The Value of a Rose: Rising above Objectivism and Subjectivism

After my conclusion in the previous PrimaVera working paper that objectivism does not provide a firm theoretical foundation for information management, the question probed in this chapter is whether or not subjectivism can offer a convincing alternative basis. Ultimately, the answer is negative because subjectivists rarely specifically pay attention to what is the bottom line for private and, increasingly, public organizations: the realization of economic value. Hence, there is no other way than to combine objectivism and subjectivism into a comprehensive, integrative approach to information management. However, as illustrated in this paper, the differences between both philosophical strands of thought are fundamental. In recent years, advocates of subjectivism and practice-based social theory as one of its main applications have taken a giant leap forward in transcending the split between the object and the subject by suggesting that we should focus our attention on social practices and object-centered sociality. Following their suggestion, I demonstrate what subjectivist, practice-based information management could be, which includes a new definition for our discipline. However, due to the neglect of economics in subjectivism, the divide between objectivism and subjectivism still exists. At the end of the paper, therefore, I present the concept of \u27figure\u27 and \u27ground\u27 from Gestalt psychology as a metaphorical aid for all of us to rise above this unproductive divide

Towards a Learning-Based Theory of the Firm

This paper takes tentative steps towards a new learning-based theory of the firm. Itsobjective is to advance a separate and empirically relevant answer to the question: why do firms exist?Sometimes learning across the market will be preferred, while in other situations the firm will enjoy theadvantage. A predictive theory of the firm needs to unfold these differences between both modes oforganization. As in transaction cost economics, therefore, the strategy for deriving propositions iscomparative institutional analysis. Given a choice between the market and the firm, which is better? Thehypothesis is that learning economies will be achieved when the attributes of learning, informationexchange, and the alternative modes of organization are properly attuned to each other. On this basis,several propositions are advanced identifying factors responsible for market or firm advantage. Finally,the steps taken toward a learning-based theory of the firm are captured in three implications for economictheory and for a wider theory of performance differences between firms, which is a major concern in bothstrategic management and resource-based thinking. Some consequences of these implications arehighlighted, indicating the future research agenda

The Networking Knowledge Worker, Technology Appropriationand the Shaping of Learning Practices

This article reports on an ethnographic study performed in a large and distributed,knowledge intensive ICT company. It gives an in-depth account of the introduction of virtualcommunities in this organization and what happened afterwards. When confronted withorganizational change ideas such as virtual community, people make sense of and appropriatethese ideas to make them ‘their own.’ We delve deeply into the arguments and motives behindthe appropriations of the company’s employees, which results into four generalized appropriationpatterns. These appropriations patterns indicate that people respond to change ideas bycomparing the behavioral norms and essences of professional selves prescribed in these ideaswith how they naturally engage in practices of social networking, learning, and professionalidentity construction. This behavior not only explains their degrees of participation and nonparticipationin the virtual communities created, but it also reveals how employees shape theirwork and learning practices

The Strategic Potential of Information Imperfections:An Information Strategy Framework for Seeking InfoRent

Information imperfections, and asymmetrical information in particular, haveprimarily been regarded as impediments to the economic efficiency of markets; they haveseldom been explored as opportunities to earn economic rents. This article builds an informationstrategy framework by elaborating on the strategic opportunities that exist for firms in marketsthat fail to satisfy the perfect information condition of neoclassical economic theory. Wepropose ‘InfoRent’ as a new economic rent type that results from exploiting the inherentopportunities of incomplete and asymmetrical information and introduce a fundamentaldifference in information strategy decisions: firms can either resolve or consolidate instances ofinformation imperfections in markets. These generic information strategy decisions are thensynthesized into four theoretical propositions on InfoRent-earning possibilities for firms.Finally, these propositions are tentatively tested through a sector study that examines the Dutchleisure travel industry through the lens of the information strategy of one of the key players inthis industry, tour operator TravelCom

Organizational Learning as Evolution: The Promise of GeneralizedDarwinism for Organization Science

The purpose of this paper is to provide a rigorous treatment of organizational learning as anevolutionary process. The paper is motivated by the believe that the notion of ‘generalized Darwinism’offers a meta-theory that can draw together the diverse theoretical perspectives that comprise theextensive literature on the selection and adaptation of organizations. We clarify the notion ofgeneralized Darwinism, and show that it provides a theoretical framework that can accommodateadaptation, selection and learning processes. This is done in three steps. First, we specify the generalnature of a Darwinian explanation. Secondly, we demonstrate that learning can be understood as aDarwinian process. Thirdly, we show how the resulting theoretical framework can be applied to bothorganizational selection and adaptation. We discuss the implications of this view of organizationallearning and conclude that the explanatory logic of generalized Darwinism demonstrates that theadaptation-selection debate is misconstrued. Adaptation and selection are simply differentmanifestations of the same Darwinian process

