Advocating for the Devil: Transforming Conflict in Libraries

Change invariably brings conflict, often accompanied by the notion that conflict is destructive and negative. William Pettas and Steven L. Gilliland, writing in 1992, comment on the relative lack of literature on conflict management in libraries and the need for library managers to channel conflict to achieve overall organizational objectives. While other more recent works have also addressed conflict in libraries, this theme is still not a common one

Creativity and Information Systems in a Hypercompetitive Environment: A Literature Review

In today’s hypercompetitive environment in which markets change rapidly and competitive advantages are difficult to sustain, companies are forced to innovate and identify new business opportunities. However, innovation requires ingenuity and creativity. Product and service development depends on the creativity of employees, but harvesting and bringing novel ideas to fruition is often a chaotic process, which underscores the importance of creativity management within organizations. In this article, we review the literature on creativity in an effort to summarize state-of-the-art knowledge on how to stimulate creativity and spur innovation in modern organizations. For that purpose, we use Rhodes’ 4-Ps model (1961) distinguishing between creative environments (called press), people, products, and processes. Through a review of 110 journals on the AIS journal list, this article offers insights―based on eighty-eight articles―into how creativity can be stimulated and supported by attending to each of these components. The literature teaches us how to utilize, evaluate, and strategize about creativity in organizational settings. Managers are advised to advance creativity and ideation processes, for example by building virtual environments that strengthen collaboration and creativity across organizational boundaries. Researchers are encouraged to investigate the relationship between strategy and information systems (IS) usage in fostering creativity

Indicating Knowledge Development: An Empirical Investigation from the Perspective of Knowledge Maturing

To remain competitive, organizations need to continuously develop their knowledge. While knowledge work is performed similarly in organizations across different sectors, the measurement and assessment of its results currently lacks standardized approaches. This paper sets out to identify indicators that are suitable for making knowledge development transparent to support monitoring of knowledge work. Therefore, a multi-phase mixed methods approach was chosen. In a series of three studies, an activity-focused perspective towards knowledge work was adopted, where knowledge is viewed as passing through a phased maturing process. An initial set of indicators was identified in an ethnographically-informed study and subsequently refined in an online survey. In the interview study, data was collected from 121 European organizations of different sizes, sectors and knowledge-intensity. Feedback from respondents provided evidence for the suitability of items for indicating knowledge maturing and revealed a structure of five factors that were labeled, interpreted and discussed

Fully embracing the paradoxical condition: Banksy to organization theory

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fully Embracing the Paradoxical Condition:Banksy to Organization Theory

Management and organization studies has recently expressed heightened interest in the concept of paradox. Paradox, etymologically para-doxa, is that which challenges the norm. Frequently representative cases drawn from the terrain of the arts and of artistic work have provided a context for exploring going against the norm, usually under the label of the avant-garde. In this article we explore the case of one artist, Banksy, whose art per se is not necessarily avant-garde but who, through systematic use of paradox, composes a persona that embodies and thrives on paradoxical meanings, aiming not at finding some form of balance but at performatively expressing an avant-garde disruption of art world norms. The case of Banksy can be transposed to organizational analysis with the intention of illuminating how paradox may be embraced by avant-garde organizational scholarship that thrives on anti-normative moves.publishedVersio

Informal Evaluation and Institutionalization of Neoteric Technology Ideas: The Case of Two Danish Organizations

In this paper, we explore the complex process of how ideas evolve in organizations that are engaged in developing and using information technology (IT)-based systems. We put forward a framework emphasizing the interconnection between creativity and institutionalization. We argue that ideas are embedded in existing institutionalized technologies in organizations and that emerging technologies introduce neoteric ideas to them. Furthermore, we argue that, when attempting to introduce technology-based ideas, human actors will focus their attention on ideas embedded in existing institutionalized technologies while informally evaluating and making sense of these ideas. Moreover, we suggest that conflicts between competing frames of reference during this evaluation may result in the rejection, adoption, or multiplication of new technology ideas. Drawing on information systems (IS)-based theories of creativity, Scandinavian institutionalism, and empirical data from two Danish organizations, we investigate the interplay between creativity, technology, and human sensemaking in the process of translating and transforming technology ideas into full-fledged technological innovations

Jester’s role in organizational ideation:“you don’t have to be serious to be taken seriously”

