Cynthia A. Lengnick-Hall

Pre-implementation attitudes and organizational readiness for implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning system

Abstract Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is expensive and time consuming. A substantial cost is associated with pre-implementation involvement and training designed to encourage acceptance and effective implementation of the system. The results of this study indicate that, contrary to conventional wisdom, extensive organizational investments in shaping pre-implementation attitudes do not always achieve the desired effects. Despite extensive time, money and effort, length of time with the firm and position had a greater impact on attitudes toward ERP capabilities, value, acceptance and timing than high levels of pre-implementation involvement.

Adaptive Fit Versus Robust Transformation: How Organizations Respond to Environmental Change

Previous research has examined a variety of ways by which firms adapt to environmental change and surprise. Most recommendations emphasize ways to achieve an adaptive fit between a firm and its environment. The authors propose that an alternate response to the uncertainty caused by a dynamic environment—robust transformation —should be examined as well. Organizational routines for dealing with complexity are seen as shaping the institutional response to environmental uncertainty.Resilience capacity is introduced as an internal factor that influences the repertoire of available routines and helps a firm decide whether routines directed toward adaptive fit or robust transformation are more appropriate to implement.

Examining the Impact of Pre‐Implementation Expectations on Post‐Implementation Use of Enterprise Systems: A Longitudinal Study

This article builds upon the technology acceptance model and theories of technology sensemaking to explore pre-enterprise system adoption expectations and post-enterprise system adoption outcomes in a longitudinal setting. Building on the exploitation and exploration paradigm, we propose that task productivity and task innovation expectations are the key drivers of users’ pre-adoption enterprise system usage intention. Further, we argue that the enterprise system facilitates generation of a common knowledge base that may encourage a more integrated organizational culture and promote shared understanding among employees. Considering the distinction between mandatory and voluntary contexts, we propose that user acceptance of the enterprise system at the pre- and post-adoption stages will mediate these relationships in a mandatory context. The results show that the influence of pre-adoption expectations regarding task productivity and task innovation on intention to use an enterprise system is mediated by user acceptance of the enterprise system. Intention to use an enterprise system is positively related to actual use. At the post-adoption stage, the influence of actual use on shared understanding is mediated by user acceptance of an enterprise system and enterprise system use has a direct negative impact on task efficiency in the initial period after implementation. Overall, the results highlight that user acceptance at both pre- and post-adoption stages are critical factors when usage is mandatory. These findings suggest a number of important implications for research and for managerial action.

The Pandora's box of social integration mechanisms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to perform empirical tests to explore the influence of social integration mechanisms on organizations’ absorptive capacities theorized by Zahra and George.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a cross‐sectional design to test the relationships between potential absorptive capacity, three social integration mechanisms (cross‐functional teams, participation in decision making, and self‐managing teams), and realized absorptive capacity, in a sample of 92 organizations that bid competitively to provide products and services to a US university.Findings – An organizations use of cross‐functional teams is negatively related to its realized absorptive capacity and negatively moderates the relationship between potential and realized absorptive capacity. Self‐managing teams negatively moderate the relationship between an organizations potential absorptive capacity and its realized absorptive capacity.Research limitations/implications – The cross‐sectional design allo...

Institutionalized Organizational Learning and Strategic Renewal: The Benefits and Liabilities of Prevailing Wisdom

Strategic renewal depends on achieving an appropriate balance between using what an organization has learned and continuing to gain new insights and solutions. The process of institutionalizing organizational learning is at the center of this tension since it occurs at the pivot point of exploitation and exploration. We apply a dynamic perspective of Perrow’s typology of work technologies to explore the relation between the number of exceptions and analyzability of the problems likely to be encountered in various work settings and institutionalized learning. We propose that the nature of what is learned and actions leading to institutionalization differ across work contexts because of the varying complexity of problems and solutions. We explore the interactions surrounding institutionalized learning, exploration, and exploitation and argue that strategic renewal is strongly influenced by the way institutionalized learning effects the dynamic tension between exploration and exploitation.

The causal ambiguity paradox: Deliberate actions under causal ambiguity

Causal ambiguity describes a lack of understanding of cause-and-effect interactions between resources and competitive advantage. As a central construct in strategic management, causal ambiguity constrains a firm’s ability to replicate valuable capabilities internally, yet, simultaneously, offers a means of protecting those capabilities from imitation by external agents. This analysis shifts the paradigm from looking at casual ambiguity as a given characteristic within organizations and examines the causal ambiguity paradox by looking at how organizations can strategically act on causal ambiguity as a mechanism for extending advantages. Specifically, we suggest actions that deliberately manage causal ambiguity can be a strategic capability and extend competitive advantages.

Strategic Orientations, Knowledge Stock, and Ambidexterity: A Study of Firm-Wide Behavior and Consequences—An Abstract

Extant research (e.g., Atuahene-Gima 2005; Cohen and Levinthal 1990; March 1991) explicitly recognizes the inherent tensions involved in searching for new ways of doing things (exploration) while currently leveraging and building upon what has already been learned (exploitation). Organizational ambidexterity is a popular approach to balancing explorative and exploitative activities in organizations, and has been recommended as an effective means to sustain organizational performance (e.g., Gibson and Birkinshaw 2004; March 1991). In this chapter, we suggest that an organization’s strategic orientation is important in shaping ambidexterity and address two research questions: (1) How do different strategic orientations facilitate or hinder ambidexterity and subsequent firm performance? (2) How does an organization’s knowledge stock influence these relationships?

When knowledge crosses levels: Integrating knowledge and predicting resistance

Knowledge management is critical for value creation, yet debate persists about whether new value is created primarily by individuals or organizations. Any single level approach limits our ability to explain how knowledge is integrated from individuals to units, and when to expect that employees may resist knowledge integration. We propose a multilevel theory of knowledge management by adopting a knowledge-in-practice perspective, where work is examined through the practices it involves. The integration process depends on the type of knowledge practices being integrated. Knowledge that is easy to learn is most often integrated using a composition process - meaning individuals each contribute knowledge that is consistent and similar, whereas knowledge that is difficult to learn is commonly integrated using a compilation process - meaning each individual contributes dissimilar knowledge using different means. Composition and compilation integration processes then respectively constrain and amplify individual...

Tacit Knowledge, Psychology of

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by A.S. Reber, volume 23, pp. 15431–15435,