Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change
Organization Science
The Effective Design of Work Under Total Quality Management
Organization Science
Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities
Organization Science
The Dynamic Value of Hierarchy
Management Science
Resources in Emerging Structures and Processes of Change
Organization Science
Documents in Place: Demarcating Places for Collaboration in Healthcare Settings
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Designing routines: On the folly of designing artifacts, while hoping for patterns of action
Information and Organization
When Truces Collapse: A Longitudinal Study of Price-Adjustment Routines
Organization Science
Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory
Organization Science
The (N)Ever-Changing World: Stability and Change in Organizational Routines
Organization Science
Toward a Theory of Coordinating: Creating Coordinating Mechanisms in Practice
Organization Science
Journal of Engineering and Technology Management
Creative Projects: A Less Routine Approach Toward Getting New Things Done
Organization Science
Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory
Assembling Jobs: A Model of How Tasks Are Bundled Into and Across Jobs
Organization Science
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Once regarded as stable and inflexible, organizational routines are increasingly seen as capable of being adapted to the situation at hand and a potentially important source of endogenous change in organizations. This paper considers why routines that are performed flexibly may nonetheless persist over time. Drawing on data from participant observation of a high-tech manufacturing company, I identify factors that contribute to both the flexibility and persistence of a routine. First, individuals and groups approach routines with different intentions and orientations, suggesting that agency shapes particular routine performances. Second, routine performances are embedded in an organizational context that, while it may not restrict the flexible use of a routine, may constrain its ongoing adaptation. Finally, accounting for the relative power of individuals sheds light on the interaction between agency and context in routine performance and explains why the actions of some individuals, but not others, can change routines. This paper draws on recent work that conceptualizes routines as ongoing accomplishments, and it extends it by identifying how actors and contexts shape both individual performances of routines and contribute to their persistence or change over time.