Organizational forgetting in local governments: a study from rural India

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumyabrato Bagchi ◽  
Bhaskar Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Organizational Forgetting

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to develop a theory of organizational forgetting in the context of local governments from the paradigmatic lens of existing research orchestrated in management literature. The paper empirically explores how and why local governments forget and discusses the role of local politics in promoting memory loss in organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors do an ethnographic study in a Village Panchayat, the lowest tier of the local government in rural India, in West Bengal, a state in eastern India. Data are collected through participant observation and informal interviews.FindingsThe paper argues that the existing framework on modes of organizational forgetting developed in the management literature is not sufficient in understanding the types of knowledge loss that occur in local governments. It shows that as a consequence of “memory decay” and “failure to capture,” local governments involuntary lose past knowledge and critical sources of expertise. The study also acknowledges the role of politics in deliberately endorsing organizational forgetting in local governments to eliminate failure and ethical lapses of elected representatives.Originality/valueBy exploring the phenomenon of organizational forgetting in local governments in the context of grassroots politics, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of organizational forgetting in a hitherto understudied area of how, and under what circumstances, public organizations such as local governments undergo forgetting, unlearning or loss of knowledge.

Public leadership and strategies of Czech municipalities during the COVID-19 pandemic – municipal activism vs municipal passivism

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Plaček ◽  
David Špaček ◽  
František Ochrana
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Leadership

PurposeThis paper discusses the role of public leadership and the strategic response of local governments to the external shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors examine the typical Czech response with regard to how the leadership of municipalities in the Czech Republic responded to this extremely negative external stimulus.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use qualitative research methods for this investigation. They have chosen the case study method (see Yin, 2009; Stake, 1995; Klonoski, 2013). The general case is the Czech Republic. Mini-cases consist of municipalities from the Znojmo region, municipalities of the Central Bohemian region and the municipal districts in the capital city of Prague. Furthermore, the method of participant observation was used.FindingsThe authors’ analysis of the problem of local government responses to the pandemic crisis shows that municipal leaders responded with a variety of (non-)adaptation strategies. It appears that certain framework factors influenced the various local governments' behavior.Originality/valueThe article examines the strategic behavior of Czech municipal leaders regarding the pandemic crisis based on the observation of the reactions of local governments in the Czech Republic to the pandemic crisis and strives to define their basic strategies.

Toward a theory on workplaces for smart workers

Facilities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 298-315
Author(s):  
Luisa Errichiello ◽  
Tommasina Pianese
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Innovative Design ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Type ◽  
Smart Working ◽  
Research Propositions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the main features of smart work centers (SWCs) and show how these innovative offices would support the implementation of smart working and related changes in workspaces (“bricks”), technologies (“bytes”) and organizational practices (“behaviors”). Design/methodology/approach In this study, scientific literature is combined with white papers and business reports and visits to 14 workplaces, including offices designed as SWCs, co-working spaces, one telecenter, one accelerator and one fab lab. Primary data were collected through interviews with managers and users and non-participant observation, whereas secondary data included web-sites, brochures, presentations, press releases and official documents. Findings The authors developed research propositions about how the design of spaces and the availability of technology within SWCs would support the “bricks” and “bytes” levers of smart working. More importantly, the authors assumed that this new type of workplace would sustain changes in employees’ behaviors and managers’ practices, thus helping to overcome several challenges traditionally associated with remote working. Research limitations/implications The exploratory nature of the research only provides preliminary information about the role of SWCs within smart working programs. Additional qualitative and quantitative empirical investigation is required. Practical implications This study provides valuable knowledge about how the design of corporate offices can be leveraged to sustain the implementation of smart working. Originality/value This study advances knowledge on workplaces by focusing on an innovative design of traditional offices (SWC). It also lays the foundations for future investigation aimed at testing the developed propositions.

