Micro‐Practices of Strategic Sensemaking and Sensegiving: How Middle Managers Interpret and Sell Change Every Day*

abstract This paper looks at the workings of ongoing primary sensemaking and sensegiving micro‐practices by which middle managers interpret and sell strategic change at the organizational interface. Through middle managers’ routines and conversations related to the implementation of a strategic change in a top‐of‐the‐line clothing company, the article shows how they contribute to renewing links with stakeholders, in particular clientele, by drawing on their tacit knowledge. Interpretative analysis of these routines and conversations highlights four micro‐practices of strategic sensemaking and sensegiving: translating the orientation, overcoding the strategy, disciplining the client, and justifying the change. The paper outlines a practice perspective of sensemaking and sensegiving. It ends by suggesting the necessity of looking at middle managers’ role as interpreters and sellers of strategic change at the micro level for a better understanding of their contribution in sustaining competitive advantage through their everyday activities.     

实体零售业互联网创新演进机理--基于适应性营销能力的多案例研究

互联网创新已成为数字化时代实体零售业业态演进的主要目标。众多实体企业面临着从传统店铺零售转型为互联网零售方式的转型难题。本研究基于适应性营销能力理论,探讨了实体零售业从互联网转型战略到互联网转型项目实施过程,并构建了实体零售业互联网演进能力迁移的理论框架。研究发现:①适应性营销能力是解释实体零售业演进能力迁移的关键,实体零售企业互联网演进过程可以按照"互联网战略导向→适应性营销能力→组织政治策略→绩效"的关系进行表述;②实体零售业转型的主要战略是互联网市场导向和互联网技术导向,战略选择是基于企业自身资源基础和相对优势的分析;③实体零售业组织在互联网创新的角色具有双面性,即鼓励创新又适当妥协。研究结论进一步丰富了零售业演进理论和适应性营销理论的相关研究,对当前互联网环境下企业如何实施互联网战略转型具有实践指导意义。     

Conformist innovation: an institutional logics perspective on how HR executives construct business school reputations

In this paper, we explore whether Legge’s classic 1970s criticism of human resource (HR) executives as ‘conformist innovators’ is still relevant. Drawing on institutional logics, we analyse HR managers’ rationales for choosing particular university business schools to provide senior executive development. Our mixed-methods study demonstrates that senior HR managers socially construct and enact business school reputations by drawing on strategic rationales. These rationales are embedded in societal, field and organizational logics, especially the extant reputational rankings of international business schools and an ‘ideal’ template of elite business schools. We find that these rationales, and the decisions they evince, tend to confirm the traditional picture of conformist innovation among HR executives. We discuss the implications for the reputation of HR as a profession, their employers and business schools.     

Bridging the gaps or fecklessness? A moderated mediating examination of intermediaries’ effects on corporate innovation

Intermediaries are frequently used as external institutions to bridge knowledge gaps and enlarge innovation search. Although there is a consensus that ties with intermediaries have a significantly positive impact on firms’ innovation performance since external knowledge sources are important to firms’ innovative activities, far less is known about how these intermediaries become effective drivers of corporate innovation. From the capacity-based view, this study proposes that intermediaries facilitate the development of dynamic capability which further causes remarkable innovation. A firm's dynamic capability acts as a mediator in the relationship between intermediaries and innovation performance. It is also observed that organizational structure formalization and strategic conformity negatively moderate the mediation effect. This proposed theoretical framework is proven by empirical results from a moderated mediation analysis using a sample of Chinese manufacturing firms.     

Strategies for Introducing Organizational Innovation to Public Service Organizations

As social systems, organizations need to ensure connectivity between established and deviant communication streams to accomplish organizational innovation. This article explores elements and systemic strategies of connectivity formation for the introduction of an organizational innovation such as the concept of crowd innovation in the public sector. For public administrations, crowd innovation represents an organizational innovation since it implies broad participation and the integration of external ideas, and thus often opposes prevalent organizational structures. Our findings contribute to the knowledge on systemic innovation management and suggest that public managers can enhance connectivity formation by addressing semantics, routines, practices, roles, and redundancies.     

