M@n@gement

From Individual to Collective Qualities of Attention in Dynamic Work Settings: Learning Barriers to the Development of Collective Mindful Attention

Evelyne Rouby — 2023-06-01

In dynamic work settings, developing a collective mindful attention is crucial but challenging. It can be achieved through learning. However, the relationships between mindful attention and learning are complex and recursive. Mindful attention is both the prerequisite and the outcome of learning. Based on a single case study of a cement plant, we build an inductive model that clarifies these relationships and highlights three learning barriers. Our paper makes two contributions to theory. First, we extend the knowledge on the complex relationships between mindful attention and learning by identifying two different learning circles. Second, by providing a better understanding of the learning barriers, we stress the pivotal role of superstitious learning in preventing the development of mindful and collective attention.

Recasting Organizational Hybridity: A New Approach to the Incompatibility of Institutional Logics Through the Higher Common Principle

Amélie Gabriagues — 2023-06-01

In neo-institutional theory, the concept of organizational hybridity is characterized by the combination of institutional logics that ‘would not conventionally go together,’ as they are deemed incompatible. However, our study shows that this criterion of incompatibility between logics is not theoretically robust enough to discriminate situations of organizational hybridity, as it struggles to differentiate incompatible logics from simply different logics. In response, this article proposes a new approach to incompatibility between institutional logics by mobilizing the concept of a higher common principle derived from the economies of worth. Through the rereading of five empirical articles mobilizing the concept of hybridity, we demonstrate how the higher common principle provides a more restrictive way of operationalizing incompatibility between logics to qualify organizational hybrids more rigorously. This study ultimately leads us to recast the concept of organizational hybridity as the combination of mutually exclusive institutional logics based on strictly distinct higher common principles.

CSR in Very Small Entities and Small Enterprises in the African Context: Overview and Modeling

Jean Biwolé Fouda — 2023-06-01

In line with the criticisms put forward in postcolonial and decolonial approaches, the literature on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Africa is marked by the absence of a CSR model that truly reflects the deployment of very small entities and small enterprises (VSESEs) on the continent. The purpose of this contribution is therefore to identify a CSR model based on the detailed entrepreneurial realities of VSESEs in an African context. Through observation of the practices of 12 Cameroonian VSESEs and the testimonials of their promoters, it appears that CSR in these small entities comes in three dimensions, depending on the target community: genealogical responsibility towards blood relations, geographic responsibility towards the local community, and spiritual responsibility towards those sharing the same beliefs. Each of these dimensions is characterized by underlying conciliation mechanisms, actions and practices, and distinct stakeholders.

Microfoundations of Knowledge-Based Dynamic Capabilities

Gulsun Altintas — 2023-06-01

Although knowledge-based dynamic capabilities literature argues that dynamic capabilities foster knowledge management activities, it does not explain how such fostering occurs. To answer this question, this study focuses on dynamic managerial capabilities, applying microfoundational analysis at the individual level to improve understanding of organizational phenomena. It focuses on three dimensions of dynamic managerial capabilities: the managerial abilities of sensing, seizing, and transforming; the psychological abilities of intuition and emotion; and the managerial characteristics of human capital, social capital, and cognition. The study makes three contributions. First, it shows that the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities generate knowledge management activities. Second, it demonstrates the link between managers’ psychological abilities (intuition, emotion) and knowledge management activities. Third, it describes the role of sensing, seizing, and transforming in knowledge management activities.