findings contribute to theory by showing how the link between liminality and creative agency is not confined to roles and spaces (consultancy work, professional expertise) that are positioned across organizational boundaries, or free from norms and expectations, but may also apply to roles that are ambiguously situated within organizational contexts and that are subject to divergent expectations. This shows how neo-bureaucratic forms may be both reproduced and renewed through the creative responses of individual managers.
Coordinating Expertise Across Knowledge Boundaries in Offshore-Outsourcing Projects: The Role of Codification
In: Kotlarsky, J., Scarbrough, H. and I. Oshri (2014) "Coordinating expertise across knowledge boundaries in offshore-outsourcing projects: The role of codification", MIS Quarterly, 38 (2), pp. 607-627 (Open Access)
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