School of Management (SoM)

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Browsing School of Management (SoM) by Publisher "Academy of Management"

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    Advancing temporal organizing: the case for a practising school in project-based organizing
    (Academy of Management, 2022-07-06) Antonacopoulou, Elena P.; Turner, Neil; Altabbaa, Omar; Michaelides, Roula; Schuster, Andrew
    Navigating complexity remains one of the key pragmatic challenges that call for temporal organizing as a response. Whilst project-based organizing is established as an approach integral to deploying temporal organizing we still know little about the lived experiences of project managers as they enact it. It, therefore, merits academic study and attention to analyze further how project-based organizing is practised and why it is practiced in unique ways that offer insights into the practical judgements that underpin project managers’ action choices. We present findings from a study investigating the lived experience of 43 project managers from key sectors in countries around the globe. We use the empirical findings of this qualitative study to show how project managers embody and not only enact the dynamics of temporary organizing in the ways they navigate project complexities and form their judgements on an ongoing basis. This process of practising is marked by leaps of faith that can mark new measures of project success beyond the traditional parameters of project completion on time and budget. This paper makes a compelling case for a new school of thought in advancing temporal organizing that we will call the ‘Practising School’, which informs our understanding of the dynamics of project-based organizing and offers insights into how practitioners navigate the ongoing project complexities inherent in project-based organizing. We pave the way for advancing a practice-based perspective for studying projectification and extend current conceptualizations of temporal organizing.
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    Balancing the exploitation-exploration paradox during major geopolitical disruptions: the importance of supply chain structural ambidexterity
    (Academy of Management, 2023-07-24) Moradlou, Hamid; Skipworth, Heather; Bals, Lydia; Aktas, Emel; Roscoe, Samuel
    We answer the question “How do companies develop and deploy supply chain structural ambidexterity to effectively manage geopolitical disruptions?” by investigating three significant geopolitical disruptions: Brexit, the US-China trade war, and the Covid-19 pandemic. We use an inductive theory-elaboration approach to build on Organisational Learning Theory and Dunning’s eclectic paradigm of international production. We conducted 29 elite interviews with senior supply chain executives across 14 multi-national manufacturing firms and validated the analysis by triangulating secondary data sources, including standard operating procedures, annual reports, and organizational protocols. When faced with significant geopolitical disruptions, companies develop and deploy supply chain structural ambidexterity by (1) developing parallel supply chains; (2) significantly reconfiguring their supplier networks, and (3) restructuring their internal sub-units. We contribute to Organisational Learning Theory and Dunning’s eclectic paradigm by empirically examining how companies reconfigure supply chains to pursue exploration and exploitation activities in response to geopolitical disruptions. During significant geopolitical disruptions, managers make decisions in tight timeframes. Therefore, we propose three types of supply chain structural ambidexterity based on the transition time available. We conclude with a managerial framework to assist firms in developing supply chain structural ambidexterity in response to geopolitical disruptions.
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    Boundary work in CVC: how boundary work enables the strategic use of CVC to create and unlock value
    (Academy of Management, 2024-08-01) Carlson, Ezra; Safavi, Mehdi
    In this article, we build on and contribute to the literature on Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) through the lens of Boundary Work Theory. Analyzing interview data from several successful CVCs, we uncover boundary works (micro-strategies) taking place at and through organizational boundaries that enable collaboration amongst CVC stakeholders and balance competitive and collaborative forces within and across the organizational boundaries. CVCs are more complex than traditional institutional venture capitals (VCs) as they seek to maximize both strategic and financial returns. While extant research has shown that the strategic use of CVC creates value for the parent firm, none have explored how successful CVCs do this at and through the boundaries amongst different parties involved. We identify two overarching mechanisms, one at the boundaries that enable collaboration and the other through the boundaries that simultaneously bring certain CVC activities together whilst keeping others apart to enable collective action. Our findings portray a process model comprised of eleven micro-strategies that successful CVCs use to create and unlock value.
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    Constructing safety: reconciling error prevention and error management in oil & gas and petrochemicals operations
    (Academy of Management, 2021-03-29) Cowley, Charles Ian; Denyer, David; Kutsch, Elmar; Turnbull James, Kim
    On the basis of a qualitative study of three different operational oil and gas and petrochemical sites, in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe, we examine how actors construe error prevention and error management and how they reconcile these approaches in their everyday practice. Our repertory grid data reveal that actors recognise the importance of error prevention, but also appreciate that emergent and unexpected issues require error management in order to trap, address or mitigate problems in the making. Errors are also regarded to play an important role in adaptation, innovation and learning. However, our interview data and analysis of incident investigation reports reflect a narrower range of factors and indicates a strongly institutionalised predisposition towards error prevention. There are practical implications for the management of process safety and for incident analysis, which may be overlooking the importance of error management, and also for individuals at the sharp end who may be coping with the gap between what they believe is important in terms of process safety and what they bring to the surface, share and document.
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    Diversity and inclusion branding: a five-country comparison of corporate websites
    (Academy of Management, 2017-11-30) Jonsen, Karsten; Point, Sebastien; Kelan, Elisabeth K.
    In the quest to attract talent, organizations must articulate the benefits of having a diverse workforce. By communicating the attractiveness of the workplace, a company increases its exposure to the environment as an employer of choice. In this paper, we conduct a comparative and thematic cross-cultural examination of corporate communication in form of diversity statements. We examine how organizations use diversity statements to attract talent, and discuss how the two strategic areas of diversity and employer branding can be linked in the concept of diversity branding. We examine the websites of 75 major companies in five different countries (France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the United States). Cross-cultural differences and similarities are discussed. We also conclude that the discourse of inclusion is gradually penetrating websites and that branding inclusion can be beneficial in the quest to be an employer of choice.
