Field Of Organization Theory Research Articles

‘We’re supposed to be at the forefront’: a multiple case study exploring how institutional context shapes engineering diversity and inclusion initiatives

Research suggests the normative culture of engineering perpetuates the marginalization of individuals with excluded identities, contributing to a lack of diversity in academia and the workforce. As evidenced by recent funding opportunities, stakeholders view diversity and inclusion (D&I) as critical to broadening participation, and many engineering units have espoused their commitment to D&I efforts. However, additional research is needed to better understand how institutional contexts shape D&I efforts occurring in academic engineering units. This multiple case study examined engineering units at three U.S. universities that received the same National Science Foundation grant to cultivate an inclusive engineering culture. Drawing from the field of organizational theory, I analyzed data from 11 interviews and 209 pages of documents to understand how university context shaped engineering D&I efforts. The theory of neoinstitutionalism was used as a lens to understand similarities and differences among the cases. Findings suggest D&I efforts were heavily shaped by institutional contexts including the desire for prestige, availability of resources, and pressure from internal and external stakeholders. Implications for policymakers, funding agencies, and engineering leaders point to the need to re-imagine markers of engineering education legitimacy.

Translators who own it: A case study on how doxa and psychological ownership impact translators’ engagement and job satisfaction

This paper explores the job satisfaction of translators working for an international intergovernmental organization. The extant literature on translators’ job satisfaction has explored a number of constructs. Based on developments in the field of organizational theory and the complexity of translation as a job, it is argued that psychological ownership may prove an adequate framework to explain translators’ job satisfaction and instrumental in establishing a dialogue between the various analyses of different workplaces in the field of translation and interpreting studies. The study focuses on a specific multilingual intergovernmental organization and draws on the interviews of 17 Spanish-native translators of different nationalities. Their feelings of ownership are analyzed and variations in how they relate to constructs of psychological ownership —feelings of control, intimacy of knowledge, and self-investment— become apparent. Exploring patterns shows those variations to be related to translators’ differing translation doxas, that is, their divergent, competing, and sometimes conflicting understanding of what translation is and should be. Furthermore, relationships between psychological ownership, translation doxa, and translators’ efforts to advance their own doxas in the organization are examined with a view towards creating means to engage professional translators in advancing a doxa shaped by and for translators across workplaces.

The effect of enabling organizational control on employees’ affective commitment: evidence from French firms

PurposeThis paper aims to find out the impact of enabling organizational control on employee affective organizational commitment. Moreover, based on self-determination theory, this paper also explains the process through which this relationship works.Design/methodology/approachThis paper has adopted an explanatory study using a cross-sectional design. Data was collected from the alumni of a business school in France using a survey strategy. Structural equation modeling has been used to validate the measure and to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results of this study reveal that there is a positive relationship between enabling organizational controls and employee affective organizational commitment. Moreover, this study also shows that this relationship is mediated by the satisfaction of the need for autonomy.Practical implicationsThis study serves as a guide for the management to achieve organizational goals as well as employees’ organizational commitment.Originality/valueThis study enriches the literature in the field of organizational theory by showing the positive effect of enabling organizational control on employees’ affective commitment.

Commentary – Why aren't more educational leadership scholars researching technology?

[...]a decade ago, my co-authors and I articulated a basic framework (McLeod et al., 2011) that categorized three research intersections between school leadership and digital technologies: [...]the third intersection of technology and school leadership is what we call preparing school administrators to be better technology leaders. To learn more about the identified key practices for leading school-based technology, keep current on research-based practices that have been empirically linked to student achievement and incorporate these into the courses that they teach;To learn how to learn about new technologies and about what they offer for teaching and learning and To consider conducting new research on technology leadership in schools and encouraging their doctoral students to do so as well (p. 223). Whether your scholarly lenses are within the fields of organizational theory, finance, the principalship or the superintendency, social justice, the law, curriculum, instruction, assessment, family-community engagement or a whole host of other educational leadership domains, there are technology-related intersections with each and every one of those.