The firm as Darwin Machine: an evolutionary view oforganizational knowledge and learning

This paper argues that an evolutionary view of learning provides an explanatory logic forknowledge-based and capabilities-based theories of the firm. The paper develops a rigorous treatmentof organizational learning as an evolutionary process on the basis of the notion of ‘generalizedDarwinism’ and its application to knowledge. A Darwinian view of organizational learningdemonstrates the logical imperative of distinguishing between organizational knowledge andorganizational capabilities, and of understanding organizational learning in terms of the interplaybetween them. Work by Nelson and Winter, Penrose, and Burgelman is reinterpreted in Darwinianterms and implications for the nature of organizational capabilities and the locus of organizationalknowledge are derived

The Firm as a Darwin Machine:Organizational Learning as an Evolutionary Process

This paper examines the foundations of organizational capabilities by considering such capabilities asthe result of organizational learning. The paper provides a rigorous treatment of organizationallearning as an evolutionary process on the basis of the notion of ‘generalized Darwinism’ and itsapplication to knowledge. This results in an explanatory framework that is subsequently applied to thework of Nelson and Winter, Penrose and Burgelman. The paper argues that organizational learningneeds to be understood as an evolutionary process, and that on such understanding organizationalcapabilities have to be distinguished from the knowledge that underwrites them. This knowledge notonly resides in the members of the organization, but also in collective organizational characteristicsthat are not reducible to individuals as such

Why the adaptation-selection debate is misconstrued: aDarwinian view of organizational change

This paper is motivated by the belief that the notion of ‘generalized Darwinism’ offers ameta-theory that provides a logical foundation for the integration of the different theoreticalperspectives in the extensive literature on the selection and adaptation of organizations. We clarify thenotion of generalized Darwinism, and argue that its recursive causal logic provides the only possibleexplanation for the way in which organizations achieve adaptive fit. The crucial insights that can bederived from a generalization of Darwinism are twofold. First, contrary to a widely held belief, there isno logical contradiction between Darwinian and Lamarckian evolution. Second, environmentalselection processes and intentional adaptation are part of one and the same process. We conclude thatthe explanatory logic of generalized Darwinism demonstrates that the adaptation-selection debate ismisconstrued. Adaptation and selection are simply different aspects of the same evolutionary processand complement each other in a Darwinian explanation of how organizational change can lead toenvironmental fit

The Paradox of Organizing Knowledge

The paradox of organizing knowledge is that organizational initiatives to ameliorateprocesses of knowledge sharing may evoke adverse effects to such an extent that these initiatives turnagainst themselves. With the purpose of promoting greater awareness, both in theory and practice, forhow this paradox can act out in real life, this article reports on an ethnographic study performed in adistributed, knowledge intensive ICT company. It gives an in-depth account of the introduction ofvirtual communities in this organization and what happened afterwards. Like most knowledgemanagement actions, virtual communities intend to integrate knowledge that is dispersed throughoutthe organization. How can it be that such attempts become a major obstacle to their formation

A Cultural Critique of Organizational Change: Getting in Touch with Reality Stream: Social Networks

In organizations, change ideas are often implemented as ‘instruments of modernity’ (Giddens, 1991)prescribing a unified pattern of work, behavior and thought (Suchman, 1995). Reflecting a strongbelief in the engineerability of organizational reality, they generally serve the purpose of improvingmanagement control. A cultural critique of organizational change entails investigation of how suchchange ideas evolve from discourse to praxis, how they are received by the organization’s relevantsocial groups (Bijker et al., 1987), and how they impact everyday organizational life. For that, weperformed an ethnographic study in a large IT firm where we followed a change project that wasaimed at improving the organization’s learning capabilities through the concept of virtual community.By contrasting the organizational discourse around this concept, the intentions and appropriations ofthe firm’s management and moderators, and the responses of the employees, we describe how theintroduction of this modern change idea caused a dynamic interplay of negotiation in which numerousdivergences and tensions between the practice espoused and actual practice played a decisive role. Fora deeper understanding of this dynamic interplay, the larger part of this paper unravels the cumulativelayers of meaning employees attached to the virtual community idea. The first layer involves actorstaking a stand vis-à -vis the technology and the organizational practice in which it is applied. Thesecond layer illustrates that the appropriations of the employees are based upon the relational andsituational nature of their professional identity. In this way, we deconstruct the boundaries of thevirtual communities imposed, and show the networks of belonging with which the employees trulyidentify. In other words, we demonstrate how prescriptive instruments of modernity can lead to anartificialization of organizational life and suggest that fostering people’s passion for knowledge andtheir identification with the organization could provide a more productive alternative