Organizational context and the discursive construction of organizing

Organizational discourse has very little meaning outside its context. To understand any discourse's meaning, we must theorize about both the discourse's possibility and the circumstances of its constitution. Otherwise, we abstract text, sundering it from context. The present article asks what is context and what types of discourse structures and discourse strategies construct context? The author develops four distinct dimensions of context: when, where, as whom, and why people speak. To collaboratively construct meaning, an organization's members use several discursive means whereby a discourse from one context can be inserted, reframed, appropriated, and recursively placed into a discourse from another context-to achieve cross-contextual organizing of their accounts. Through such cross-contextual discursive work, members strive to balance these four (sometimes conflicting) contextual dimensions

Crossing boundaries: why hierarchical social order (almost always) persists over time when it is being challenged

There is a widely shared understanding that (almost all) human societies, social systems and organisations have been structured as group-based social hierarchies (e.g. Courpasson / Clegg 2006, Sidanius / Pratto 1999, Scott 1990, Mousnier 1973, Laumann et al. 1971). One way or another, most social systems are based on relationships of superiors and subordinates, master and servant, manager and employee - at least, so far. Because of their different status both have quite different views on the world in general, and the social system in particular. Nonetheless, although superiors' and subordinates' status and social positions, their interests and ideologies, power and social actions differ to quite some extent, exactly this strange relationship and interaction seems to produce persistent social order

Organizational learning: creating capability through building belief

Self-efficacy is a key determinant of various outcomes at the level of the individual, including learning proficiency. The concept suggests that emotional reinforcement is the essential driver of a virtuous circle directed at mastery of organizational learning. Although self-efficacy has been theorised at the collective level, its potential significance as an explanatory mechanism for organizational learning remains undeveloped. In this study, we have started to build a conceptual framework to delineate an attribute that we have labelled 'organizational learning efficacy.' According to our argument, this variable represents the feelings that employees hold about the propensity or otherwise of their organization to learn, i.e. to make on-going adjustments to routines, procedures, values and attitudes to reflect the challenges and opportunities presented by the external environment. Using an in-depth qualitative and inductive study of an electronics company to exemplify our arguments, we endeavour to weave together organizational efficacy and organizational learning literatures to offer a new way of understanding what factors shape organizations' propensity or otherwise to learn. Besides evaluating the differences between individual learning self-efficacy and organizational learning efficacy, our approach goes beyond the literature of individual self efficacy by emphasising the importance of the perception that learning at the level of the organization is possible and achievable

Multiple organizational identities and legitimacy: the rhetoric of police websites

This article analyses how multiple organizational identities are constructed through rhetoric to maintain and enhance the legitimacy claims made by organizations. Our theorizing is founded on an investigation of the 43 geographically based English and Welsh constabularies. The research contribution of our study is threefold. First, we show that officially sanctioned web-based organizational identity claims are multiple and discuss their implications for identity theory. Second, we consider how these multiple identity claims are constituted using particular rhetorical strategies. Third, we argue that the multiple identity claims constituted aspects of constabularies' self presentation strategies by which they attempted to exert control over stakeholders' perceptions and establish pragmatic, cognitive and moral claims to legitimacy. This is contrary to some previous research that has suggested that organizations seek to reconcile or redefine multiple claims, and that has ignored them as a resource for satisfying sceptical audiences. The principal argument we make is that organizational identities are often multiple, are phrased using specific rhetorical schemes, and that identity multiplicity supports claims for legitimacy

Paradoxes in subordinates' challenges to organisational hierarchy

This paper examines the paradoxes in subordinates' challenges to organisational hierarchy

Studying path dependencies of businesses, institutions and technology conference

The theory of path dependence continues to attract great interest in business, strategic and organization studies. An increasing number of scholars have started to use the theory for studying organizational inertia and fixed transaction patterns. The conference organized by the path dependency research center of the Freie Universität Berlin aims at providing a platform for researchers interested in analyzing path phenomena from different perspectives. The discussions are expected to focus on both conceptual issues of building and extending path theories and empirical studies guided by path conceptions. Conceptual as well as empirical papers from different fields are welcome: organization theory, organizational behavior, strategic management, marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship. Beyond the field of business studies, we explicitly welcome contributions from economists, sociologists, historians and political scientists

Organizational rhetoric: bridging management and communication scholarship

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one on the rhetorical theory which is the core form of communication and another by E. Johanna Hartelius and Larry D. Browning on the interpretation of rhetoric concept by management theorists

Challenges to Superiors' and Subordinates' Hierarchical Relationship - Crossing of Boundaries

This paper looks at the challenges to superiors' and subordinates' hierarchical relationship - crossing of boundarie

Group identity and trust discourse in a negotiation setting

Our empirical study is of two groups - university managers and deans - who had differently situated group identities within the budget negotiation process. Our study establishes a relational link between trust and identity and shows that trust development is based on relational values and practices. We found that identification based trust is the most important type of trust where collaborative identity exists, and the least important type of trust where collaborative identity does not exist. Our contribution relates group identity as a situated and relational construction to group members' discourse about different types of trust