摘要:

ABSTRACTThere is an ambiguity at the centre of our understanding of innovation in large, specialized organizations. The literature is split as to whether individual autonomy or hierarchical control leads to an increase in innovative activity. In this article, I argue that this uncertainty is the result of an inappropriate conceptualization. In my view, autonomy and control are inseparable aspects of managerial action, not independent empirical phenomena. Innovation in an organization requires the simultaneous regulation of autonomy and control in order to promote creativity and experimentation but still produce results that can be manufactured and marketed or institutionalized. I develop an interpretive concept of culture to analyse the relationship between autonomy and control, and I apply this conceptual framework to managers and engineers in an electronics company as they attempt to innovate. Four general conclusions emerge. First, autonomy and innovation can never be ends in themselves but always depend on a context of control for their relevance to the organization. Second, under conditions in which innovation is required and autonomous behaviour is important, general management control is needed as a sort of switching station to regulate interaction and set and enforce priorities. Third, when control and autonomy are not in balance a vicious circle can develop which undermines commitment to an organization's goals. Fourth, innovation in organizations requires participants to have a highly developed sense of the legitimate possibilities of autonomy in organization.

ISSN:0022-2380    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1989.tb00719.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTNursing is a contemporary occupation which has developed an explicit ‘professional project’. In the UK this has centred around an occupational ideology which stresses managerialism and credentialism. This occupational ideology comes into contradiction with older conceptions of professionalism which are couched in vocational terms. The vocational meaning is shown to be situated and reproduced in organizational locales which serve to undercut the managerialist and credentialist meanings. The focus of these cross‐cutting meanings is the interpretation of a ‘good nurse’. Using a ‘negotiated order’ perspective, focusing on ‘contradictions’, case study material suggests that there are important gaps between formal representations of the professionalism project and the actual, situated practice of ‘nursing’. For trainee nurses these gaps are particularly apparent. In day‐to‐day organizational life they have to negotiate contradictory conceptions encountered in the diverse locales of ward work and nurse training. In addition, the different meanings may be encountered

ISSN:0022-2380    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1989.tb00720.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTThis article presents the results of an establishment level investigation carried out late in 1986 and early in 1987 of the extent of flexible manpower resourcing in the Aberdeen local labour market. It is necessary to place these results in the context of the general background of an increasing interest in flexible manning and of certain theoretical developments in labour and industrial economics. The results suggest that whilst a variety of means are used to attain flexibility in manning, few establishments can be regarded as truly ‘flexible firms’ and manpower strategies tend to be largely reactive andad

ISSN:0022-2380    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1989.tb00721.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTSelf‐Altering Prophecies are expectations by a source person that when communicated lead to behaviours of a target person that would not have occurred had the prophecy not been made. When the prophecy is confirmed it is called a Self‐Fulfilling Prophechy (SFP), when it is disconfirmed it is named a Self‐Defeating Prophecy (SDP). The most well‐known example of an SFP is probably that of Pygmalion, a sculptor who carved an ivory statue of a woman so beautiful that his treating it as it were alive caused it be become so. The living statue was named Galatea, and she became the wife of Pygmalion. The overall conclusion of literature reviews of the SFP in education is that an SFP effect undeniably exists. In management contexts there is some evidence that the SFP effect exists. In this article an SFP leader model is presented that may be prescriptively used by leaders in organizations to produce a group social situation of high expectations. Members of the group may then subsequently act with positive expectations towards others in the organization to create a new and energized organizational climate and culture. This change is named the Metharme effect, after the daughter of Pygmalion and

ISSN:0022-2380    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1989.tb00722.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTMuch recent research on strategic decision‐making and strategic change from many different perspectives challenges the view that decision outcomes are the product of rational choice. Allison's (1971) classification scheme is used to categorize recent strategic decision research within three different perspectives. Discussions of research on cognitive, organizational and political perspectives are followed by an integrative discussion showing how these three perspectives can be combined to deal with the full complexity of strategic decisions and the strategic change proces

ISSN:0022-2380    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1989.tb00723.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTAs organizations adapt to changes in environmental conditions and internal needs, they often develop new structures. Research has described several diverse processes by which this development takes place (cf.Chandler, 1962; Child, 1972; Pettigrew, 1973; Sproull,et al., 1978). The only explanations provided thus far for these divergent views is methodological artefact and observer bias (Allison, 1971). In this paper, three parallel case studies are used to show that such differences are real ‐ different organizations do follow different development paths. Evidence is provided to suggest that this variation is caused by the differing structures of organizational control surrounding new structure

ISSN:0022-2380    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1989.tb00724.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY