Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation

Autores
Caldart, Adrian; Vassolo, Roberto Santiago; Silvestri, Luciana Carla
Año de publicación
2014
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revise Burgelman’s idea (1991, 1994) that induced strategic processes is necessarily variation-reducing. In doing so, the authors explore whether major change in a firm’s administrative system can be managed in an evolutionary fashion via induced variation-increasing mechanisms. In particular, the authors focus on a multi-business multinational firm in which different administrative systems were experimented simultaneously as a way to determine which of these systems provided the most conducive context for innovation and capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted an inductive perspective and developed a single case research project aimed at documenting the process of experimentation and subsequent selection and adoption of a new administrative system by a large multi-business multinational firm. Findings: The paper’s main contribution is the concept of “induced variation”, understood as intra-organizational variation-increasing mechanisms deliberately created at the top level of the organization to trigger an intra-organizational evolutionary process of management innovation. This finding extends and modifies Burgelman’s discussion of induced and autonomous strategic behavior by showing that induced processes need not necessarily be variation-reducing, but may actually be variation-increasing. Additionally, the authors explain how an evolutionary process aimed at learning about the relative merits of alternative administrative systems through in vivo “reflection in action” (Schön, 1983) unfolds in a complex global organization. Research limitations/implications: While the work provides several insights on the development of an evolutionary process leading to management innovation, its inductive nature limits its external validity and requires the development of further work for such purpose. Practical implications: The authors explore the roles of regional organizations in creating new corporate capabilities for the MNC. Social implications: – The authors show how management capabilities developed in the Latin American context were rolled out to other locations. Originality/value: The authors' findings confirm that major drastic reorganization initiatives can actually be approached using an evolutionary approach.
Fil: Caldart, Adrian. Associação de Estudos Superiores de Empresa. Escola de Direcção e Negócios; Portugal
Fil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Silvestri, Luciana Carla. Harvard University; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Materia
Organizational Evolution
Administrative Systems
Experimentation
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/34299

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spelling Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovationCaldart, AdrianVassolo, Roberto SantiagoSilvestri, Luciana CarlaOrganizational EvolutionAdministrative SystemsExperimentationhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revise Burgelman’s idea (1991, 1994) that induced strategic processes is necessarily variation-reducing. In doing so, the authors explore whether major change in a firm’s administrative system can be managed in an evolutionary fashion via induced variation-increasing mechanisms. In particular, the authors focus on a multi-business multinational firm in which different administrative systems were experimented simultaneously as a way to determine which of these systems provided the most conducive context for innovation and capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted an inductive perspective and developed a single case research project aimed at documenting the process of experimentation and subsequent selection and adoption of a new administrative system by a large multi-business multinational firm. Findings: The paper’s main contribution is the concept of “induced variation”, understood as intra-organizational variation-increasing mechanisms deliberately created at the top level of the organization to trigger an intra-organizational evolutionary process of management innovation. This finding extends and modifies Burgelman’s discussion of induced and autonomous strategic behavior by showing that induced processes need not necessarily be variation-reducing, but may actually be variation-increasing. Additionally, the authors explain how an evolutionary process aimed at learning about the relative merits of alternative administrative systems through in vivo “reflection in action” (Schön, 1983) unfolds in a complex global organization. Research limitations/implications: While the work provides several insights on the development of an evolutionary process leading to management innovation, its inductive nature limits its external validity and requires the development of further work for such purpose. Practical implications: The authors explore the roles of regional organizations in creating new corporate capabilities for the MNC. Social implications: – The authors show how management capabilities developed in the Latin American context were rolled out to other locations. Originality/value: The authors' findings confirm that major drastic reorganization initiatives can actually be approached using an evolutionary approach.Fil: Caldart, Adrian. Associação de Estudos Superiores de Empresa. Escola de Direcção e Negócios; PortugalFil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Silvestri, Luciana Carla. Harvard University; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaEmerald2014-02info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/34299Caldart, Adrian; Vassolo, Roberto Santiago; Silvestri, Luciana Carla; Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation; Emerald; Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management; 12; 2; 2-2014; 123-1511536-5433CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MRJIAM-07-2012-0488info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1108/MRJIAM-07-2012-0488info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T09:38:46Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/34299instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 09:38:46.385CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
title Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
spellingShingle Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
Caldart, Adrian
Organizational Evolution
Administrative Systems
Experimentation
