Achim Oberg

Hierarchical structures of communication in a network organization

The concept of the network organization is presented in the popular management literature as a counter-model to the bureaucratic organization, and one that would increase the flexibility or adaptive capacity of organizations. In order to increase flexibility and adaptability, emphasis is placed in the network organization on the rapid and broad diffusion of information (Probst/Raub/Romhardt 2006). Free communication flows and shared access to information and knowledge are regarded as essential (Cairncross 2001). Thus, contrary to classic theories of organization (March/Simon 1958; Simon 1945; Weber 1968), information should be available to all members of the organization, irrespective of specialization and/or hierarchical position (Koehler/Dupper/Scaff/Reitberger/ Paxson 1998; Levine/Locke/Searls/Weinberger 1999). The network organization is conceived as a group of linked experts (Sproull/Kiesler 1991). These experts however, are not to be understood as pure specialists. On the contrary, it is argued that there should be an overlap in their respective areas of expertise, in order to promote mutual understanding and a recognition of the need for information and knowledge in order to carry out activities efficiently (Mendelson/Ziegler 1999).

The Unbearable Lightness of University Branding

Abstract This study investigates how universities brand themselves and in what ways visual self-representation varies cross-nationally. We trace differences in the icons (emblems and logos) used in the Internet self-representation of 821 universities and higher education institutions in 20 countries in 5 continents. Emerging from content analyses of the icons were three main visual types (guilded, national, and organizational), arranged in five subtypes (classic, science/technology, local, abstract, and just-text). Generally, the visual expression of abstract or text-based organizational type is the least visually loaded, such lightness matching modern principles of corporate branding; the other types are rich in references to the national or guilded professional field of universities. We find that while the abstract organizational type of visual expression has become dominant in Western countries, including France, Germany, and the United States, heterogeneity prevails in other nations such as Australia, Italy, or South Africa. We develop possible explanations of the observed distribution of types across countries and discuss the implication of our findings for world society institutionalism and the institutional logics approach.

Software Usability in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany: An Empirical Study

Usability has become a competitive factor in the software industry. Specifically, the software industry in the United States has recognized this important factor and successfully leverages it for achieving competitive advantage. Compared to this fast development in the US, it seems questionable whether this view is also widespread among small and medium sized software producing and client companies in Germany and whether they direct sufficient attention to usability. This article presents the results of an empirical study exploring the status quo of the importance, the knowledge and the actual use of usability concepts among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany. Following an organizational field perspective, we investigate how interactions between actors in the software field influence the usability awareness as well as the knowledge and actual use of usability concepts. Based on the results of our study, we provide recommendations on how to increase awareness and maturity of software usability in SMEs in Germany.

Institutional analysis in a digital era: mechanisms and methods to understand emerging fields: Topics and Issues from European Research

Walter Powell, Achim Oberg, Valeska Korff, Carrie Oelberger and Karina Kloos deal with the processes and mechanisms of organizational change and field transformation. On the one hand, this is a classical topic of neo-institutional theory and research, and the authors make use of an impressive array of knowledge from previous studies here. On the other hand, and based on that ‘intellectual history’ as the authors call it, they conduct a highly innovative study by focusing on new organizational forms and field transformation in the nonprofit sector. To underline innovativeness, the authors have developed a web crawler in order to determine change by analyzing organizations’ websites and their references to other organizations through hyperlinks. By doing so, they identify the diversity and dynamics of organizational fields whose boundaries are becoming increasingly porous.

Zur Nutzung von Controlling-Instrumenten in Netzwerken

Ausgangspunkt des vorliegenden Beitrags bildet die Befragung von 187 Netzwerken nach ihrem Einsatz von Controlling-Instrumente n. Innerhalb der Unternehmenspraxis haben Controlling-Instrumente eine wichtige Rolle eingenommen. Organisationen, die in einem Netzwerk zusammenarbeiten, entwickeln Mechanismen, um die in der Kooperation vereinbarten Ziele fur die Umsetzung greifbar zu machen und gemeinsam zu erreichen. Beispielsweise arbeiten Unternehmen mit dem Ziel zusammen, gemeinsam Waren zu produzieren (Sydow und Mollering 2009), gemeinsam Forschung und Entwicklung zu betreiben (z. B. Doz et al. 2000) oder gemeinsam Dienstleistungen fur Kunden zu erstellen und zur Verfugung zu stellen (Bruhn und Stauss 2003). Die verwendeten Mechanismen gehen uber die blose Verwendung sozialer Mechanismen (Jones et al. 1997; Araujo und Brito 1997) hinaus. Es werden auch formale Mechanismen eingesetzt. Formale Mechanismen sind solche, die mit dem Ziel einer Organisation (Kieser und Walgenbach 2007) – hier mit dem des Netzwerks (Provan et al. 2007) – verbunden sind.

Where History, Visuality, and Identity Meet: Institutional Paths to Visual Diversity Among Organizations

Abstract Seeking an answer to the question “how does organizational identity change?” we analyze the visual identity marker of universities, namely logos, as time-related artifacts embodying visual scripts. Engaging with the Stinchcombe hypothesis, we identify five processes to the creation of visual identities of organizations: In addition to (1) imprinting (enactment of the contemporary script) and (2) imprinting-cum-inertia (persistent enactment of epochal scripts), we also identify (3) renewal (enactment of an up-to-date epochal script), (4) historization (enactment of a recovered older epochal script), and (5) multiplicity (simultaneous enactment of multiple epochal scripts). We argue that these processes work together to produce contemporary heterogeneity of visualized identity narratives of universities. We illustrate this, first, with a survey of the current-day logos of 814 university emblems in 20 countries from across the world. Second, drawing on archival and interview materials, we analyze the histories of exemplar university logos to illustrate the various time-related processes. Therefore, by interjecting history – as both time and process – into the analysis of the visualization of organizational identity, we both join with the phenomenological and semiotic analysis of visual material as well as demonstrate that history is not merely a fixed factor echoing imprinting and inertia but rather also includes several forms of engagement with temporality that are less deterministic. Overall, we argue that enactment engages with perceptions of time (imaginations of the past, present, and future) and with perceptions fixed by time (epochal imprinting and inertia) to produce heterogeneity in the visualization of organizational identity.

Koordinationsmechanismen und Innovativität von Netzwerken: eine empirische Analyse

ZusammenfassungIn der Literatur zu Netzwerken wird der Zusammenhang zwischen der Koordination von Organisationen und Ergebnissen auf Netzwerkebene diskutiert. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird gefragt: Welchen Zusammenhang gibt es zwischen der Art der Koordination und dem Innovationserfolg — der Innovativität — von koordinierten Unternehmensnetzwerken? Mit einer hierfür geeigneten Methode — der Qualitative Comparative Analysis — soll herausgefunden werden, welche Kombination verschiedener Koordinationsinstrumente mit hoher Innovativität zusammenhängt. Über einen mehrstufigen Befragungsprozess wurden koordinierte Netzwerke in Deutschland identifiziert und 187 von ihnen untersucht. Es zeigt sich, dass Prozess-Standardisierung eine notwendige Bedingung für hohe Innovativität ist. Das Ergebnis wird diskutiert hinsichtlich der Bedeutung von Prozess-Standardisierung als Mittel der Wissensübertragung, als Governance-Mechanismus und als Indikator für das in Regeln gespeicherte Wissen von Netzwerken.AbstractIn this paper we explore the relationship between different coordination mechanisms of interorganizational networks and their innovativeness at the network level of analysis. We analyze whether innovativeness is systematically related to particular combinations of three different coordination processes. Via a multi-stage process, we identified and collected data of 187 coordinated interorganizational networks in Germany. We analyzed these networks by means of an appropriate tool — Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) — to identify which combinations of coordination mechanisms are systematically related to high innovativeness. The results show that process standardization is a necessary condition to innovativeness at the network level. We discuss the meaning of process-standardization with regard to its effects on knowledge-transfer, network governance and interorganizational routines.

Koordinationsmechanismen und Innovativität von Netzwerken

In der Literatur wird die Bedeutung von Netzwerken fur die Innovationsleistung von Unternehmen immer wieder betont. Sowohl konzeptionelle (Dhanaraj und Parkhe 2006) als auch empirische Studien (Dyer und Nobeoka 2000; Janowicz-Panjaitan und Noorderhaven 2008) liefern hierfur Thesen bzw. Belege. Jedoch bleiben diese Studien hinsichtlich der Frage, welche der eingesetzten Koordinationsmechanismen Einfluss auf den Innovationserfolg haben, widerspruchlich. Sowohl Selbstabstimmung (Doz et al. 2000), Zentralisierung (Dhanaraj und Parkhe 2006; Lorenzoni und Lipparini 1999) als auch formalen Prozessen wie Standardisierung (z. B. Dyer und Nobeoka 2000) wird ein Einfluss auf den Innovationserfolg zugesprochen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird deshalb gefragt: Welchen Zusammenhang gibt es zwischen der Art der Koordination und dem Innovationserfolg – der Innovativitat – von organisierten Unternehmensnetzwerken? Mit einer hierfur geeigneten Methode – der Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Ragin 1989; Fiss 2007) – soll herausgefunden werden, ob hohe Innovativitat mit einer bestimmten Kombination verschiedener Koordinationsinstrumente zusammenhangt.

Forest and trees, institutional dynamics and artifacts: on visual organizational indicators of global and historical cultural patterns: Topics and Issues from European Research

Gili Drori, Achim Oberg, and Giuseppe Delmestri set out to identify historical trends in field-level processes of global world culture in individual organizational artifacts – university emblems. Their innovative methodology allows them to reconstruct and understand broad cultural trends and long historical changes in higher education through small, organizational-level visual icons. In addition, by tracing distributions and developments, they are able to identify period-specific cultural models and locate the individual universities within them. With their longitudinal study they add to the core concerns of institutional theory: the theory of fields, organizational roles and identities, world society theory, and to the visual and material turn in institutional analysis. In particular, they embed ‘strategic’ decisions by individual organizations in cultural and global dynamics of the organizational field, thereby institutionally ‘grounding’ their agency.

Governing the Crossroads: Interstitial Communities and the Fate of Nonprofit Evaluation

Different strategies exist to exert influence in the context of networked social structures: brokers regulate flows of information; social movements create frames for mobilization; and high-tech clusters form linkages to advance innovation. This paper introduces interstitial communities as a fourth form of networked governance that brings together a composite of such strategies. As collectives of organizations that have access to multiple cultural repertoires, are internally integrated, and have an external reach into adjoining domains, interstitial communities can exert substantial influence over discourses and relational structures. A web-based empirical analysis of the debate on social impact evaluation illustrates how organizations at the interstice between science, management, and civil society reassemble cultural content and facilitate flows of ideas across domain boundaries.