Encouraging organizational performance through the influence of technological distinctive competencies on components of corporate entrepreneurship

Firms’ technological distinctive competencies (TDCs) help CEOs to confront their reality based on technological knowledge to achieve and exploit competitive advantage by encouraging the different dimensions of corporate entrepreneurship (innovation, new business venturing, proactiveness and self-renewal). The main purpose of this paper is thus to highlight how companies that strive to improve technological competencies within the firm achieve higher organizational performance through different components of corporate entrepreneurship and their interrelationships. This study seeks to fill this research gap by analyzing theoretically and empirically how TDCs enhance innovation, new business venturing and proactiveness and their interrelationships to achieve self-renewal and thus improve firms’ organizational performance. The methodology used is LISREL analysis. We test the model with data from 201 Spanish organizations. Our research contributes theoretical and empirical arguments on the value of TDCs to the organization, arguments that are especially important because organizations sometimes fail to achieve sustainable competitive advantage due to their limited understanding of the relationships between these strategic variables.     

企业职工培训模式创新——以首钢新基地为例

运用组织发展理论和战略性人力资源理论,以首钢新基地为例,本文研究了企业职工培训模式创新,并分析了培训模式创新的内容和创新点,最后运用柯氏培训效果方法对培训创新效果进行了评估。     

Women directors contribution to organizational innovation: A behavioral approach

This paper aims to analyze the relationships between women directors (a demographic characteristic) and organizational innovation (a predictor of firm performance) by considering the mediating role of the board’s decision-making culture. To scrutinize board processes and behaviors, we use survey data to test our hypotheses on a sample of 341 Norwegian firms. The results suggest that women directors contribute positively and significantly to organizational innovation. Furthermore, the positive relationship between women directors and the level of organizational innovation is mediated by some decision-making culture dimensions: the degree of cognitive conflict and the degree of preparation and involvement during board meetings. Implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Do Birds of a Feather Flock Higher? The Effects of Partner Similarity on Innovation in Strategic Alliances in Knowledge‐Intensive Industries

In spite of the consensus on the benefits of strategic alliances for learning and innovation, our understanding of the effects of partner similarity remains conflicted. This paper develops an integrative theoretical framework in which we propose that similar partners in a focal firm's alliance portfolio contribute to the firm's innovation up to a threshold, beyond which additional similar partners can lead to a decrease in innovation because of the trade-offs embedded in collaboration between similar partners. In this integrative framework, we also draw on organizational ecology and institutional perspectives to propose that the effect of partner similarity on innovation is positively moderated by organizational aging and the industry norm of collaboration at the firm's founding. Results from an analysis of 176 biotechnology firms between 1988 and 1999 support our arguments. This study contributes to research on strategic alliance and innovation by considering both the benefits and costs of partner similarity in the context of alliance portfolios and by exploring the multilevel contingencies for the effects of partner similarity.     

Management of paradox: a comparative study of managerial practices in Korean and Japanese firms

Numerous scholars are recognizing that paradoxes are indigenous to organizational functioning. Managers too are being challenged to do more and spend less, and delegate and know the details. As a corporate objective, neither efficiency nor innovation can be sacrificed. In this paper, we have attempted to capture this emerging trend empirically. Defining management of paradox as ‘managerial practices that realize the simultaneous accomplishment of multiple strategic objectives that are seemingly or actually incompatible,’ this paper explores how organizational capabilities of effectively dealing with paradox can be acquired. Specifically, the paper attempts to address two organizational mechanisms: decision-making structure and human resource practices (HRPs). Propositions deduced from the existing literature were tested with the data collected from 103 Korean firms and 136 Japanese firms. The data indicated that firms have to be multi-talented. It was found that firms that successfully accomplished innovation and efficiency objectives simultaneously were those that were able to mix paradoxical organizational practices: decentralization and control on the one hand and the three HRPs on the other. It was also found that the Japanese corporations were more apt in deploying paradoxical managerial practices than the Korean counterparts. The paper concludes by discussing a few theoretical implications.     