title_short Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
title_full Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
title_fullStr Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
title_full_unstemmed Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
title_sort Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Caldart, Adrian
Vassolo, Roberto Santiago
Silvestri, Luciana Carla
author Caldart, Adrian
author_facet Caldart, Adrian
Vassolo, Roberto Santiago
Silvestri, Luciana Carla
author_role author
author2 Vassolo, Roberto Santiago
Silvestri, Luciana Carla
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Organizational Evolution
Administrative Systems
Experimentation
topic Organizational Evolution
Administrative Systems
Experimentation
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revise Burgelman’s idea (1991, 1994) that induced strategic processes is necessarily variation-reducing. In doing so, the authors explore whether major change in a firm’s administrative system can be managed in an evolutionary fashion via induced variation-increasing mechanisms. In particular, the authors focus on a multi-business multinational firm in which different administrative systems were experimented simultaneously as a way to determine which of these systems provided the most conducive context for innovation and capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted an inductive perspective and developed a single case research project aimed at documenting the process of experimentation and subsequent selection and adoption of a new administrative system by a large multi-business multinational firm. Findings: The paper’s main contribution is the concept of “induced variation”, understood as intra-organizational variation-increasing mechanisms deliberately created at the top level of the organization to trigger an intra-organizational evolutionary process of management innovation. This finding extends and modifies Burgelman’s discussion of induced and autonomous strategic behavior by showing that induced processes need not necessarily be variation-reducing, but may actually be variation-increasing. Additionally, the authors explain how an evolutionary process aimed at learning about the relative merits of alternative administrative systems through in vivo “reflection in action” (Schön, 1983) unfolds in a complex global organization. Research limitations/implications: While the work provides several insights on the development of an evolutionary process leading to management innovation, its inductive nature limits its external validity and requires the development of further work for such purpose. Practical implications: The authors explore the roles of regional organizations in creating new corporate capabilities for the MNC. Social implications: – The authors show how management capabilities developed in the Latin American context were rolled out to other locations. Originality/value: The authors' findings confirm that major drastic reorganization initiatives can actually be approached using an evolutionary approach.
Fil: Caldart, Adrian. Associação de Estudos Superiores de Empresa. Escola de Direcção e Negócios; Portugal
Fil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Silvestri, Luciana Carla. Harvard University; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
description Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revise Burgelman’s idea (1991, 1994) that induced strategic processes is necessarily variation-reducing. In doing so, the authors explore whether major change in a firm’s administrative system can be managed in an evolutionary fashion via induced variation-increasing mechanisms. In particular, the authors focus on a multi-business multinational firm in which different administrative systems were experimented simultaneously as a way to determine which of these systems provided the most conducive context for innovation and capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted an inductive perspective and developed a single case research project aimed at documenting the process of experimentation and subsequent selection and adoption of a new administrative system by a large multi-business multinational firm. Findings: The paper’s main contribution is the concept of “induced variation”, understood as intra-organizational variation-increasing mechanisms deliberately created at the top level of the organization to trigger an intra-organizational evolutionary process of management innovation. This finding extends and modifies Burgelman’s discussion of induced and autonomous strategic behavior by showing that induced processes need not necessarily be variation-reducing, but may actually be variation-increasing. Additionally, the authors explain how an evolutionary process aimed at learning about the relative merits of alternative administrative systems through in vivo “reflection in action” (Schön, 1983) unfolds in a complex global organization. Research limitations/implications: While the work provides several insights on the development of an evolutionary process leading to management innovation, its inductive nature limits its external validity and requires the development of further work for such purpose. Practical implications: The authors explore the roles of regional organizations in creating new corporate capabilities for the MNC. Social implications: – The authors show how management capabilities developed in the Latin American context were rolled out to other locations. Originality/value: The authors' findings confirm that major drastic reorganization initiatives can actually be approached using an evolutionary approach.
publishDate 2014
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2014-02
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/34299
Caldart, Adrian; Vassolo, Roberto Santiago; Silvestri, Luciana Carla; Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation; Emerald; Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management; 12; 2; 2-2014; 123-151
1536-5433
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/34299
identifier_str_mv Caldart, Adrian; Vassolo, Roberto Santiago; Silvestri, Luciana Carla; Induced variation in administrative systems: Experimenting with contexts for innovation; Emerald; Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management; 12; 2; 2-2014; 123-151
1536-5433
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1108/MRJIAM-07-2012-0488
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
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application/pdf
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