The appropriated language: Dominant stories as a source of organizational inertia

Näslund, Lovisa; Pemer, Frida

doi:10.1177/0018726711424322

Cited by 68 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Organizations typically rely on procedural logics rather than consequential ones, and well-established procedures create obstacles to organizational change (Cyert andMarch 1963, Nelson andWinter 1982). The content of organizational memory-procedures, scripts, discourse, routines, and shared organizational culture-provides the source of inertia (Gilbert 2005, van der Steen 2009, Naslund and Pemer 2012. The more extensive the content, the stronger the inertial pressure.…”

Section: Existing Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Related Structural Inertia: A Distance-Based Approach

Mens

Hannan

Pólos

2015

Organization Science

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T his paper proposes a distance-based characterization of age-related structural inertia as an increasing constraint on the speed of change as organizations age. Our framework regards organizations as points in multidimensional metric spaces of architectures. Organizational change means movement in this space. The speed of change is the ratio of the distance between positions in a space and the time it took for the organization to make the move. We illustrate how our distance-based approach can be used to formulate theories of age-related organizational inertia by using this representation to develop a model for a possible mechanism: age-related cultural resistance to change based on the dynamics of exposure of organizational members to architectural features. Our proposed mechanism is distinct from prevailing explanations and leads to new predictions. We also illustrate the value of our distance-based approach in a reanalysis of Sørensen and Stuart's study of age variations in firms' patenting behavior [Sørensen JB, Stuart TE (2000) Aging, obsolescence, and organizational innovation. Admin. Sci. Quart. 45(1):81-112]. On the basis of patent citations, we construct a space that allows us to characterize the positions of organizations and the speed at which they change. We find that organizational age has a negative effect on the speed of change.

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Section: Existing Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Related Structural Inertia: A Distance-Based Approach

Mens

Hannan

Pólos

2015

Organization Science

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“…Here, at the outset of the Special Issue, we offer a brief introduction to each with the Special Issue agenda in mind. Näslund and Pemer's (2012) work provides a stark warning that our sensemaking is circumscribed by the stories that we tell, and shows how in organizational settings dominant stories marginalize deviant storytellers and restrict people's scope for action. Cunliffe and Coupland (2012) show how sensemaking and organizing occurs not in the abstract but is embodied, and how felt experiences and associated emotions and sensory knowing are integral to it.…”

Section: Towards Generative Simplexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplexity: Sensemaking, organizing and storytelling for our time

2012

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Simplexity is advanced as an umbrella term reflecting sensemaking, organizing and storytelling for our time. People in and out of organizations increasingly find themselves facing novel circumstances that are suffused with dynamic complexity. To make sense through processes of organizing, and to find a plausible answer to the question 'what is the story?', requires a fusion of sufficient complexity of thought with simplicity of action, which we call simplexity. This captures the notion that while sensemaking is a balance between thinking and acting, in a new world that owes less to yesterday's stories and frames, keeping up with the times changes the balance point to clarifying through action. This allows us to see sense (making) more clearly. Keywords change, organizing, sensemaking, simplexity, storytelling, WeickThere is currently a great deal of retrospective sensemaking regarding recent unprecedented events of rioting and looting in London and other English cities. Unprecedented events challenge organizing and sensemaking in as much as they instigate a search for

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“…Actors may also rely on dominant stories within their field to make sense of events in ways conducive to inertia (Näslund and Pemer, 2012). Moreover, sensemaking processes often relate to modes of self-legitimation, in which the actor tends to interpret successful events in ways which overstate her/his individual contribution, while the individual's role is downplayed in unsuccessful events (Maclean et al, 2012).…”

Section: Sense-making and The Construction Of Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

ISO auditing and the construction of trust in auditor independence

Dogui

Boiral

Gendron

2013

Accounting, Auditing &Amp; Accountability Journal

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Purpose -This paper aims to examine, through a qualitative study, how auditor independence is socially constructed within the network of individuals involved in the realization of ISO 14001 audit engagements -ISO auditors, consultants, and managers of certified companies. The paper analysis focuses on the sense-making strategies used by actors within the network to develop and sustain trust (or doubt) in professional independence.Design/methodology/approach -This study is predicated on a theoretical perspective centered on sense-making processes and the construction of inter-subjective meanings around claims to expertise. Interviews were conducted with 36 Canadian practitioners -including ISO auditors, managers of certification bodies, accreditation inspectors, consultants, and corporate environmental managers -to better understand how confidence into auditor independence is constituted in the flow of daily life within the small group of people involved in the surroundings of ISO 14001 audit engagements.Findings -Practitioners use a range of sense-making strategies to construct and maintain the belief that IS0 14001 audits meet the professional requirements of auditor independence. As such, the constitution of confidence involves stereotyping, distancing, storytelling and procedural mechanisms that are collectively mobilized in the production of a culture of comfort surrounding the concept of auditor independence.Originality/value -Through interviews with a range of actors involved in the achievement of ISO 14001 audits, the study provides insight into the production of meaning related to one of the chief claims surrounding auditing expertise, that of professional independence. This paper also points to a lack of self-criticism in the ISO auditing community since practitioners seem disinclined to adopt a reflective attitude of professional skepticism towards the claim of auditor independence.

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The appropriated language: Dominant stories as a source of organizational inertia

Cited by 68 publications

References 53 publications

Age-Related Structural Inertia: A Distance-Based Approach

Age-Related Structural Inertia: A Distance-Based Approach

Simplexity: Sensemaking, organizing and storytelling for our time

ISO auditing and the construction of trust in auditor independence

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