Images of coordination : how implementing organizations perceive coordination arrangements

A crucial challenge for the coordination of horizontal policy programs those designed to tackle crosscutting issues is how to motivate government organizations to contribute to such programs. Hence, it is crucial to study how practitioners in implementing organizations view and appreciate the coordination of such programs. Assisted by Q-methodology, this inductive study reveals three significantly different "images" centralframe setting, networking via boundary spanners, and coordination beyond window dressing Most surprisingly, different images show up among respondents within the same organizations and horizontal programs. The authors find that the images reflect elements of the literature: the resistance to hierarchical central control, the need for local differentiation and increased incentives, and a collaboration-oriented culture. Most importantly, practitioners of implementing organizations perceive top-dawn mechanisms as ineffective to achieve coordination and ask for adaptive arrangements, involvement, and deliberative processes when designing coordination arrangements and during the collaboration

Collaborating to desegregate a black school: how can a low power stakeholder gain voice?.

This longitudinal action research examines a black school's process of desegregation. Based upon stakeholder, desegregation and collaboration theory, the school's segregated mode was analyzed through understanding its identity as it was conctituted in its stakeholders' network and assessing the incentives to collaborate among different stakeholders. As a way to gain voice, the interventions were orieted towards shifting the schoo's network boundaries and creating personalized relationships with stakeholders around an educational curriculum in wich heterogeneity itself had a function. According to the 'ethics of care' principle, stakeholders shared responsibilities for the needs of all pupils.Desegregation; Processes; Theory;

Networks for change: How networks influence organizational change

This paper contributes to the literature on organizational change by examining organizations as social entities embedded in inter-organizational networks. In contrast to extant research that focuses on macro environment and internal factors to explain organizational change we put forth the social network surrounding the firm as a major driver of any change process. In specific we examine organization change as driven by the organizations? positions and relations in an interorganizational network. Our conceptual framework demonstrates that inter-organizational networks are important mid-level environmental factors that complement the macro-environment and internal organizational factors for the study of organizational changes. We conclude with a discussion on normative implications for organizations and avenues for future research.organizational change, social networks

Why Trade Associations Matter: Exploring Function, Meaning, and Influence

We explore the organizational characteristics of trade associations (TAs) and suggest theoretical approaches for undertaking research into or involving TAs in management and organization studies. Through emphasizing the role of TAs within and between industries and at the interface of business and society, we consider how TAs generate meaning and influence

Coping with Problems of Understanding in Interorganizational Relationships: Using Formalization as a Means to make Sense

Research into the management of interorganizational relationships has hitherto primarily focused on problems of coordination, control and to a lesser extent, legitimacy. In this article, we assert that partners cooperating in such relationships are also confronted with ‘problems of understanding’. Such problems arise from differences between partners in terms of culture, experience, structure and industry, and from the uncertainty and ambiguity that participants in interorganizational relationships experience in early stages of collaboration. Building on Karl Weick’s theory of sensemaking, we advance that participants in interorganizational relationships use formalization as a means to make sense of their partners, the interorganizational relationships in which they are engaged and the contexts in which these are embedded so as to diminish problems of understanding. We offer a systematic overview of the mechanisms through which formalization facilitates sensemaking, including: (1) focusing participants’ attention; (2) provoking articulation, deliberation and reflection; (3) instigating and maintaining interaction; and (4) reducing judgment errors and individual biases, and diminishing incompleteness and inconsistency of cognitive representations. In this way, the article contributes to a better understanding of the relationships between formalization and sensemaking in collaborative relationships, and it carries Karl Weick’s thinking on the relationship between sensemaking and organizing forward in the context of interorganizational management.Formalization;Sensemaking;Interorganizational Cooperation;Understanding