Structural Correspondence Between Organizational Theories

Organizational research constitutes a differentiated, complex and fragmented field with multiple contradicting and incommensurable theories that make fundamentally different claims about the social and organizational reality. In contrast to natural sciences, the progress in this field can’t be attributed to the principle of truthlikeness where theories compete against each other and only best theories survive and prove they are closer to the truth and thus demonstrate scientific knowledge accumulation. We defend the structural realist view on the nature of organizational theories in order to demonstrate that despite the multiplicity of isolated and competing explanations of organization-environment relations these theories are still logically compatible and mutually consistent which, in turn, assures theoretical progress in the field. Although postulating different and incompatible ontologies, three most successful organization-environments theories, namely, contingency theory, new institutionalism and population ecology share the same explanations of the relations between organizations and environments at the structural level. Without this principle one would say that what occurs in the field of organization theory is a change rather than a progress.

Introduction to a special issue on breaking the disciplinary matrix: the ever-changing view of organizational theory

This special issue is composed of PhD student term papers that were developed into journal articles. The papers cover a wide spectrum of topics in the domain of organizational theory and modern organizations. Building, expanding and revising theories involves many academics and practitioners testing, retest and comparing theory to experience. As emerging scholars with new perspectives these authors are inclined to challenge existing theories and ways of knowing. This introduction details the content of these papers and explains how the newly formed ideas bare relevance in our changing world. The papers that constitute this issue attests to the expertise and inquisitive nature of new scholars in the field of organizational theory. While the papers were written and revised before the COVID-19 pandemic each paper has relevance in the world today.

Different Sources, Different Responses? How Local Sociopolitical Pressures Affect Risk Assessment

Prior research in the field of organizational theory has overlooked how changes in sociopolitical environment affect intermediate organizational outcomes, such as risk assessments. The current chap...

Learning in international new ventures: A systematic review

The present paper reports the findings of a systematic review on learning among International New Ventures (INVs). Learning has been studied fairly extensively by scholars in the field of organization theory. Learning is a prerequisite for internationalization, and the behavior of individuals working in INVs seems to indicate a strong predisposition or aptness to learning. In spite of this, research on learning among INVs has been limited and fragmented up to the present time. In seeking to advance the research niche of INV learning, we conducted a systematic review of articles published on learning within INVs. Our contributions are related to: (i) providing a review of current knowledge of learning among INVs; (ii) relating the findings of our review to the organizational learning theory proposed by March (1991); and (iii) a future research agenda.

Theory and Organization Studies: The Need for Contestation

In this piece of provocation we focus on the words of people who we view as increasingly powerful institutional actors in the field of organization theory and what they signify about ‘what needs to be done’ and ‘how it needs to be done’ in order to rectify the many failings they identify. We suggest that their actions reflect a desire for an integrated, general theory of organizations and the conception of organization studies as a nomothetic science to which they (and perforce we) are philosophically and ideologically committed. These are seen to be intellectual and ideological forces at work on both sides of the Atlantic. We provide a critique of this emerging orthodoxy within contemporary organization theory, briefly drawing on Swift’s metaphor of Lilliputian ‘big enders’ and ‘little enders’ but also offer contemplation of the architectural metaphors of ‘cathedral’, ‘mystery house’ and ‘the tower of Babel’ (conceived of as ruination) to consider the alternative imaginary edifices that may influence the structure of our studies. Finally, we specify an alternative research agenda for organization theory which focuses upon ‘the organization of destruction’ rather than ‘the organization of production’ or ‘the organization of consumption’. Rather than seeing any contestation of intellectual traditions, analytical frameworks and methodological strategies as mental manacles and shackles which we need to ‘throw off’ to rediscover our true vocation as organization scientists, we contend that organization theory needs to reignite a fierce dialogue over ‘organization’ and its relation to order and disorder that has stretched over, at least, two millennia and still speaks to our lives today and tomorrow.

Should the Criteria for Evaluating an Organizational Theoretical Contribution be Universal, Distant from Cultural and Contextual Factors?

This paper aims to discuss the criteria used for evaluating theoretical contributions and whether these are universally applicable. Questions are raised regarding the impact of cultural and contextual variables in perceiving the value of a theoretical contribution especially in the field of organizational theory.

Organizational Status: Theoretical Development and Future Directions

Podolny(1993)가 사회적 지위의 개념을 조직 수준에서 이론화한 이후, 조직지위 이론은 조직이론 및 경영전략 분야에서 그 영향력을 확대해 왔다. 조직지위의 이론적 함의를 평가하기 위한 리뷰들이 2010년 이후 발표되면서 이론의 체계화에 도움을 주었는데, 본 논문은 조직지위 이론의 주요 연구들을 시대에 따라 검토하여 이론의 발전과정을 조명하는데 초점을 두었다는 점에서 기존 리뷰와 차별을 시도하였다. 이러한 이론사적 연구를 통해 향후 미래 연구 발전방향에 관한 시사점을 더 잘 제공할 수 있을 것으로 기대하였다. 시대별 주요연구를 고찰한 결과, 첫째, 조직지위 이론의 태동기인 1990년대 에는 주로 Podolny와 동료학자들을 중심으로 조직지위의 긍정적 효과와 조직지위가 조직간 관계에 미치는 영향이 주로 연구되었던 반면, 조직지위 이론의 성장기로 볼 수 있는 2000년대에는 다양한 소속과 학파의 연구자로 저변이 확대되면서 조직지위의 변화, 의사결정 및 행위의 제약으로서 조직지위의 역할 등으로 연구주제가 다양화되었고, 다른 사회적 평가 메커니즘과 명확하게 구분하려는 시도 등으로 이론적 정교화가 이루어졌다. 조직지위 이론의 성숙기로 볼 수 있는 2010년대에 들어서면서 조직지위는 조직정체성 및 범주 이론과 통합적으로 고찰되는 경향이 두드러지게 나타났으며, 기존 사회학 및 사회심리학에서 발전된 사회적 지위이론이 조직 수준에서 적용되면서 개인 수준과 조직 수준의 이론의 통합에 대한 요구가 자연스럽게 커지고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 한편 이 시기부터 국내에도 조직지위 관련 연구가 활발해지게 되었으나, 우리나라 현실과 상황에 조직지위 이론이 적용된 연구는 아주 최근에서야 나타나고 있음도 발견되었다. 따라서 향후 조직지위 이론에 대한 보다 체계적 연구에 더해 한국형 경영학 발전에 조직지위 이론이 기여할 수 있는 가능성이 충분히 고려되어야 할 것이다.Since Podolny (1993), who applied the concept of social status to the organiza-tional context, the concept and theory of organizational status have been widely accepted in the field of organization theory and strategic management. As theory has become more elaborated, the needs for evaluating theory development and finding theoretical gaps have increased. As a response, leading scholars have tried to help future scholars by reviewing prior literature on organizational status and related topics and making suggestions about future directions. This paper, in line with these attempts yet differentiated in the review approach, examines theory development by period. By undertaking this historical study, this paper is expected to offer better insights about future theory development. In the 1990s, when organizational status had been introduced in organization theory, theoretical emphasis was put on status as an asset and on the reproducing mechanism of status hierarchies. In the 2000s, as more and various scholars started to employ the concept, various topics have been explored, such as the negative impact of status, status dynamics, and status as a constraint on decisions and behaviors. In the 2010s, more eclectic studies considering both organizational status and identity have been published, along with theoret-ical attempts to integrate organizational status theory and individual-level status theory. In this period, Korean theorists also more actively examined organizational status; however, only recently have Korean scholars employed status concepts to explain business phenomena in Korea. Thus, the need for considering the possible contribution of organizational status theory to K-Management theory development, in addition to the need for future theoretical development of organizational status, has been raised.