Strategic Moves and Organizational Survival in Turbulent Environments: The Case of Spanish Banks (1983–97)*

abstract The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of ‘strategic moves’ (or strategic change) on the likelihood of organizational survival in a population of firms which has undergone radical transformations in its environment. To this end, we propose and test two competitive hypotheses which are the result of two other theoretical perspectives about the consequences of strategic change: the adaptation view (classic strategic management and dynamic capabilities) and the ecological approach. While from the former, in general, it is assumed that strategic change has a positive effect on the likelihood of organizational survival, from the ecological approach, it is frequently argued that attempts at reorganization in general and strategic change in particular tend to be associated with an increase in the likelihood of organizational extinction. The sample used to test the two proposed hypotheses is the Spanish bank population over the period 1983–97. The results confirm the positive and significant effect of strategic moves (or strategic change) on the likelihood of organizational survival, in line with the conclusions of the adaptive perspective and other empirical research carried out in different settings. This paper introduces two important methodological innovations: (a) the definition and measurement of ‘strategic moves’ (or strategic change) by using a new cluster algorithm, the MCLUST; and (b) the control of the non‐observable heterogeneity using panel data models for ‘probit’ regression.     

Connecting strategic orientation,innovation strategy,and corporate sustainability: A model for sustainable development through stakeholder engagement

This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the relationship between organizations' strategic orientation (i.e., instrumental, equidistant, and stewardship) and their innovational strategy (i.e., organizational ambidexterity and open innovation), and this relationship's influence on their sustainability performance. We expected organizations' strategic orientation to influence their innovational strategy and exhibit better corporate sustainability. We focused on 12 different multinational organizations in the Eurozone and found that inbound open innovation acts as a driver for corporate sustainability while simultaneously positively enabling organizations to pursue both financial and social initiatives. After suggesting open innovation as a new corporate sustainability antecedent, we only found empirical evidence of inbound open innovation. However, we would suggest that if organizations incorporated outbound open innovation in their strategy, they could likely improve their corporate sustainability. Also, we found that achieving an equidistant or stewardship orientation paves the way for sustainability to become an integral part of an organization's innovational culture and actualizes the organization's strategic behavior. Our findings further contribute to a deeper understanding of organizations' characteristics as their sustainability commitment grows and as they move from an instrumental to a stewardship orientation and implement an open innovational strategy.     

Middle Management’s Strategic Influence and Organizational Performance

This study investigated relationships between middle managers’ formal position, their strategic influence and organizational performance. Among the 259 middle managers represented in the study, managers with formal positions in boundary–spanning sub–units reported higher levels of strategic influence activity than others. At the organizational level of analysis, the study found that firm performance was associated with more uniform levels of downward strategic influence, and more varied levels of upward influence among middle management cohorts. The findings suggest that middle managers’ strategic influence arises from their ability to mediate between internal and external selection environments. In addition, positive effects on organizational performance appear to depend on: (1) whether the overall pattern of upward influence is conducive to shifts in the network centrality of individual managers; and (2) whether the pattern of downward influence is consistent with an appropriate balance between the organization’s need for control and flexibility.     

校企产学研战略联盟技术创新驱动力的形成模式

我国的技术创新不仅依赖于外部引进和自主创新,合作创新更是发挥着重要的作用。校企产学研战略联盟作为合作创新的一种全新的组织模式,能够有效的整合校企双方的资源,更好的实现技术创新的目的,校企双方合作进行技术创新的驱动力显然区别于一般形式的合作创新。本文在对校企产学研战略联盟面对的环境因素、校企进行技术创新的动力因素及两者之间的相互作用进行分析的基础上,对校企产学研战略联盟技术创新驱动力的形成模式进行探讨。     

Managing Persistent Tensions on the Frontline: A Configurational Perspective on Ambidexterity

Ambidexterity research has noted that firms’ simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation causes organizational tensions that are difficult to resolve. To make these tensions manageable, scholars have generally suggested that senior managers take the central role in designing organizational solutions, such as the structural separation or contextual integration of the exploratory and exploitative tasks. Yet, in an inductive study of ten corporate innovation initiatives, we find that our informants assigned far less importance to the senior managers’ initial design choices than to the frontline managers’ subsequent configurational practices. Frontline managers used these practices to constantly adapt and align their initiatives’ organizational contexts, which allowed them to cope with persistent exploration‐exploitation tensions in their daily business activities. Based on these empirical insights and drawing on paradox theory, we develop a configurational perspective on ambidexterity, where frontline managers play a more central, proactive, and strategic role than purported by the established design perspective on ambidexterity.     

Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry

Although strategic entrepreneurship in established firms is recognized as a vital source of sustainable competitive advantage, this field has no clearly developed research paradigm. This study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship and its function in sustainable competitive advantage of established firms in a modern volatile environment, through the lens of the dynamic capability view. By conducting a systematic literature review of previous research documents and considering conceptual interrelationships between strategic entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities, we propose categories that comprise dimensions of a firm’s strategic entrepreneurship: environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning. We establish a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship in which entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities of environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation closely interact with organizational learning, thereby facilitating sustainable performance of established firms. Following empirical studies of established firms in the digital TV manufacturing industry, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that each dimension of strategic entrepreneurship plays a critical role in competitive advantage of firms. In addition, case study results indicate that a firm’s position and evolutionary path form antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities and organizational learning of established firms.     

Managerial and organizational learning in Hungarian–Western mixed management organizations

The radical changes in Eastern Europe which aim to transform these economies into market economies put the issue of organizational and individual adaptation at the centre of attention. Hungarian-Western mixed management organizations are regarded as effective tools for helping this adaptation process. This paper examines, through the example of five joint ventures, what practices are to be changed and what problems arise in terms of organizational and individual adaptation and learning. For the theoretical framework, the author draws together the insights of four types of learning approaches with structural contingency theory, strategy-structure and strategic choice theories, institutional theory of organizations and organizational change theories. The paper finds that there are changes in the organizational routines and procedures as a response to changes in the contingent factors. Westerners do not, however, necessarily play a positive role as agents of change in introducing strategic thinking among Hungarian managers. This problem relates to the phenomenon of new paternalism which also makes it easier for Westerners to cope with the problems of not being able to change the old philosophies of their Hungarian staff.     

数字经济时代下企业组织惯性的重构路径研究

组织惯性研究中"选择决定论"与"组织适应论"的视角冲突,割裂了企业对组织惯性的认知,难以形成相匹配的应对模式。文章从资源基础理论视角切入设计案例研究,研究发现企业组织惯性的重构路径会经历三个主要阶段:(1)组织外围结构先行演化,不断试错,形成可被纳入核心结构的能力;(2)基于形成的能力进行资源动员,丰富可能的资源和能力组合方案;(3)通过解构与重组惯性的方式构建动态调节机制。研究结论有助于丰富组织惯性和资源基础的研究文献,弥合了组织惯性研究的视角冲突,在组织变革中引入了管理者的资源管理能力;同时可为企业无法准确识别环境变化时提供一个处理组织惯性的可行指导方案,促使企业组织的成长演化过程向进化转变。     

Innovativeness and organizational innovation in total quality oriented firms: The moderating role of market turbulence

This paper analyses the contribution of TQM implementation to the firms’ innovative culture and their overall innovation effort in the technical and administrative organizational domains. The research seeks to contribute to a further understanding, under different market turbulence conditions, of the TQM–innovation relationship and the interactions between the organization's innovativeness and the intensity and newness of the innovations adopted. The findings indicate that TQM strongly influences firm's innovative culture and higher administrative innovation levels with a greater degree of incorporated novelty, whereas the mediating role of innovativeness is required for TQM to achieve this impact on technical innovation. These relationships significantly vary under different levels of market turbulence, but results reinforce the consideration of TQM as an appropriate resource to foster innovativeness and organizational innovation. The study provides an unexpected result as innovativeness does not influence administrative innovations, which seem to be ultimately determined by TQM. Finally, the findings provide empirical support regarding the coordinated development in practice of technical and administrative innovations.     

基于战略需求和组织绩效的战略性人力资源管理研究——以无锡村田为案例

在人力资源管理（HRM）上升到可以给企业带来独特竞争优势的背景下，人力资源管理被提到了战略的地位。本文研究以Schuler的战略性人力资源管理（SHRM）分析框架5P模型为基础，通过对无锡村田的案例研究，对该模型进行改进，提出了围绕组织战略需求进行人力资源管理的人力资源哲学、人力资源政策、人力资源规划、人力资源过程、人力资源进步的新5P模型，进一步完善行为视角下强调战略整合内在一致性的战略性人力资源管理理论模型。