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Rethinking Stability and Change in the Study of Organizational Routines: Difference and Repetition in a Newspaper-Printing Factory

Author

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  • Jeremy Aroles

    (Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester M15 6PB, United Kingdom)

  • Christine McLean

    (Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester M15 6PB, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Organizational life consists of an ever-changing world of encounters, experiences, and complex sociomaterial relations. Within this context, standard routines can be seen as a solution to problems of inefficiency within organizations, especially when associated with images of stability, repeatability, and standardization. This can bring a sense of order where there is disorder, and stability in the face of change. However, whereas standard routines may be seen as providing solutions within complex and ever-changing organizational worlds, they can also be viewed as sources of organizational problems. Through an ethnographic examination of two routines within a newspaper-printing factory, our paper seeks to build on and add to contributions within routine dynamics (RD) by highlighting the emergence and coexistence of change and stability and the enactment of standard routines through a performative process of difference and repetition. In particular, our paper examines how organizational stability and change emerge through the dynamic relations underlying the enactment of difference and repetition and how these relations involve various—sometimes hidden—microprocesses that include the simplification and amplification of facts, scripts, and concerns. By drawing together the findings from our ethnographic research, studies within the area of RD, and concepts relating to a Deleuzian and Latourian perspective, our paper therefore contributes to the work on the repetition of routines by further unpacking the generative sociomaterial dynamics, creative forces, and microprocesses that underlie the emergence of stability and change through difference and repetition.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Aroles & Christine McLean, 2016. "Rethinking Stability and Change in the Study of Organizational Routines: Difference and Repetition in a Newspaper-Printing Factory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 535-550, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:27:y:2016:i:3:p:535-550
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2015.1035
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. François-Xavier de Vaujany & Nathalie Mitev & Sytze Kingma, 2018. "Proceedings of the 8th Organizations, Artifacts and Practices Workshop, New Ways of Working (NWW): Rematerializing Organizations in the Digital Age. 20nd - 22th June 2018 Amsterdam," Post-Print halshs-01818149, HAL.
    2. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Post-Print halshs-03718851, HAL.
    3. D'Adderio, Luciana & Pollock, Neil, 2020. "Making routines the same: Crafting similarity and singularity in routines transfer," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    4. Gilstrap, J. Bruce & Hart, Timothy A., 2020. "How employee behaviors effect organizational change and stability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 120-131.
    5. François-Xavier de Vaujany & Jeremy Aroles & Pierre Laniray, 2019. "Towards a Political Philosophy of Management: Performativity & Visibility in management practices," Post-Print halshs-01868087, HAL.
    6. Dehua Gao & Aliakbar Akbaritabar, 2022. "Using agent-based modeling in routine dynamics research: a quantitative and content analysis of literature," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 521-550, February.
    7. Stanczyk-Hugiet E. & Kozyra C. & Piorkowska K. & Stanczyk S., 2020. "Organisational Routines and Interfirm Collaboration: Measurement Dilemmas and Recommendations for Further Research Steps," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 1086-1117.
    8. Palermo, Tommaso & Power, Michael & Ashby, Simon, 2022. "How accounting ends: self-undermining repetition in accounting lifecycles," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115278, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Martinez, Daniel E. & Cooper, David J., 2017. "Assembling international development: Accountability and the disarticulation of a social movement," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 6-20.
    10. Guo, Jingjing & Guo, Bin & Zhou, Jianghua & Wu, Xiaobo, 2020. "How does the ambidexterity of technological learning routine affect firm innovation performance within industrial clusters? The moderating effects of knowledge attributes," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    11. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 1119-1154, September.
    12. Maran, Laura & Bracci, Enrico & Inglis, Robert, 2018. "Performance management systems' stability: Unfolding the human factor – A case from the Italian public sector," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 324-339.
    13. Yutaka Yamauchi & Takeshi Hiramoto, 2020. "Performative Achievement of Routine Recognizability: An Analysis of Order Taking Routines at Sushi Bars," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(8), pages 1610-1642, December.
    14. Martha S. Feldman & Brian T. Pentland & Luciana D’Adderio & Nathalie Lazaric, 2016. "Beyond Routines as Things: Introduction to the Special Issue on Routine Dynamics," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 505-513, June.
    15. Yang, Yumei & Secchi, Davide & Homberg, Fabian, 2018. "Are organisational defensive routines harmful to the relationship between personality and organisational learning?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 155-164.
    16. Omid Omidvar & Mehdi Safavi & Vern L. Glaser, 2023. "Algorithmic Routines and Dynamic Inertia: How Organizations Avoid Adapting to Changes in the Environment," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 313-345, March.

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