Search results

Outlines a survey carried out among 33 large corporations in the UK, which aimed to discover the level of dynamics in the competitive environment, the level of dynamics in strategy development and the performance of the organization. Outlines the methodology used and the results obtained. Concludes that organizations can be successful in any competitive environment but that organizations with dynamic approaches to strategy development achieve superior performance in all competitive environments.

This paper aims to describe how organisation coaches can work at relational depth with their clients by exploring the unconscious relational dynamics of the coaching relationship and their links to unconscious dynamics in the client's organisation.

The paper draws on relational psychoanalytic theory of the individual and system psychodynamic theories of organisations to argue that unconscious dynamics that emerge between the coach and client can be understood as: a complex unconscious interaction between how the client and coach organise their relationships; a repetition of how the client participates in unconscious organisation dynamics; and shaping the coach's subjective experience in the work, including their emotional and embodied responses to the client. These propositions are explored through an in‐depth qualitative case study of the author's work with a client.

The case illustrates how unconscious organisation dynamics shaped the client's experience of his role, evoking in him feelings of powerlessness and anger. The coach initially identified with these feelings because of his own relational past. As a result, the relationship became stuck in a repetitive dynamic which could be understood as an expression of the stuck dynamics in the organisation around the unconscious management of anxieties within its management structures. A shift in the coaching relationship was brought about through the coach's disclosure of his own experience and naming of feelings and emotions that were previously implicit and out of awareness in the coaching relationship. The subsequent exploration of the dynamics of the coaching relationship helped the client to understand at a deeper level his struggle in the organisation and to take up a different position in the organisation dynamics. The case study highlights how the dynamics of the coaching relationship can be understood as a repetition of unconscious processes by the client in the organisation.

The paper highlights how coaches can understand and work with unconscious dynamics in the coaching relationship. This requires coaches not only to be self‐aware, but also to possess the emotional maturity and confidence to work with difficult emotional material.

The paper demonstrates how psychoanalytic theory of individuals and organisations can be integrated into a relational approach to coaching which facilitates the exploration of the client's experience of their work in an organisation context.

The study of group dynamics was central to the field of organization development at its inception. More recently, there has been a move away from considering irrational and unconscious dynamics in organizational life and more attention focused on rational and observable behavior that can be measured and quantified. We introduce the tool, Beneath the Surface of the Burke-Litwin Model, that invites consideration of how the overt behavior of individuals, groups, and entire systems is linked to covert dynamics. This more comprehensive view of organizational life provides scholar-practitioners with a systemic perspective, a view of covert dynamics by organizational level, and support for the ongoing development of one’s capacity for using self-as-instrument when engaged in organization development and organization change efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to broaden previous work on organizational learning and the factors that influence learning in organizational settings.

Qualitative and quantitative research methods that included in‐depth interviews and questionnaire distribution were used. Data gathered were analyzed using qualitative analysis along with statistical Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis.

Research results indicate that individual motivation to learn, team dynamics, and organization culture practices all have a significant level of influence on organization learning sustainability in non‐profit organizations.

This study provides a better understanding of what influences learning in organizations. The study adds on to existing definitions, theories and concepts and enables another depth of understanding to be explored. A major limitation of this study is its focus on the non‐profit sector and a selected number of organizations thereby limiting its applicability and ability to be generalized.

The findings of the study can help differentiate the learning phenomenon that takes place in organizations. Moreover, non‐profit organizations as well as managers and leaders would be able to better appreciate the learning that takes place in their organizations and create interventions that would enable them to motivate employees to learn effectively, enhance team dynamics, and shape their organization culture to promote their overall learning performance.

More empirical research is needed to better understand the nature of learning in organizations. This research adds to other empirical studies on organization learning while providing a basis for studying the factors that influence an organization's ability to sustain its learning in the long run.

Despite discussions about the universal work station, there is increasing workplace dynamics in US organisations. These dynamics include space configuration changes, space enclosure changes, changes in occupant density and increasing equipment density. At the same time, building infrastructures have not evolved to meet these demands, with little flexibility in the heating, ventilation and air‐conditioning (HVAC), lighting, or electrical/telecommunication systems of new or existing office buildings. This paper examines the effects of organisational workplace dynamics and building infrastructure flexibility on the environmental and technical quality of offices. Resulting from extensive field studies in US buildings, the authors contend that there are numerous statistically significant issues for the design and management of buildings for the dynamic organisation. The study identified numerous factors that affect thermal, air, lighting and technical quality in offices. In relation to infrastructure, for example, occupants who work in office areas provided with greater cooling capacity and more supply air volume, and combined with smaller HVAC zones, appeared to have higher levels of thermal satisfaction. Those who work in areas with higher outlet densities gave higher technical quality ratings; and those provided with relocatable outlets (raised floor and furniture based) gave significantly higher technical satisfaction ratings than those provided with least‐first‐cost ‘tombstones’. In relation to organisational dynamics, increasing occupant densities in existing buildings are related to more thermal and air quality complaints, more complaints about outlet accessibility, as well as more complaints about inadequate light levels on work surfaces. This paper will outline the major findings of a study linking organisational dynamics with building infrastructure, moving towards the definition of innovations in facility design that will more effectively support dynamic organisations.