The organization design perspective on the project-based organization: a structured review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use an organizational design perspective to determine the scope of the state-of-the art of research into project-based organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper follows a structured framework-based literature review approach. It uses an analytical framework from the organization design literature to assess 177 papers relevant to the design of the project-based organization that were published in four leading PM journals between 2008 and 2015. The authors determine which elements of organization design are covered in each paper and identify specific research themes for each of the element emerging from the literature. Finally, the authors examine the degree to which interdependencies among separate elements are addressed in the literature and discuss the most holistic papers in more details.FindingsThe results show that the literature on project-based organizations downplays broader organizational issues (such as organizational strategy, incentive schemes and performance management systems) while emphasizing research agenda inherited from research on single project management. In addition, the study highlights limited attention in the literature to the interdependence between separate design choices. Finally, it develops a research framework to map current themes in the literature and their relative importance and discusses a prospective research agenda.Research limitations/implicationsAcademic implications stem from looking at the project management literature from a fresh theoretical perspective and putting project-based organization as a whole in the focus. There is a great research potential in studying organization-wide aspects and interdependencies between various organization design choices in project-based organizations.Practical implicationsReflective practitioners could benefit from a wider view on the project-based organization and its design. They could also use the developed framework in management discussions.Originality/valueThe paper offers a novel way of conceptualizing research on project-based organizations by linking it to an established stream within the field of organization theory and design.

Should the Criteria for Evaluating an Organizational Theoretical Contribution be Universal, Distant from Cultural and Contextual Factors?

This paper aims to discuss the criteria used for evaluating theoretical contributions and whether these are universally applicable. Questions are raised regarding the impact of cultural and contextual variables in perceiving the value of a theoretical contribution especially in the field of organizational theory.

On docility: a research note on Herbert Simon’s social learning theory

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to address the core concept of docility in Simon’s learning theories and elaborate docility as a missing link in organizational performance structures. In his book,Administrative Behavior, first published in 1947 with three subsequent editions, Herbert A. Simon introduced a new concept to the emerging field of organizational theory, docility.Design/methodology/approach– InAdministrative Behavior, Herbert A. Simon introduced to management and organization theorists the concept of docility. Simon adopted the concept and meaning from E.C. Tolman’s (1932) classic work,Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men, and his novel views on learning processes and key concepts like purpose (goals), thought processes (cognitive psychology) and cognitive maps. This paper elaborates on docility mechanisms and the implications for social learning in organizations.Findings– This paper addresses this lacuna in the organizational literature, and the implications for current theories of organizations and organizational learning.Practical implications– Docility is a tool to link individual learning with organizational learning in complex environments and changing technologies.Originality/value– The paper traces origins of Simon’s docility and learning theories.

Tightrope Walking - Ambidextrous Balancing

This paper was created on the basis of the paper 'Two strong organizational hands to bring innovation out', written for and presented at the Symorg 2011 conference. Innovation is a major force in economic growth. No one argues about its importance, but when it comes to practice, innovation is often considered to be expensive, not always profitable or necessary for success. Our goal is to promote ambidexterity in domestic literature as a way to support and protect inventions and innovative processes within the organization. Although 'Ambidextrous organization' is not a new concept, and its importance has been noted across the fields of organizational theory, organizational behavior, strategic management, innovation and technology management, organizational learning and adaptation, in Serbian literature it is not sufficiently represented and used by people who lead our organizations - Serbian managers. We argue that ambidextrous organization might be a beneficial concept in a long term for organizations in the unstable environment. This paper describes organizational conditions and procedures for achieving organizational ambidexterity. As a back-up for this paper, besides the literature, we used examples of successful foreign ambidexterity practices. The dominant theoretical nature of this paper is, at the same time, its biggest limitation.

Evaluating Organizational Performance

As the definition of organization has evolved, so have the approaches used to evaluate organizational performance. During the past 60 years, organizational theorists and management scholars have developed a comprehensive line of thinking with respect to organizational assessment that serves to inform and be informed by the evaluation discipline. This article examines five extant models to assess organizational performance developed by researchers in the fields of organizational theory and management including the goal model, systems model, process model, strategic constituencies model, and competing values framework. Each model is based on a specific organizational paradigm, yet no model has displaced another in terms of its applicability or superiority for assessing performance. Instead, an accretive effect can be found as each subsequent model expanded upon select attributes of previous models as conceptualizations of organization were refined. Following the examination of the extant models, a checklist approach to evaluate organizational performance is proposed that specifically incorporates evaluation logic into its framework; building on the strengths of the extant models while mitigating the more prominent limitations.

