IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v25y2014i4p1082-1110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Mutual Constitution of Persons and Organizations: An Ontological Perspective on Organizational Change

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandra Michel

    (Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104)

Abstract

I introduce an ontological perspective, which examines the mutual constitution of persons and organizations, to explain continuous versus episodic organizational change. Informed by a cognitive tradition, prior research on organizational change examines individuals’ epistemology , such as knowledge and skills, and their interaction with organizations. From this perspective, organizations change either continuously or episodically because of the conscious cognitive concepts that decision makers use. Informed by a sociocultural tradition, I examine employees’ ontology and the mutual constitution of person and context within organizations. I use the habitus concept to describe how organizational practices structure and are structured by employees’ taken-for-granted experience of reality’s basic dimensions. Based on a two-year ethnography, I investigate how two Wall Street banks’ distinct work practices caused bankers to experience persons, time, causality, and language (“ontology”) in contrasting ways, reproducing the practices that had generated the ontology. The banks changed either continuously or episodically because bankers’ differential ontologies caused them to utilize resources in different, taken-for-granted ways, thus weaving more or less adaptable organizational fabrics.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Michel, 2014. "The Mutual Constitution of Persons and Organizations: An Ontological Perspective on Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1082-1110, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:25:y:2014:i:4:p:1082-1110
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2013.0887
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2013.0887
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2013.0887?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eero Vaara & Richard Whittington, 2012. "Strategy as practice : Taking Social Practices Seriously," Post-Print hal-02276672, HAL.
    2. Katherine C. Kellogg, 2011. "Hot Lights and Cold Steel: Cultural and Political Toolkits for Practice Change in Surgery," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 482-502, April.
    3. Haridimos Tsoukas & Robert Chia, 2002. "On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(5), pages 567-582, October.
    4. C. Marlene Fiol & Anne Sigismund Huff, 1992. "Maps For Managers: Where Are We? Where Do We Go From Here?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 267-285, May.
    5. Martha S. Feldman & Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2011. "Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1240-1253, October.
    6. Nicolaj Siggelkow & Jan W. Rivkin, 2005. "Speed and Search: Designing Organizations for Turbulence and Complexity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 101-122, April.
    7. Karl E. Weick, 1998. "Introductory Essay—Improvisation as a Mindset for Organizational Analysis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(5), pages 543-555, October.
    8. Dvora Yanow & Haridimos Tsoukas, 2009. "What is Reflection‐In‐Action? A Phenomenological Account," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 1339-1364, December.
    9. C. K. Prahalad & Gary Hamel, 1994. "Strategy as a field of study: Why search for a new paradigm?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S2), pages 5-16, June.
    10. Martha S. Feldman, 2000. "Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(6), pages 611-629, December.
    11. Eero Vaara & Richard Whittington, 2012. "Strategy as practice : Taking Social Practices Seriously," Post-Print hal-02312709, HAL.
    12. Davide Nicolini, 2011. "Practice as the Site of Knowing: Insights from the Field of Telemedicine," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 602-620, June.
    13. Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2002. "Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 249-273, June.
    14. Martha S. Feldman, 2004. "Resources in Emerging Structures and Processes of Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(3), pages 295-309, June.
    15. Wanda J. Orlikowski, 1996. "Improvising Organizational Transformation Over Time: A Situated Change Perspective," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 63-92, March.
    16. John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, 1991. "Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 40-57, February.
    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. Scott Sonenshein, 2016. "Routines and Creativity: From Dualism to Duality," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 739-758, June.
    2. Julia Balogun & Jean M. Bartunek & Boram Do, 2015. "Senior Managers’ Sensemaking and Responses to Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 960-979, August.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.

    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. Anne Kokkonen & Pauli Alin, 2015. "Practice-based learning in construction projects: a literature review," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(7), pages 513-530, July.
    2. Martha S. Feldman & Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2011. "Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1240-1253, October.
    3. Luciana D’Adderio, 2014. "The Replication Dilemma Unravelled: How Organizations Enact Multiple Goals in Routine Transfer," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(5), pages 1325-1350, October.
    4. 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.
    5. Paula A. Jarzabkowski & Jane K. Lê & Martha S. Feldman, 2012. "Toward a Theory of Coordinating: Creating Coordinating Mechanisms in Practice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 907-927, August.
    6. Geoffrey Leuridan & Benoît Demil, 2022. "Exploring the dynamics of slack in extreme contexts," Post-Print hal-03931024, HAL.
    7. Daniel Geiger & Jochen Koch, 2008. "Von der individuellen Routine zur organisationalen Praktik — Ein neues Paradigma für die Organisationsforschung?," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 60(7), pages 693-712, November.
    8. Haridimos Tsoukas & Robert Chia, 2002. "On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(5), pages 567-582, October.
    9. Siedlok, Frank & Hibbert, Paul & Sillince, John, 2015. "From practice to collaborative community in interdisciplinary research contexts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 96-107.
    10. Carole Groleau & Christiane Demers & Mireille Lalancette & Marcos Barros, 2012. "From Hand Drawings to Computer Visuals: Confronting Situated and Institutionalized Practices in an Architecture Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 651-671, June.
    11. Charles Spinosa & Matthew Hancocks & Haridimos Tsoukas & Billy Glennon, 2023. "Beyond Rational Persuasion: How Leaders Change Moral Norms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 589-603, May.
    12. Ericson, Mona, 2014. "On the dynamics of fluidity and open-endedness of strategy process toward a strategy-as-practicing conceptualization," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-15.
    13. Lene Pettersen, 2019. "Why Artificial Intelligence Will Not Outsmart Complex Knowledge Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(6), pages 1058-1067, December.
    14. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2020. "The Site of Diversalizing: The Accomplishment of Inclusion in Intergenerational Dance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(6), pages 1143-1173, September.
    15. Gary T. Burke & Carola Wolf, 2021. "The Process Affordances of Strategy Toolmaking when Addressing Wicked Problems," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 359-388, March.
    16. Emmanuelle Vaast & Geoff Walsham, 2009. "Trans-Situated Learning: Supporting a Network of Practice with an Information Infrastructure," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 547-564, December.
    17. Shih-Chang Hung & Yung-Ching Tseng, 2017. "Extending the LLL framework through an institution-based view: Acer as a dragon multinational," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 799-821, December.
    18. Dragos Vieru & Pierre-Emmanuel Arduin, 2016. "Sharing Knowledge in a Shared Services Center Context: An Explanatory Case Study of the Dialectics of Formal and Informal Practices," Post-Print hal-01458031, HAL.
    19. Phillips, Paul & Moutinho, Luiz, 2014. "Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 96-120.
    20. Paola Perez-Aleman, 2011. "Collective Learning in Global Diffusion: Spreading Quality Standards in a Developing Country Cluster," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 173-189, February.

    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:inm:ororsc:v:25:y:2014:i:4:p:1082-1110. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.