Abstract. The objective of this study is to examine is there a clear meaning with managers using jestering to enhance organizational ideation. Moreover, the research focuses on jestering and aims to understand the phenomenon of jester as an organizational phenomenon. The research question: “What is jester role’s meaning in increasing ideation and creativity in organizations?” is answered via one sub-question, which examines how the role of a jester is reflected by others in organizational creativity. This study contributes to idea generation processes, humor and jester research, ideation research and creative organization research. This study is a qualitative research employing in-depth interviews with abductive research approach, where the theoretical framework is a base for the empirical study, but it is modified during the research. The empirical data was gathered from six interviews, consisting of three managers and three specialists. The study uses in-depth interviews as primary source of data. Abductive logic was used to conduct scientific reasoning in this study. Based on the findings of this research, jester role has remarkable role on ideation and in building organizational trust. When employees feel organizational trust and sense of agency, employees are more interested in bringing forth their ideas and participative in ideation. Jesters facilitate new ways of thinking and develop organizational culture towards more permissive attitude. Findings also indicate that jester role adopted by managers should be constructive and goal-oriented in order for bringing successful results in ideation. In the empirical findings it was shown that managers do not avoid jester role due to pressure or fear of decreasing career opportunities, but rather use the role to gain benefits on an organizational or group level. This research also found that managers in fact have a good comprehension on creativity, but they suffer from lack of time to prepare and invest in creativity and feel the pressure of organizational norms to use deviance and humor. It seems that managers taking jester role should seek to build an atmosphere where everyone is committed in generating ideas. Jester role should be a shared role, so that it does not settle permanently on anyone’s shoulders alone. In ideation, managers should focus on preparing and guiding the ideation. Constructive and goal-oriented jester role requires managers to also have sensitivity and emotional intelligence, but also interest to making sure others are good to be. Once managers have gained trust and have built a relationship with subordinates, they are more aware how to express divergent opinions and what kind of humor works. The findings in this research suggest organizations to develop organizational culture to support ideation. In addition, the findings help managers to better understand the importance and value of using jester role in ideation. This research suggests leadership training where managers learn to use jester role consciously and learn to break from organizational boundaries while being aligned with organization’s objectives. Therefore, it provides insight for managers and organizations that wish to be a creative organization

Proceedings der 11. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI2013) - Band 1

The two volumes represent the proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik WI2013 (Business Information Systems). They include 118 papers from ten research tracks, a general track and the Student Consortium. The selection of all submissions was subject to a double blind procedure with three reviews for each paper and an overall acceptance rate of 25 percent. The WI2013 was organized at the University of Leipzig between February 27th and March 1st, 2013 and followed the main themes Innovation, Integration and Individualization.:Track 1: Individualization and Consumerization Track 2: Integrated Systems in Manufacturing Industries Track 3: Integrated Systems in Service Industries Track 4: Innovations and Business Models Track 5: Information and Knowledge ManagementDie zweibändigen Tagungsbände zur 11. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI2013) enthalten 118 Forschungsbeiträge aus zehn thematischen Tracks der Wirtschaftsinformatik, einem General Track sowie einem Student Consortium. Die Selektion der Artikel erfolgte nach einem Double-Blind-Verfahren mit jeweils drei Gutachten und führte zu einer Annahmequote von 25%. Die WI2013 hat vom 27.02. - 01.03.2013 unter den Leitthemen Innovation, Integration und Individualisierung an der Universität Leipzig stattgefunden.:Track 1: Individualization and Consumerization Track 2: Integrated Systems in Manufacturing Industries Track 3: Integrated Systems in Service Industries Track 4: Innovations and Business Models Track 5: Information and Knowledge Managemen

The Merit - Diversity Paradox in Doctoral Admissions: Examining Situated Judgment in Faculty Decision Making.

The small base of extant research on doctoral admissions suggests a paradox between principles of merit and diversity: Faculty profess diversity, but rely on a conventional notion of merit that undermines diversity’s realization. To untangle this paradox and broaden understanding of graduate admissions, I conducted a comparative ethnographic case study focusing on the social construction of merit in Ph.D. admissions. Over two years of data collection in three research universities, I conducted 86 interviews with faculty and observed 22 hours of admissions committee meetings in ten highly ranked Ph.D. programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Guided by sociocultural theories of evaluation, decision making, and disciplines, I find that what counts as merit has an important organizational dimension that helps explain contradictions between espoused and enacted values. Merit is not just an individual attribute. It is also a significant organizational challenge that involves apparent contradictions because decision makers compromise across the multiple hierarchies of priorities for the discipline, department, committee, and self. At the department level, a logic of status maintenance affects decision-making processes, perceptions of risk, meanings associated with common criteria, and profiles of preferred applicants. In debating borderline applicants, diversity is an important consideration, as are research engagement and “fit.” However, faculty make broad, initial cuts using a very high standard of conventional achievement that may undermine diversity. Furthermore, participants associate diversity more with obligation and pragmatic benefits than personal commitment or organizational transformation. The decision-making model, which I call deliberative bureaucracy, maximizes efficiency and collegiality; however, it also reinforces reliance on GRE scores, obscures the basis for ratings and decisions, and sacrifices discussion of criteria and applicants in favor of discussing less-controversial matters of process. I also propose disciplinary logics as a mechanism explaining how disciplines affect faculty judgment, and explore four types of individual-level homophilic preferences that shape ratings and committee deliberations. Findings have broad implications for access to graduate education. They indicate a need to change the organizational culture of gatekeeping so that principles of equity, quality, and diversity are aligned across the evaluative contexts in which judgments of merit are situated.PhDHigher EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99950/1/jposselt_1.pd