Transcendence through historial practices: responding to paradox in the science sector

Organizations are often required to meet contradictory but interrelated objectives. An important response to such paradoxes is transcendence: the ability to view both poles of the paradox as necessary and complementary. Despite the centrality of transcendence to existing frameworks within the paradox literature, we still know little about its practice. We address this gap by surfacing and analysing rhetorical practices across three science organizations. We outline four rhetorical practices that constitute transcendence (Ordering, Aspiring, Signifying, and Embodying) as well as the underlying features of these practices that explain how they construct a response to paradox. In particular, we show that transcendence entailed balancing the enabling features of focus (paradoxical content/context), time (stability/change) and distance (maintaining/reducing). Finally, we develop a dynamic view of transcendence as a process of oscillation, showing how these practices are bundled together and interrelate to construct moments of transcendence

Artefact Appropriation in Facilitated Modelling: An Adaptive Structuration Theory Approach

Scholars have long acknowledged the importance of unveiling the black box of Operational Research (OR) practice. However, despite the emerging empirical studies in the area known as ‘Behavioural OR’, there is still a dearth of research into how artefacts are used at the micro-level of OR practice. This paper addresses this gap by using Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) to study the appropriation (use) of artefacts during a Facilitated Modelling (FM) workshop. We argue that the appropriation of artefacts from the workshop participants enables them to engage in negotiation of meaning with action implications effectively, but appropriation occurs at varying intensities (high, medium, low) depending on the issue of concern. Moreover, we identify that artefacts are reproduced if their reproduction is an aim or part of an aim of strategic discourse. Finally, we outline the limitations of our study and future research avenues

Motivation and Knowledge Sharing through Social Media within Danish Organizations

Part 3: Creating Value through ApplicationsInternational audienceBased on an empirical quantitative study, this article investigates employee motivation in Danish companies and aims at determining which factors affect employees’ knowledge sharing through social media in a working environment. Our findings pinpoint towards the potential social media have for enhancing internal communication, knowledge sharing and collaboration in organizations, but the adoption is low, at this point, due to mainly organizational and individual factors. Technological factors do not seem to affect employees’ motivation for knowledge sharing as much as previous research has found, but it is the influence from the combination of individual and organizational factors, which affect the adoption of the platforms. A key finding in the study is that knowledge sharing is not a ‘social dilemma’ as previous studies have found. The study shows a positive development in employees’ willingness to share knowledge, because knowledge sharing is considered more beneficial than to hoard it

The strategic importance of top management resistance:Extending Alfred D. Chandler

We investigate the role of top management resistance against bottom-up initiatives for strategic change. While resistance has been mostly considered leading to inertia and rigidity by maintaining a particular strategic path, some scholars make the counterintuitive point that resistance could also be a facilitator of change. In this essay, we argue that such a generative perspective of top management resistance has important implications for strategy research. To do so, we draw on Alfred D. Chandler’s historic account of the emergence of the M-form at DuPont at the beginning of the 20th century. Based on this case, we illustrate three generative mechanisms of top management resistance for strategic change: the reframing, restructuring and the recoupling of strategic initiatives. We build on these generative mechanisms in order to develop implications for future research

Accelerated Multi-Organization Conflict Resolution

In this paper, we discuss two situations where two organizations with different aims recognized the dysfunctionality of their relationship. In each of these cases, which were long running (6–8 months), the organizations had worked hard to resolve this dysfunctionality, and conflict, by organizing off-site meetings designed to resolve the conflict. These 1-day meetings failed. Subsequently Group Support System workshops were used for 1 day workshops and in each case the conflict was essentially resolved within 55 min. The research reported in this paper seeks to answer the question: what happened in these cases that led to a resolution of the conflict in such a short time period, given other attempts had failed? Specifically the paper explores the impact of the GSS used to facilitate two organizations seeking to resolve a conflictual situation

How do things become strategic? ‘Strategifying’ corporate social responsibility

How do things become ‘strategic’? Despite the development of strategy-as-practice studies and the recognized institutional importance of strategy as a social practice, little is known about how strategy boundaries change within organizations. This article focuses on this gap by conceptualizing ‘strategifying’ – or making something strategic – as a type of institutional work that builds on the institution of strategy to change the boundaries of what is regarded as strategy within organizations. We empirically investigate how corporate social responsibility has been turned into strategy at a UK electricity company, EnergyCorp. Our findings reveal the practices that constitute three types of strategifying work – cognitive coupling, relational coupling and material coupling – and show how, together and over time, these types of work changed the boundaries of strategy so that corporate social responsibility became included in EnergyCorp’s official strategy, became explicitly attended to by strategists and corporate executives and became inscribed within strategy devices. By disambiguating the notions of strategifying and strategizing, our study introduces new perspectives for analysing the institutional implications of the practice of strategy

V-ATPase-Mediated Granular Acidification Is Regulated by the V-ATPase Accessory Subunit Ac45 in POMC-Producing Cells

The regulation of the V-ATPase, the proton pump mediating intraorganellar acidification, is still elusive. We find that excess of the neuroendocrine V-ATPase accessory subunit Ac45 reduces the intragranular pH and consequently disturbs prohormone convertase activation and prohormone processing. Thus, Ac45 represents the first V-ATPase regulator

In Vitro and In Vivo Studies Identify Important Features of Dengue Virus pr-E Protein Interactions

Flaviviruses bud into the endoplasmic reticulum and are transported through the secretory pathway, where the mildly acidic environment triggers particle rearrangement and allows furin processing of the prM protein to pr and M. The peripheral pr peptide remains bound to virus at low pH and inhibits virus-membrane interaction. Upon exocytosis, the release of pr at neutral pH completes virus maturation to an infectious particle. Together this evidence suggests that pr may shield the flavivirus fusion protein E from the low pH environment of the exocytic pathway. Here we developed an in vitro system to reconstitute the interaction of dengue virus (DENV) pr with soluble truncated E proteins. At low pH recombinant pr bound to both monomeric and dimeric forms of E and blocked their membrane insertion. Exogenous pr interacted with mature infectious DENV and specifically inhibited virus fusion and infection. Alanine substitution of E H244, a highly conserved histidine residue in the pr-E interface, blocked pr-E interaction and reduced release of DENV virus-like particles. Folding, membrane insertion and trimerization of the H244A mutant E protein were preserved, and particle release could be partially rescued by neutralization of the low pH of the secretory pathway. Thus, pr acts to silence flavivirus fusion activity during virus secretion, and this function can be separated from the chaperone activity of prM. The sequence conservation of key residues involved in the flavivirus pr-E interaction suggests that this protein-protein interface may be a useful target for broad-spectrum inhibitors

Building International Business Theory: A Grounded Theory Approach

The field of international business (IB) is in need of more theory development (Morck & Yeung, 2007). As such, the main focus of our manuscript was to provide guidance on how to build IB specific theory using grounded theory (GT). Moreover, we contribute to future theory development by identifying areas within IB where GT can be applied and the type of research issues that can be addressed using this methodology. Finally, we make a noteworthy contribution by discussing some of GT’s caveats and limitations, particularly those relevant to IB. This effort is intended to spur further interest in the development of IB theory