Does Societal Culture Affect Public Service Motivation? Evidence of Sub-national Differences in Switzerland

ABSTRACT This article explores societal culture as an antecedent of public service motivation. Culture can be a major factor in developing an institution-based theory of public service motivation. In the field of organization theory, culture is considered a fundamental factor for explaining organization behavior. But our review of the literature reveals that culture has not been fully integrated into public service motivation theory or carefully investigated in this research stream. This study starts to fill this gap in the literature by using institutionalism and social-identity theory to predict how the sub-national Germanic and Latin cultures of Switzerland, which are measured through the mother tongues of public employees and the regional locations of public offices, affect their levels of public service motivation. Our analysis centers on two large data sets of federal and municipal employees, and produces evidence that culture has a consistent impact on public service motivation. The results show that Swiss German public employees have a significantly higher level of public service motivation on the whole, while Swiss French public employees have a significantly lower level overall. Implications for theory development and future research are discussed.

Practising the Diffusion of Organizational Routines

Ever since Nelson and Winter published their Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change in 1982 there has been lively debate in the fields of organizational theory and evolutionary economics about the characteristics and effects of organizational routines. The authors discuss a practice-based perspective on routines in connection with diffusion processes. An approach is developed by placing Feldman and Pentland's concept of routines, which draws on structuration and actor network theories, in relation to a knowing in practice perspective. Within a relational approach, the authors propose taking a practice-based perspective to the diffusion of organizational routines, with (i) knowing, (ii) collaborations, and (iii) policy relevance being the critical categories.

Como empresas consolidam a presença em mercados estrangeiros? considerações sobre o processo de internacionalização

This theoretical article aims to raise considerations regarding the internationalization of companies, with emphasis on issues underlying the maintenance and growth of its operations in foreign markets. In the academic environment, was quickly perceived that increased globalization has led to new perspectives in terms of companies' performance in a context of high competition. This movement propelled the growing interest in the study of the phenomenon of globalization and the processes involved in the management of companies operating in foreign markets. In this article, we proceeded to the presentation of approaches to the study of internationalization, which led to the conclusion that the studies referenced - in the fields of organizational theory and marketing / international business - do not present theoretical constructs that allow the invetigation of the consolidation as the final step in the internationalization process. It seems to be the timely pursuit of variables and indicators that lead to proper characterization and analysis of this period. Understand how companies remained working abroad, profitably, can generate useful insighst to planning for stimulus to internationalization, as well as providing the necessary advancement of the body of theoretical knowledge about the subject.

Organization Design in the 21st Century: From Structure Follows Strategy to Process Follows Proposition

Organization design is the discipline within the field of organization theory and management theory aimed at creating efficient organizations of firms. In the twentieth century organization design, at least at the governance level of organization, used to be merely a choice between a limited number of alternative organization forms. Due to a number of developments the scope, the design variables and design criteria need to be reconsidered. Especially Chandlers design rule ‘structure follows strategy’ is to be questioned and seems to be replaced by ‘processes follow proposition’ (the customer value proposition). The focus in the twentieth century on structure as the parameter of design, which was replaced by processes in the nineties, now, according to Herbert Simon, appears to be replaced by the design of the information space of the firm and the design of the objective function of the firm and those within its organization, due to the declining costs of information and communication. The design of the objective function also answers the issue that firms need to adapt their internal organization in view of the weakening of the institutions in society, on which in the twentieth century a number of processes within the internal organization were based. Due to the emergence of new business models and new type of customer value propositions, a more precise design of especially processes is needed in which structure as configuration plays a secondary role. Because the 21st century firm needs a high capacity of data processing and information in the modern firm is a resource to be exploited, new conditions are needed to facilitate workers to turn data into new revenue streams. This requires an approach to organization design that includes management accounting and information management, as well specific elements of organizational behavior. This new approach is needed since competition shifts towards innovation of business models and firms need to have simultaneously explorative business models and exploitative business models to be in-control as required by shareholders and other stakeholders. This paper provides an overview of changes in the field of organization design and its institutional context, based on existing publications, thus laying the groundwork for a new multidisciplinary integrative approach for organization design as induced by the changing nature of the firm.