Traditionally, organizational theory has been a receptacle of methods and mechanisms from network theory. In this paper, we argue that organizational theory can also be an active contributor to network theory’s conceptual development. To that end, we make explicit a theoretical strategy that has only been used informally by network theorists so far, which – following Vaughan (2002) – we refer to as analogical theorizing. Using the basic correspondence between dyadic relationships as the most minimal form of “organization,” we show that processes and mechanisms extracted from various theoretical strands of organizational theory can be mapped onto the dynamics of social relationships. This allows us to build novel theoretical insight as it pertains to issue of relationship emergence, maintenance, and decay in social networks.

Organizational routines emerge in firms during the process of new venture creation. Typically, they are imprinted and sometimes replicated by the entrepreneurs creating the organization, reflecting individual and contextual characteristics. In particular cases, organizations are designed for replicating routines for new ventures. The authors investigate one such case from the IT industry using a dynamic routine perspective and focus on how routines originally created by an organization are replicated in several new ventures. In more detail, the authors focus on how routine replication counter-intuitively allows for innovating in new venture creation. The authors find that routine replication supports entrepreneurial innovation in three ways: (1) the replicator organization’s accelerating routines unburden the replicator organization’s innovating routines; (2) the replicator organization’s accelerating routines unburden the new venture’s innovating routines; and (3) the new venture’s accelerating routines unburden the new venture’s innovating routines. The authors contribute to the discussion about the replication dilemma by conceptualizing “unburdening” as a mechanism that allows both routinization and innovation benefits to be reaped.

The rapid growth of blogs over the Internet has gradually attracted the attention of enterprises that want to engage in business and develop their online communication channels for customer relationships. The study aims to develop and examine the determinants of enterprise blog (E‐Blog) adoption for the service industry. Organization size is used as a moderating factor to disclose its influence on the effects of the variables.

The research model of the empirical study integrates three composites: social exchange theory, innovation diffusion theory, and organization dynamics. For the results, data are analyzed by using factor analysis to derive the actual composites and structural equation model to test the hypotheses.

The main results show the following findings. First, social exchange via E‐Blog fosters enterprise reputation. Second, enterprises are doubtful whether they can build online relationships via E‐Blog with their customers and E‐Blog visitors. Third, virtual trust and the unknown virtual social structure are barriers for enterprises in using E‐Blog. Fourth, E‐Blog adopters are likely to be purpose‐sensitive as the numbers of blog type increase.

The research findings reveal that E‐Blog vendors and agents should emphasize reputation development to attract the attention of their customers (enterprises). In addition, small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises prefer the relative advantages and simplicity of E‐Blogging. In contrast, large enterprises are more concerned with competition pressure and market dynamics involved in the adoption attitude. These findings would be useful for E‐Blog service providers to analyze the requirements of their customers. In addition, E‐Blog vendors and agents should persuade enterprises adopting E‐Blog to ease competition pressure, particularly for large firms who have not adopted the technology. Finally, E‐Blog platforms and vendors should emphasize that E‐Blog can help increase reputation by attracting the attention of enterprises to adopt E‐Blogging.

In the virtual socialization process, the blog has been developing its own characteristics that are linked to social behaviour. This link explains social change and stability in cyberspace from the social psychology and sociology points of view. The research findings differ from those of previous research because early studies focused on individual Internet user blog participation without placing emphasis on the adoption intention of enterprises. The findings of this study will be helpful for both E‐Blog service providers and enterprises.

The purpose of this mainly conceptual paper is to analyze key changes in the institutional setting for standardization and to discuss what they indicate about further developments of the mobile sector. The intention is that this conceptual analysis will complement and contextualize the analysis of Nordic players found in the other papers of this special issue.

The paper is concerned with issues of industrial organization. The paper presents a treatment of industrial dynamics in them mobile telecom sector and the changing role of standards in it. We approach the substantial changes in the mobile telecom sector, focusing on the correspondence of the changes in the standards system to overall industry dynamics. Empirical information from the Symbian case is used to illustrate the hypothesis of standardization process and of the industry at large.

The paper identifies changing patters in the organization of technological standardization which represents a microcosm of the larger reorganization of the sector. Nordic actors, whose present position owes much to success in linking capabilities to sequential mobile standards. The paper draws out implications of the limits to “intergenerational leveraging” in standards.

The major contribution of the paper is to focus on changes in the organization of the standardization process in order to discuss the industrial dynamics of an industry which is undergoing a period of rapid change. Its reference to industrial dynamics perspective allows it to link the literature on dominant design to the field of standards research.