The paper explores the role of trust in the collaborative learning processes that underpin innovation as a competitive strategy in organizations. Approach: As a conceptual paper, the argument is framed by academic perspectives, drawn from the academic literature on the topic, and by professional and life experience, Findings: The collaborative learning practices that underpin idea generation and realization in organizations are strongly dependent for their effectiveness upon the availability, within and beyond stakeholder networks, of trust and other key social capital resources. Implications: If innovation is dependent upon social capital resources, such as trust, then leadership endeavour needs to be much more focused upon the creation of a social environment that nurtures rich stakeholder, and other relevant network, relationships. Practical Implications: New forms of governance and power management, and more appropriate and aligned organizational structures, are required in organizations that are attempting to compete through innovation. Originality: The paper's explication of the role of social capital resources, like trust, in organizational innovation offers new insights into this complex but increasingly vital form of competitive strategy.

The post-implementation review (PIR) literature emphasizes the benefits of ex post evaluations of information technology (IT) projects. However, empirical studies of actual practice show that few organizations undertake any substantive form of ex post evaluation. This article presents the results of case study research in the Australian offices of two global corporations. These results support the findings reported in the literature and contribute new insights into the political factors that discourage the undertaking of PIRs in organizations. Furthermore, the results reveal a significant gap between theory and practice with respect to IT investment and IT governance practices, with no evidence found of such practices influencing ex post evaluation behaviour in these two organizations.This article reports on research conducted in the Australian offices of two global corporations with respect to the factors which influence post-implementation reviews (PIRs) of information technology (IT) projects in these organizations. In particular, it focuses on the factors affecting the evaluation decision . The findings confirm claims made in the PIR literature that few companies engage in ex post evaluation of IT projects, and provide new insights into the inhibitors of ex post evaluation practices. Using an interpretative research methodology, the study illuminates the political factors that inhibit PIRs in organizations and highlights the failure of IT governance practices to address these factors effectively. In addition to the problems that are well covered in the literature, such as those relating to time, measurement and cost, this study found that the socio-political consequences of evaluation were far more pertinent to the evaluation decision . By providing evidence of significant disincentives for managers to undertake ex post evaluation, regardless of the success of a project, this article concludes that evaluation occurs within a socio-political organizational context where power relations and vested individual interests influence the evaluation decisions made by individuals. The article also explores the influence of IT governance on ex post evaluation practices and the role of organizational structure in relation to the absence of ex post evaluation and, in particular, the prob-

Abstract:In this paper we examine the construct of 'leadership' through an analysis of the social practices that underpinned the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television production entitled The Code. Positioning the production within the neo-bureaucratic organisational form currently adopted by the global television industry, we explore new conceptualisations of the leadership phenomenon emerging within this industry in response to the increasingly complex, uncertain, and interdependent nature of creative work within it. We show how the polyarchic governance regime characteristic of the neo-bureaucratic organisational form ensures broadcaster control and coordination through 'hard power' mechanisms embedded in the commissioning process and through 'soft power' relational practices that allow creative licence to those employed in the production. Furthermore we show how both sets of practices (commissioning and creative practices) leverage and regenerate the relational resources -such as trust, commitment and resilience -gained from rich stakeholder experience of working together in the creative industries over a significant period of time. Referencing the leadership-as-practice perspective, we highlight the contingent and improvisational nature of these practices, and metaphorically describe the leadership manifesting in this production as a form of 'interstitial glue' that binds and shapes stakeholder interests and collective agency.

Profound change in the global business environment is foregrounding the need for new competitive strategies in organizations. The realization that success in the era of knowledge capitalism depends upon the creative productivity of knowledge workers is focusing attention on the forms of intangible capital that underpin creativity, learning and innovation as sources of competitive advantage. In this article we argue that many organizations are failing to execute mission-critical change because their leaders fail to comprehend how such change is inhibited by the 'enterprise logic' of the organization. Through the case of an Australian fi nancial services company, we show that embedded within the functional hierarchical structure of most large organizations is the strategic intention of managerial control, and we argue for the envisioning and development of a form of enterprise logic that is predicated on new structural forms that encompass the principles of co-ownership and lateral power relations.

PurposeThis paper describes and analyses an attempt to engage in transformational learning, oriented to the development of a culture of innovation, at a medium‐size software development organization in Australia.Design/methodology/approachAn action research methodology was used whereby continuous cycles of strategic social learning were collectively theorized, implemented, evaluated and renewed.FindingsThe most important finding of this study is that of the influence of power relations and communication practices upon learning‐for‐innovation in organizations, and the need for the mediation of this influence through the creation of an organizational role that we have entitled an “external critic”. The case also shows the central importance of the relational dimension of social capital generation to learning and the sensitivity of this dimension to power relations.Research limitations/implicationsThe research provides a rich analysis of one company's attempt to learn how to build and sustain a culture of innovation but, as with all case study research, the findings cannot be reliably generalized to other companies. Similarly, the case generates grounded theory that needs to be tested in other organizational contexts.Practical implicationsThe case raises the issue of power management in organizations and its relationship to social learning practices. In particular, it argues for the establishment of a “negotiated order” in organizations (through a mission, vision and core values that are collectively and meaningfully constituted) and for the role of an “external critic” whereby the power of the executive, especially, can be mediated effectively in the interests of mission‐critical learning within the organization.Originality/valueThe paper offers an original strategy for the mediation of power in organizations in the interests of greater learning, creativity and innovation.