Intellectual Capital Architectures and Bilateral Learning: A Framework For Human Resource Management

Both researchers and managers are increasingly interested in how firms can pursue bilateral learning; that is, simultaneously exploring new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones (cf., March, 1991). To address this issue, this paper introduces a framework of intellectual capital architectures that combine unique configurations of human, social, and organizational capital. These architectures support bilateral learning by helping to create supplementary alignment between human and social capital as well as complementary alignment between people-embodied knowledge (human and social capital) and organization-embodied knowledge (organizational capital). In order to establish the context for bilateral learning, the framework also identifies unique sets of HR practices that may influence the combinations of human, social, and organizational capital

A Logic of Multi-Level Change of Routines

This paper tries to account for endogenous change of multi-level routines in terms of nested cycles of discovery, in a hierarchy of scripts.Higher-level scripts constitute the selection environment for lower level ones.On any level, a cycle of discovery proceeds from established dominant designs.When subjected to new conditions, a script first tries to adapt by proximate change, in differentiation, with novel selection of subscripts in existing nodes in existing script architecture.Next, in reciprocation it adopts new nodes from other, surrounding scripts.Next, it adapts script architecture, in novel configurations of old and new nodes.In this way, lower level change of subscripts can force higher-level change of superscripts.In this way, institutions may co-evolve with innovation.routines;learning;evolution

Routinisation and memorisation of tasks inside a workshop: the case of the introduction of ISO norms

Changing routines and creating new routinization processes are difficult tasks involving both cognitive and political mechanisms. In this paper we use Defial- a French meet proessing firm- in order to illustrate some of the problems involved in creating a new procedural memory in a workshop and in applying the concept of 'routine'. We discuss some methodological implications resulting from our various observations and the choice we made. In our case study, the complexity arose partly from the many different factors that affect the production process, such as stress and the overload syndrome. We show that time and hierachical pressure cannot alone ensure the success of memorization of a task. The routinization process is only truly sucessful when a new state of condidence towards management has been established, a confidence that helps overcome the socio-emotional issues arising from the changes that are taking place and that paves the way for the acceptance of change in both declarative and procedural memory.

An Industry-Level Examination of Information Technology Outsourcing in Services and Manufacturing

This study provides evidence of differential productivity impacts between the outsourcing of ongoing IT operations and the outsourcing of IT design and build activities. Additionally, this study finds differential productivity impacts between manufacturing and service sectors. Evidence shows that a large portion of IT budgets are dedicated to ongoing operations, yet ongoing operations is seldom researched. This study differentiates the impact of spending IT outsourcing related to ongoing IT operations versus spending on IT outsourcing to build new systems. Using industry-level data from 25 service industries and 19 manufacturing industries for the years 1998 to 2004 I examine the impact on outsourcing ongoing operations from the design of new systems and I compare the effects in manufacturing and services. This study shows that outsourcing IT design services positively contributes to productivity, while outsourcing IT operations does not. Furthermore, this study shows that the positive impact of IT design is greater for manufacturing industries

Iterations in software development processes: A comparison of agile and waterfall software development projects

Iteration is an essential element of software development processes. Software methodologies like agile and waterfall use the term ‘iteration’ in several different ways for improving either the quality or the functionality of the software. There are no studies, however, which have thoroughly analyzed and characterized these forms of iterations and their differences as they are enacted in organizations. In order to reveal these iterative forms we conducted a study of two mid-sized software development projects at a large global Fortune 100 corporation – one agile project and one waterfall project. Using advanced event sequence-analytic techniques based on detailed process data, our analysis reveals that agile and waterfall iterations differed in design and development phases due to different sources and types of iterations

Searching for “Stability” in Fluidity: A Routine-based View of Open Source Software Development Process

Open source software communities are fluid form of organizing where the constituent members and the interactions among the members are continuously and rapidly changing over time. However, certain stability such as identity and norms maintains in spite of the dynamic nature of the communities. This paper seeks to resolve the tension between the fluidity and stability that co-present in open source community through a lens of organizational routine, and proposes a two-step approach to capture routines in the context of open source software development process. Using 200 open source projects on GitHub as a preliminary analysis, this research-in-progress demonstrates the capability of the method while expecting to unleash its whole potential in a future study

Using Process Mining to Support Theorizing About Change in Organizations

Process mining refers to a family of algorithms used to computationally reconstruct, analyze and visualize business processes through event log data. While process mining is commonly associated with the improvement of business processes, we argue that it can be used as a method to support theorizing about change in organizations. Central to our argument is that process mining algorithms can support inductive as well as deductive theorizing. Process mining algorithms can extend established theorizing in a number of ways and in relation to different research agendas and phenomena. We illustrate our argument in relation to two types of change: endogenous change that evolves over time and exogenous change that follows a purposeful intervention. Drawing on the discourse of routine dynamics, we propose how different process mining features can reveal new insights about the dynamics of organizational routines

Factors that Determine the Extent of Business Process Standardization and the Subsequent Effect on Business Performance

Business process standardization is the activity of unifying different variants of a family of business processes. While the positive effects of business process standardization are well-described, it is often undesirable to fully unify different variants due to cultural, legal, or operational reasons. Consequently, a decision has to be made about the extent to which a family of business processes should be standardized. However, little is known about the factors that drive that decision. This paper fills that gap, by presenting factors that drive the extent to which business processes can be standardized, performance properties that are influenced by business process standardization, and relations between these concepts