The Anthropophagic Organization: How Innovations Transcend the Temporary in a Project-based Organization

Abstract

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Organizational Ambidexterity: A Critical Review and Development of a Project-Focused Definition

“…Recent studies on ambidexterity within the context of project management suggests the widely accepted importance in the use of projects to contextualise ambidexterity (Turner et al, 2013a(Turner et al, , 2013b(Turner et al, , 2014(Turner et al, , 2015(Turner et al, , 2016Bednarek et al, 2016;Petro, 2017). Drawing from earlier works of Birkinshaw and Gupta (2013) who had argued that organisations were more efficient than markets in long-term transformation of scarce resources, we posit that projects encompass the very essence of this transformation process and associated tensions which exist between the misguided desire for instrumentality (Lenfle and Loch, 2010) and the flexibility required to deal with the uncertainties which prevail in projects due to their novelty (Prado and Sapsed, 2016). From Andriopoulos and Lewis (2009) therefore, we argue that project represent the most efficient approach to balance competing short (exploitation) and long term (exploration) demands that organisations face.…”

“…From this review, it is safe to suggest that detailed understanding of how ambidexterity can be contextualised within projects remain far from clear. However, we deduce from temporality project literature (Prado and Sapsed, 2016) and much wider temporality literature in organisation studies (Bakker et al,. 2016) that the enactment of organisational ambidexterity within a project context may encompass the need for project teams to temporally switch between exploitation and exploration, an idea derived from temporal switching capabilities first discussed in Gupta et al (2006).…”

Temporary Organizing: Promises, Processes, Problems

“…In contrast, purely phenomenon-driven research questions, as promoted by some grounded theory approaches are extremely rare. Prado and Sapsed (2016) published in this Special Issue examines a specific cultural context (Brazil) and its cultural impact on adoption and adaptation of past project innovations on future innovations within a large Brazilian company.…”

“…The study extends our understanding of the dialectic between temporary and permanent organizing by emphasizing how ongoing work at different boundaries affects the permanent and temporary organizing's connectedness and outcomes. It also challenges the overly bracketed view of temporary organizations, suggesting instead that the shadows of the past and future experienced in earlier projects in the sequel sequence impacted the tensions, boundary work and boundary roles created in subsequent sequel projects to address these tensions Prado and Sapsed (2016). offer a distinctive cultural perspective in their case study of the processes by which innovations developed in prior projects are codified within an intra-firm knowledge base and then adapted for use in future projects.…”

A componovation perspective of innovation in emerging markets: Evidence from Indian organizations

“…Emerging markets provide examples of success for such firms, while a similar phenomenon has been reported among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or businesses that moved in late in developed economies (Chesbrough, ). Contemporary concepts of componovation (Luo, ), bricolage (Gurca & Ravishankar, ), anthropophagic intrafirm behavior (Prado & Sapsed, ), and jugaad (Radjou, Prabhu, & Ahuja, ) all focus on the creative recombination of existing resources toward novel contexts leading to innovative solutions, creating new value for the firm and its customers. Although there are similarities between the four concepts, the idea of componovation approaches creative recombination as a strategic activity and is richer in its perspective.…”