The (N)Ever-Changing World: Stability and Change in Organizational Routines

Abstract

This paper uses data on invoice processing in four organizations to distinguish empirically between two competing theories of organizational routines. One theory predicts that routines should generate patterns of action that are few in number and stable over time, and that atypical patterns of action are driven primarily by exceptional inputs. The competing theory predicts the opposite. By modeling the routines as networks of action and using a first-order Markov model to test for stationarity, we find support for the competing theory. The routines generated hundreds of unique patterns that changed significantly during a five-month period without any apparent external intervention. Changes did not appear to reflect improved performance or learning. Furthermore, we found that exogenous factors (such as large invoices from unusual vendors) are not associated with atypical patterns of action, but endogenous factors (such as the experience of the participants) are. We also found that increased automation can increase variation under some circumstances. These findings offer empirical support for endogenous change in organizational routines and underscore the importance of the sociomaterial context in understanding stability and change.

Exploring an Innovation Project as a Source of Change in Organization Design

“…To the extent that the identified dynamic change of behaviors are equivalent or similar to organizational routines, we argue that our findings are in line with Feldman (2000), Pentland and Feldman (2005) and Pentland, Haerem and Hillison's (2011) research on the dynamic nature of organizational routines, since the influenced behaviors are not only verified and changed through nuanced actions; they are also developed to induce future changes via proactive exploration and search for new insight. Here research on organization design and its necessary fit with organization routines cf.…”

The Sociomaterialty of Information Systems: Current Status, Future Directions

“…A good example of such research is found in Pentland et al (2011) in their use of data on invoice processing in four different organizations with a view to examining organizational routines. Their finding that there were many unique patterns generated by these routines, rather than just a few stable patterns, is illustrative of the emergence of which we have spoken, and of the more nuanced accounts that we seek.…”

Alliance strategy: context, process, and requirements

“…Researchers would thus 'complicate' their research approach. An example would be analytics research that 'mines' business processes ( Van der Aalst, 2012;Pentland et al, 2011), but can also be used for revealing patterns in qualitative data (Schreier, 2015). The resulting two types of stories can be related relying on a dialectical or sequential (Lee, 1991) approach.…”