Fabiola Bertolotti

A Grounded Theory for Resistance to Change in a Small Organization

This paper focuses on the process that generates resistance to change in a small organization. We build a grounded theory that interprets resistance to change in terms of interdependencies between the characteristics of the economic environment and of the industry, the dispositions of individuals, and the patterning of their actions within the social network. These three levels of analysis are mainly investigated separately from one another in empirical studies. An Italian small manufacturing firm was the object of our field study. Observations, ethnographic interviews and analysis of documents were the techniques employed.

Discovering complex interdependencies in organizational settings

Purpose – The papers aim is twofold: to display how the application of social network analysis techniques to observational data provides researchers with a unique set of data to make sense of the dynamics of organizational settings; to contribute to knowledge on group design, self‐managing teams, and processes of technology diffusion.Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the findings of qualitative research, recently published, that were conducted in a major Italian clothing company producing garments for the top‐end market. Observation, ethnographic interviews and analysis of documents for data collection were employed. Coding procedures and social network analysis techniques were used to analyse data.Findings – The long presence in the field allowed for the building of two grounded theories. One deals with the process of Computer Aided Design technology diffusion into a small group and it connects a number of variables usually studied separately in the literature. The second accounts for t...

Spontaneous Self-Managing Practices in Groups: Evidence from the Field

This study, based on qualitative research, accounts for a process of collective and spontaneous self-managing practices in a group formally structured as a manager-led team. It explains the group members’ reactions to different types of work arrangements and their coordination in terms of their need to affirm their professional identity. The characteristics of the organizational context, of the labor market, and of the technology involved favor the emergence of self-management, too. The authors employed observation, ethnographic interviews, and analysis of documents in conducting this research.

The Use of Ethnography and Grounded Theory in the Development of a Management Information System

This work presents new evidence on how ethnography and the grounded theory approach can be integrated within a participatory information system development process. We conducted an ethnography in a hospital unit, collecting data from observations, interviews, and documents. The discussion about emergent themes with the actors in their natural context and the development of a grounded model allowed us to identify widespread discomfort felt by personnel and to code it as process conflict, that is a particular type of conflict caused by inefficiencies in the organization of work activities. The grounded model was the starting point for conducting a series of focus groups during which the organizational actors were allowed to face process conflict while defining the requirements of a new management information system. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for IS researchers and practitioners.

The Dynamics of Inter-organizational Hybrid Partnerships in Technology Transfer

Drawing on the literature on inter-organizational and hybrid partnerships, we put forth a process-based perspective on the evolution of regional innovation systems (RIS), with particular attention to the changing role of TTOs throughout the RIS lifecycle. We theorize on how perceptions of environmental turbulence (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, in short VUCA) may influence partners’ decisions to adopt a given organization model for the broker/TTO that manages the partnership. We show that perceptions of environmental turbulence may lead to a set of possible decision pathologies at the partnership level that interfere with the organizational structure of the TTO. We suggest that perceptions of turbulence and decision pathologies play an important part in explaining RIS may deviate from the intended direction or produce outcomes that are unexpected.

Top management team international experience and strategic decision-making

This study aims to explore the influence of top management team international experience on international strategic decision-making rationality and, subsequently, its effect on decision effectiveness (decision performance).,This analysis is based on survey data of small- and medium-sized international Pakistani firms operating in the IT industry.,Results show that top management team international experience is positively related to international strategic decision-making rationality, and the latter partially mediates the international experience – decision effectiveness relationship.,The study is based on data collected from a single industry and focuses on an international decision that occurred within a time-frame of previous four years.,Findings suggest that international firms, when composing their top management teams, should favor the inclusion of internationally experienced managers.,The study of the influence of international experience on the decision-making process in general and decision-making rationality in particular has been largely neglected in extant literature. This paper highlights one way through which the international experience of the top management team as a whole relates to the effectiveness of international decisions. The paper also advances emergent managerial cognition literature focusing on the top management team and not individual decision makers.

Making matters worse by trying to make them better? Exploring vicious circles of decision in hybrid partnerships

Our research is concerned with how and why vicious circles of decision occur in hybrid partnerships. The literature reports three types of decision dysfunctions that can alter the trajectory of multi-stakeholder collaborations: escalation of commitment, procrastination and indecision. While previous studies focused on one dysfunction at a time, we inquire about cases in which dysfunctions coexist and interact in the same partnership. Employing multiple sources of qualitative data, we conducted a longitudinal field study in a cross-sector partnership that co-created and managed a science park. We offer an in-depth account of ‘vicious circles of decision’ in which partners’ attempts to solve a dysfunction paradoxically led to the accumulation of additional dysfunctions. We explain that the process is more likely to happen when solutions are (1) conditioned by the very risk–opportunity tensions they try to solve and (2) inscribed in material artefacts for greater visibility. As well as augmenting the literature on hybrid partnerships, we contribute to the debate in organization studies about the evolution of collaborations within frames of concurrent risk–opportunity tensions and theorize about the role of materiality in such processes.

Brokers or platforms? A longitudinal study of how hybrid interorganizational partnerships for regional innovation deal with VUCA environments

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role played by turbulent environments in the evolution of hybrid (i.e. multi-party, cross-sector) partnerships for regional innovation. Although extant research suggests that organizations decide to participate in such partnerships to cope with their turbulent environments, little is known about how actual perceptions of turbulent environments influence the setup and evolution of a partnership.,The qualitative study adopts a longitudinal design to investigate the evolution of a cross-sector regional innovation partnership between ten very different organizations. With the help of the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) model proposed by Bennett and Lemoine (2014a), the authors study the relation between partners’ initial perceptions of environmental turbulence and the models adopted for the partnership throughout its lifecycle (emergent, brokering and platform).,The authors show that partners’ intentions to solve perceived environmental turbulence through collaboration can have the unexpected consequence of triggering perceived turbulence inside the collaboration itself. Specifically, the authors show that perceived partnership VUCA at each stage is a result of partners’ attempts to cope with the perceived VUCA in the previous stage.,The study highlights a set of common traps that both public and private organizations engaged in hybrid partnerships might fall into precisely as they try to lower VUCA threats in their environments.,The work accounts for the relationship between external and internal perceptions of VUCA in hybrid partnerships for regional innovation, and, in particular, provides a better understanding of what happens when organizations choose to enter hybrid partnerships in order to deal with perceived threats in their environments.

On the Impact of Multiple Team Membership on a System of Teams’ Performance

In this study, we investigate the complex and conjoint effects of Multiple Team Membership and other related system design characteristics on the performance of a system composed of teams. This is ...

Social Networks and Group Effectiveness: The Role of External Network Ties

This research explores the relationship between group effectiveness and social networks. Through a 5-month ethnographic observation within three work groups employed in one of the major Italian fashion firm, we recorded all interactions occurring within the groups and outside the groups’ boundaries, thereby deriving the enacted communication network. Then, by means of structured interviews, we collected evaluations of group effectiveness. The evaluations given to the three groups differ and such difference cannot be traced back to the amount of communication network activated nor to the level of group members’ competencies, nor to their internal network structure. The field evidence suggests that the better evaluation received by one group relates to the quality of the relationships it sets up with external actors. This group assumes a coordinating role in the whole product development process: in particular, it spontaneously triggers, through reciprocal interactions, modalities of collaborative design, not formally required, which are rewarded by organizational members’ higher evaluations. The study has implications for social networks research by pointing to the importance to grasp the actual content of network relationships, thus going beyond the assessment of their presence and/or strength, in order to fully comprehend how network ties really influence organizational members’ perceptions and actions.