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    Open-system orchestration as a relational source of sensing capabilities: evidence from a venture association
    (Academy of Management, 2017-08-16) Giudici, Alessandro; Reinmoeller, Patrick; Ravasi, Davide
    Research on innovation networks has highlighted the pivotal role that actors with more prominence and power, such as hub firms, may play in orchestrating the activities of other network members along a collective innovation effort. Our study examined the under-theorized, but no less important, type of orchestration that characterizes other organizations, such as business incubators and venture associations, who seek to support the dispersed entrepreneurial efforts of network members. We refer to this type as 'open-system' orchestration, as opposed to the commonly studied 'closed-system' type performed by hub firms. Our findings reveal how the processes of open-system orchestration differ markedly from those of closed-system orchestration, and detail how these processes influence the micro-foundations of network members' sensing capabilities. By doing so, we also offer empirical substantiation and theoretical elaboration to the idea that dynamic capabilities might not reside exclusively inside firms, but could be co-created relationally with other parties in the business ecosystem.
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    Organizing complexity: an inductive inquiry into algorithmic routines expansion
    (Academy of Management, 2024-08-01) Timmer, Verena; Safavi, Mehdi
    Routine expansion is undertheorized—we know little about how, through the expansion of the space of possible paths, routines transition in a situation of ever-increasing complexity. Using data from 6 years of participant observation and drawing insights from recent advances in process and practice research, as well as routine dynamics studies, we propose new insights on how routines expand while remain functional. Charting the transitional phases of an algorithmic routine that is undergoing a significant expansion, we describe four major biographical moments of our algorithmic routine(s) and explicate three transitional cycles between these biographical moments that enable us to develop a theoretical model for organising increasing level of complexity in algorithmic routines expansion. We make three main contributions to the extant body of research. First, as an early and revelatory study of routines expansion, we show how through expansion and contraction mechanisms, routine participants keep the routine(s) in-balance and functional, despite the ever-increasing complexity. Second, we extend research on standardization and flexibility by showing how actors purposefully limit variations in performances through not only their background knowing but also the capability to fully detach from the routine and shift to a more analytic reflection. Third, we contribute to research on routine interdependence and integration by showing how, through the design of performance objects, a single routine splits into three interdependent routines to control the space of possible paths in routine expansion.
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    Realising the potential of art-based methods in managerial learning: embodied cognition as an explanatory view of knowledge
    (Academy of Management, 2014-12-31) Springborg, Claus; Ladkin, Donna
    Although art-based methods are increasingly being used in management learning interventions (Taylor & Ladkin, 2009) there is little understanding about the means by which these methods foster particular learning outcomes. This conceptually-based paper addresses this concern through revisiting the philosophy of art and education (Arnheim, 1969; Dewey, 1934; Eisner, 2002; Langer, 1951) in light of recent theoretical developments in neuroscience known as embodied cognition (Niedenthal, Barsalou, Winkielman, Krauth- Gruber, & Ric, 2005; Rohrer, 2007; Wilson, 2002). We propose that embodied cognition’s recognition of the central role played by ‘simulation’ (Barsalou 1999, 2008) in learning processes offers unique insights into the mechanisms through which arts-based methods work and how they differ from (other) experiential learning interventions. This exploration leads to two propositions, a) stimulating new activation patterns in the way the brain engages with a phenomenon enables new possibilities for dealing with that phenomenon; and b) making art is a means by which those new activation patterns can be created. The paper concludes by demonstrating the power of this understanding by re-interpreting three scholarly accounts of the use of art-based methods within manager development, and suggesting implications for how such interventions can more fully realise their developmental potential.
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    The role of dependence relationships in the value capture process
    (Academy of Management, 2022-07-06) Bowman, Cliff
    We view the firm as a complex system and deploy Emerson’s power dependence theory to explain who captures value in deals between the firm and its suppliers and customers. The value realised in a deal is the difference between the buyer and seller reservation prices and dependence is a function of need strength and the availability of alternative deals. We argue that prices are the outcome of perceived dependence relationships between buyer and seller. Dependence on the focal deal is based on the buyer or seller’s subjective judgements concerning the use value being traded, the other party’s dependence and the availability of alternative deals. We develop eight value levers which firms can deploy to improve their dependence relationships. We then use this value capture perspective to address three questions: 1) should firms pursue generic strategies? 2) what is a valuable resource? 3) how should firms approach strategic change? We conclude that any change or resource which enhances the firm’s dependence relationships improves firm performance.
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    Towards agile talent management: the opportunities of a skills-first approach
    (Academy of Management, 2023-07-24) Jooss, Stefan; Collings, David; McMackin, John Francis; Dickmann, Michael
    Despite its evolution over the last two decades, talent management has been criticised for being too static in its approach. Drawing on matching theory and adopting an agility lens, we show how a skills-matching perspective on talent management fosters the development of strategic agility, responsive to external and internal demands. Through qualitative research encompassing 34 interviews in 15 multinational enterprises, we illustrate how a skills focus required revisiting talent strategies to facilitate initial and dynamic matching in external and internal labour markets, and we highlight key boundary conditions for skills-matching. We reveal a set of dynamic capabilities, underlying two meta-capabilities, strategic sensitivity and resource fluidity, which underpin the skills-matching process and enable strategic agility. In doing so, we shift the focus of talent management towards skills acquisition and development, and emphasise the need to look beyond traditional learning and development to alignment across the wider talent function.