Irma Bogenrieder and Peter van Baalen
Most people participate in various groups and communities simultaneously. Many authors have pointed to the importance of multi‐membership for knowledge sharing across communities…
Abstract
Purpose
Most people participate in various groups and communities simultaneously. Many authors have pointed to the importance of multi‐membership for knowledge sharing across communities and teams. The most important expected benefit is that knowledge that has been acquired in one community of practice (CoP) can be applied into another CoP or group. This paper seeks to discuss the consequences of multi‐membership for knowledge sharing in a CoP.
Design/methodology/approach
The concept of multiple inclusion is used to explain why and how multi‐membership can hold up knowledge sharing between groups.
Findings
This case study shows that knowledge transfer between CoPs and teams can be problematic when norm sets between these two groups conflict.
Originality/value
This paper concludes that CoPs can sustain when the “practice” remains at a safe distance from the “real” project work in teams that are guided by managerial objectives.
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Agnès Delahaye, Charles Booth, Peter Clark, Stephen Procter and Michael Rowlinson
This paper seeks to identify and define the genre of corporate history within the pervasive historical discourse produced by and about organizations which tells the past of an…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to identify and define the genre of corporate history within the pervasive historical discourse produced by and about organizations which tells the past of an organization across a multiplicity of texts: published works – commissioned and critical accounts, academic tomes and glossy coffee‐table books – as well as web pages, annual reports and promotional pamphlets.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of systematic reading of historical narratives for 85 mainly British and US companies from the Fortune Global 500. For these companies, a search was carried out for US printed sources in the British Library and a survey was conducted of historical content in web pages.
Findings
From extensive reading of the historical discourse, recurrent formal features (medium, authorship, publication, paratext and imagery) and elements of thematic content (narrative, characters, cultural paradigms and business success), which together define the genre of corporate history, have been identified. Such a definition provides competence in the reading of historical narratives of organizations and raises questions regarding the role of history in organizational identity, memory and communication. In conclusion it is argued that the interpretation of corporate history cannot be reduced to its promotional function for organizations.
Research limitations/implications
The list of the formal features and thematic content of corporate history detailed here is by no means exhaustive. They are not variables, but signs, which, in various combinations, compose the narrative and signify the genre.
Practical implications
It seems likely that coffee‐table books will increasingly replace academic commissioned histories, with consultants professionalizing the discourse and formalizing the genre of corporate history.
Originality/value
The genre of corporate history has hitherto been neglected in organization theory, where the linguistic turn has led to a preoccupation with talk as text. The use of genre to analyse corporate history represents a textual turn to literary organizational texts as text.
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This paper aims to explore how organizational actors make reference to history and how they use historical reference purposefully in order to affect strategy‐making.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how organizational actors make reference to history and how they use historical reference purposefully in order to affect strategy‐making.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on in‐depth case studies on two Swedish MNCs. Data have been collected through 79 interviews as well as participant observation and archival studies.
Findings
Organizational actors purposefully construct and use history in order to establish continuity in strategy processes. The use of historical references legitimizes or delegitimizes specific strategic options.
Research limitations/implications
Two old firms with a clear interest in organizational history have been studied. Future research on additional companies, including young firms and firms with less interest in history, is needed.
Practical implications
The purposeful use of history can be a powerful tool for managers to influence organizational change processes.
Originality/value
Very little research on the use of history in business organizations has so far been done. In an interdisciplinary manner the paper introduces concepts from research in history to management research. Based on two rich case studies the paper contributes by outlining what role different uses of history play in strategic and organizational change.
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Hugo van Driel and Wilfred Dolfsma
The purpose of this paper is to disentangle and elaborate on the constitutive elements of the concept of path dependence (initial conditions and lock‐in) for a concerted and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to disentangle and elaborate on the constitutive elements of the concept of path dependence (initial conditions and lock‐in) for a concerted and in‐depth application to the study of organizational change.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of a combination of a longitudinal and a comparative case‐study, based on secondary literature.
Findings
External initial conditions acted less as “imprinting” forces than is suggested in the literature on the genesis of the Toyota production system (TPS); a firm‐specific philosophy in combination with a critical sequence of events mainly shaped and locked‐in TPS.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical sources are limited to publications in English, so relevant factors explaining the path taken may not all have been included. The importance of a salient meta‐routine might be firm‐specific.
Practical implications
The study contributes to understanding the factors underlying corporate performance by a critical re‐examination of a much heralded production system (TPS).
Originality/value
The paper highlights the use of the concept of meta‐routines to connect the core elements of path dependence, that is, sensitivity to initial conditions and lock‐in mechanisms.
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The primary intention of this research paper is to systemically identify and discuss the longitudinal embedding of the nature of the changing role of first‐tier managers (FTMs) �…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary intention of this research paper is to systemically identify and discuss the longitudinal embedding of the nature of the changing role of first‐tier managers (FTMs) – drawing particular attention to the trends, typical characteristics and complexities associated with their role.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper carried out a literature survey using a long‐cycle approach – a systemic and in‐depth survey of the literature from the early Industrial Revolution era to the twenty‐first century in order to pin‐point the main phases of the transition of the FTM's people management role. The author's four‐factor framework for decision making vis‐à‐vis the role of FTMs was used to trace whether the characteristics and issues linked with the role today are typical of those associated with the role in the past, and the degree to which lessons have been learned.
Findings
Importantly, the long‐cycle analysis revealed that the FTM's role has been through three core phases from the early industrial revolution era, and is currently in the fourth phase. That is, the manager‐in‐charge, the manager‐in‐the‐middle, the manager‐on‐the‐margin and the manager‐in‐charge‐plus. Whilst drawing attention to the complexities associated with the evolution process, the cycle shows that it is possible to conceptualise each phase and identify the key factors linked to the FTM's changing role successively. This drew attention to the fact that the success or failure of this role can be determined by five key factors, which characterise it – definition of the role, training/development of FTMs, perception/attitude of the primary stakeholders of the role (including FTMs), broader organisational support of FTMs (whether lacking or present), and their performance/performance management. Furthermore, the findings showed that, if these key factors are not considered from an in‐depth historical perspective, the FTM's people management role will remain a major organisational dilemma.
Research limitations/implications
The literature survey was quite general, although the literature on the manufacturing industry and the UK are the main focus.
Originality/value
The paper establishes the trends in the management of FTMs and their people management role using a long‐cycle approach. To date, few integrated studies on people management devolution to FTMs have been undertaken that seek to identify the key phases of the transition and the complexities associated with the evolution of the role during these times. Therefore, the paper addresses the imbalance by reflecting on the nature of the FTM's people management role over a long period, and developing a conceptual framework for pin‐pointing and analysing the problems faced in managing FTMs strategically.
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Pauline Gleadle, Nelarine Cornelius, Eric Pezet and Graeme Salaman