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Patterns of Connectivity: The Enactment of Organisational Routines in Greenfield Projects
Author(s) -
Bygdås Arne Lindseth
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
knowledge and process management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.341
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-1441
pISSN - 1092-4604
DOI - 10.1002/kpm.1531
Subject(s) - negotiation , articulation (sociology) , set (abstract data type) , nexus (standard) , sociology , knowledge management , constitution , action (physics) , space (punctuation) , computer science , politics , political science , social science , law , programming language , operating system , embedded system , physics , quantum mechanics
Organisational routines are commonly associated with conduct of recurrent work practices as an important means to achieve organisational efficiency. This paper investigates why observations of seemingly non‐routine complex practices across space and time display action patterns resembling characteristic features of organisational routines. The empirical basis consists of studies of three greenfield projects conducted by a light metal supplier with locations all around the world. The analysis shows that the constitution and performance of a set of cross‐organisational practices display similar patterns of interactions in each project resembling an understanding of organisational routines as isomorphic and functional patterns. I introduce a perspective of routines that build upon the enactive approach in cognitive science and theories of social becoming viewing organisational actions as everyday social interactions emanating from a nexus of intersubjectively generated and shared meanings that emerge and are maintained through articulation, stories, and negotiations. This implies that organisational routines as patterns of social interactions are culturally mediated and should be conceived as achievements rather than stable or given dispositions as it is often assumed in current literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.