IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/indcch/v26y2017i4p571-591..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Replacing old routines: how Ericsson software developers and managers learned to become agile

Author

Listed:
  • Lars Lindkvist
  • Marie Bengtsson
  • Dan-Magnus Svensson
  • Linnéa Wahlstedt

Abstract

In our account of the successful transformation of a software development unit at Ericsson, we show how a combination of trial-and-error learning processes, operating at the management and employee levels, can bring about routine change. In developing this explanation, we refer to the off-line/online search dichotomy as a basic way of distinguishing between how routines are tried out at management and employee levels. Furthermore, we suggest a way in which the performative view of routines can be linked to the teleological and life cycle modes of change at the level of management and employees, respectively. As a result, we arrive at a view of routines as both “inherently changeable” and directional and suggest how the combined use of managerial- and employee-level processes makes it possible to gain the benefits associated with each of them, while at the same time mitigating the effects of their shortcomings.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Lindkvist & Marie Bengtsson & Dan-Magnus Svensson & Linnéa Wahlstedt, 2017. "Replacing old routines: how Ericsson software developers and managers learned to become agile," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(4), pages 571-591.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:26:y:2017:i:4:p:571-591.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/icc/dtw038
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sidney G. Winter & Gino Cattani & Alex Dorsch, 2007. "The Value of Moderate Obsession: Insights from a New Model of Organizational Search," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 403-419, June.
    2. Gersick, Connie J. G. & Hackman, J. Richard, 1990. "Habitual routines in task-performing groups," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 65-97, October.
    3. Richard R. Nelson, 1991. "Why do firms differ, and how does it matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S2), pages 61-74, December.
    4. Jeremy P. Birnholtz & Michael D. Cohen & Susannah V. Hoch, 2007. "Organizational Character: On the Regeneration of Camp Poplar Grove," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 315-332, April.
    5. Michael D. Cohen & Paul Bacdayan, 1994. "Organizational Routines Are Stored as Procedural Memory: Evidence from a Laboratory Study," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(4), pages 554-568, November.
    6. Weiss, Howard M. & Ilgen, Daniel R., 1985. "Routinized behavior in organizations," Journal of Behavioral Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 57-67.
    7. Martha S. Feldman, 2000. "Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(6), pages 611-629, December.
    8. Martha S. Feldman, 2003. "A performative perspective on stability and change in organizational routines," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 12(4), pages 727-752, August.
    9. Michael D. Cohen, 2006. "What's different is routine," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 15(2), pages 387-390, April.
    10. Daniel Levinthal & Claus Rerup, 2006. "Crossing an Apparent Chasm: Bridging Mindful and Less-Mindful Perspectives on Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 502-513, August.
    11. Bjorn Lovas & Sumantra Ghoshal, 2000. "Strategy as guided evolution," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(9), pages 875-896, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Annosi, Maria Carmela & Martini, Antonella & Brunetta, Federica & Marchegiani, Lucia, 2020. "Learning in an agile setting: A multilevel research study on the evolution of organizational routines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 554-566.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniella Laureiro-Martinez, 2014. "Cognitive Control Capabilities, Routinization Propensity, and Decision-Making Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1111-1133, August.
    2. David Obstfeld, 2012. "Creative Projects: A Less Routine Approach Toward Getting New Things Done," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1571-1592, December.
    3. Scott F. Turner & Violina Rindova, 2012. "A Balancing Act: How Organizations Pursue Consistency in Routine Functioning in the Face of Ongoing Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 24-46, February.
    4. Arie Y. Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2011. "Microfoundations of Internal and External Absorptive Capacity Routines," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 81-98, February.
    5. Paul Spee & Paula Jarzabkowski & Michael Smets, 2016. "The Influence of Routine Interdependence and Skillful Accomplishment on the Coordination of Standardizing and Customizing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 759-781, June.
    6. Sangyoon Yi & Thorbjørn Knudsen & Markus C. Becker, 2016. "Inertia in Routines: A Hidden Source of Organizational Variation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 782-800, June.
    7. Giada Baldessarelli & Nathalie Lazaric & Michele Pezzoni, 2022. "Organizational routines: Evolution in the research landscape of two core communities," Post-Print halshs-03718851, HAL.
    8. 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.
    9. Bénédicte Reynaud, 2005. "The void at the heart of rules: Routines in the context of rule-following," PSE Working Papers halshs-00590855, HAL.
    10. Davies, Andrew & Frederiksen, Lars & Cacciatori, Eugenia & Hartmann, Andreas, 2018. "The long and winding road: Routine creation and replication in multi-site organizations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1403-1417.
    11. Anja Danner-Schröder & Daniel Geiger, 2016. "Unravelling the Motor of Patterning Work: Toward an Understanding of the Microlevel Dynamics of Standardization and Flexibility," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 633-658, June.
    12. Daniella Laureiro‐Martínez & Stefano Brusoni, 2018. "Cognitive flexibility and adaptive decision‐making: Evidence from a laboratory study of expert decision makers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 1031-1058, April.
    13. Jennifer A. Howard-Grenville, 2005. "The Persistence of Flexible Organizational Routines: The Role of Agency and Organizational Context," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(6), pages 618-636, December.
    14. Brian T. Pentland & Martha S. Feldman, 2007. "Narrative Networks: Patterns of Technology and Organization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(5), pages 781-795, October.
    15. Katharina Dittrich & Stéphane Guérard & David Seidl, 2016. "Talking About Routines: The Role of Reflective Talk in Routine Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 678-697, June.
    16. Kathrin Sele & Simon Grand, 2016. "Unpacking the Dynamics of Ecologies of Routines: Mediators and Their Generative Effects in Routine Interactions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 722-738, June.
    17. Waldemar Kremser & Georg Schreyögg, 2016. "The Dynamics of Interrelated Routines: Introducing the Cluster Level," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 698-721, June.
    18. Matthias Brauer & Tomi Laamanen, 2014. "Workforce Downsizing and Firm Performance: An Organizational Routine Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(8), pages 1311-1333, December.
    19. Fleur Deken & Paul R. Carlile & Hans Berends & Kristina Lauche, 2016. "Generating Novelty Through Interdependent Routines: A Process Model of Routine Work," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 659-677, June.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:26:y:2017:i:4:p:571-591.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/icc .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.