The Institutionalization of Institutional Theory

[Excerpt] Our primary aims in this effort are twofold: to clarify the independent theoretical contributions of institutional theory to analyses of organizations, and to develop this theoretical perspective further in order to enhance its use in empirical research. There is also a more general, more ambitious objective here, and that is to build a bridge between two distinct models of social actor that underlie most organizational analyses, which we refer to as a rational actor model and an institutional model. The former is premised on the assumption that individuals are constantly engaged in calculations of the costs and benefits of different action choices, and that behavior reflects such utility-maximizing calculations. In the latter model, by contrast, \u27oversocialized\u27 individuals are assumed to accept and follow social norms unquestioningly, without any real reflection or behavioral resistance based on their own particular, personal interests. We suggest that these two general models should be treated not as oppositional but rather as representing two ends of a continuum of decision-making processes and behaviors. Thus, a key problem for theory and research is to specify the conditions under which behavior is more likely to resemble one end of this continuum or the other. In short, what is needed are theories of when rationality is likely to be more or less bounded. A developed conception of institutionalization processes provides a useful point of departure for exploring this issue

Procedural justice in procurement management and inclusive interorganizational relations:An institutional perspective

This paper applies the concept of procedural justice to one of the most important focal points of interorganizational relations: the purchaser-supplier relationship. The few extant studies of the concept in the purchaser-supplier domain have overlooked an important aspect of this key relationship: that is, inclusiveness in procurement. This is despite the fact that interest in the specific empirical context of supply chain links between large purchasing organizations (LPOs) and ethnic minority suppliers (EMSs) from disadvantaged communities proceeds apace on both sides of the Atlantic. Institutional theory is used to examine the form that procedural justice takes in eight case studies of LPOs from the private and public sectors, which actively engage with inclusive procurement management initiatives in England. The guiding question is twofold: 'What may LPO approaches to installing procedural justice in procurement management entail?' and 'How are these approaches shaped?' This paper identifies specific approaches to installing procedural justice for inclusive procurement and submits theoretical propositions about how these are shaped. The study contributes to a macro-level assessment of procedural justice, i.e. interorganizational procedural justice, as a significant aspect of inclusive interorganizational relationships, which is a domain in need of theoretical development

Interorganizational linkages in sport industry clusters - types, development, and motives

International audienceThis article addresses three main questions: what kind of interorganizational linkages exist in sport industry clusters, how do they develop over time, and what are the motivations for creating or joining them. Different types of interorganizational linkages are identified according to the number of partners involved, the formalized nature of linkages, and the type of organizations involved. A multiple case study approach is adopted. The empirical context are two sport industry clusters in sailing (France and New Zealand). Results show that interorganizational relationships tend to be formalized, while interorganizational networks tend to be informal. A circular development process of different types of linkages was detected. Reciprocity is the most prevalent motive for the development of all types of linkages

Environmental entrepreneurship and interorganizational arrangements : a model of social-benefit market creation

Research summary: Social-benefit markets, such as those for carbon trading, are becoming increasingly popular for combating complex social and environmental problems. However, their unique characteristics pose substantial challenges to market creation and require novel entrepreneurial approaches. Integrating the entrepreneurship literature with that of management information systems, we conceptualize social-benefit markets as a new type of interorganizational arrangement and develop a model of social-benefit market creation. First, we argue that a core entrepreneurial collective, comprising a plurality of actors from government, business, and social movements, is essential. Second, we elaborate a six-phase process through which the interests of entrepreneurs are aligned and inscribed in a market artifact and the market is formed. The model is illustrated with reference to the Western Climate Initiative’s carbon market creation efforts. Managerial summary: Carbon markets have become a popular strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with similar market-based solutions being proposed for other social and environmental challenges. We refer to these new structures as socialbenefit markets. Social-benefit market creation is a complex undertaking that will require novel entrepreneurial approaches and new interorganizational information systems. In an effort to reduce some of this complexity, we propose a model to explain how entrepreneurs from government, business, and social movements must work collectively to build social-benefit markets. We further elaborate a six-phase process through which entrepreneurs are able to align their diverse interests and create a stable market artifact. For managers from all sectors, our work offers actionable guidance for forming collective ventures that deliver real social benefits. Copyright © 2017 Strategic Management Society