Managing different forms of distances in Dutch healthcare organizations

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1080-1097
Author(s):  
Annemiek Stoopendaal
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Healthcare Organization ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Healthcare Executives ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – Dichotomous “gap” thinking about professionals and managers has important limits. The purpose of this paper is to study the specific ontology of “the gap” in which different forms of distances are defined. Design/methodology/approach – In order to deepen the knowledge of the actual day-to-day tasks of Dutch healthcare executives an ethnographic study of the daily work of Dutch healthcare executives and an ontological exploration of the concept “gap” was provided. The study empirically investigates the meaning given to the concept of “distance” in healthcare governance practices. Findings – The study reveals that healthcare executives have to fulfil a dual role of maintaining distance and creating proximity. Coping with different forms of distances seems to be an integral part of their work. They make use of four potential mechanisms to cope with distance in their healthcare organization practices. Originality/value – The relationship between managers and professionals is often defined as a dichotomous gap. The findings in this research suggest a more dynamic picture of the relationship between managers and professionals than is currently present in literature. This study moves “beyond” the gap and investigates processes of distancing in-depth.

The Citipreneur

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 508-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Tomor
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Collective Good ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Smart Technologies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of local entrepreneurs, embedded in both the civil and the business arena, in creating public value by establishing strategic collaboration around smart technologies. Design/methodology/approach The paper suggests a novel – the local entrepreneurial – type of smart bottom-up initiative between civil grassroots and market-based initiatives. This idea is further evolved in the paper to define the patterns of this alternative type of smart bottom-up initiative. For this purpose, the paper conducts a case study of a community-based sustainable energy and mobility system launched by a local entrepreneur in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Findings The local entrepreneur has played a catalyzing role in public value creation by initiating and upscaling cooperative practices around smart technologies. This success has mainly been achieved due to the entrepreneurial attitudes of pioneering and risk-taking as well as the capability to bridge between the state, the market and society to accelerate urban sustainability transition. Practical implications This paper offers a practical illustration of the potential of local entrepreneurs to evolve cooperative practices with smart technologies for societal change. It also shows the vital role of local governments in the achievement of bottom-up initiatives contributing to urban smartness. However, in the case of commercializing initiatives, governments also need to take a balancing role to safeguard the needs of all citizens based on fairness and equity, which is at the core of public value creation. Originality/value The study adds to the citizen participation literature by revealing a novel type of active citizen grasping technological opportunities to mobilize networks to cooperate for the collective good. The research also contributes to a better understanding of the bottom-up smart city as a form of governance, and its advantages as well as drawbacks concerning public value creation.

scholarly journals Market practices in countercultural market emergence

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 1563-1588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Hietanen ◽  
Joonas Rokka
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Music ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Literature ◽  
Industrial Markets ◽  
Market Practices ◽  
Market Shaping ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing marketing literature that investigates markets as “configurations”, i.e. networks of market actors engaged in market-shaping practices and performances. As this pioneering work has been largely focused on established mainstream markets and industries driven by large multi-national companies, the present article extends practice-based market theorizing to countercultural market emergence and also to unconventional market practices shaping it. Design/methodology/approach – Insights are drawn from a four-year multi-sited ethnographic study of a rapidly expanding electronic music scene that serves as an illustrative example of emergent countercultural market. Findings – In contrast to mainstream consumer or industrial markets, the authors identify a distinctive dynamic underlying market emergence. Countercultural markets as well as their appeal and longevity largely depend on an inherent authenticity paradox that focal market actors need to sustain and negotiate through ongoing market-shaping and market-restricting practices. Practical implications – From a practitioner perspective, the authors discuss the implications for market actors wishing to build on countercultural authenticity. They highlight the fragility of countercultural markets and point out practices sustaining them, and also possibilities and challenges in tapping into them. Originality/value – The study contributes by theorizing the tensions that energize and drive countercultural market emergence. In particular, the authors address the important role of market-restricting practices in facilitating countercultural appeal that has not received explicit attention in prior marketing literature.

When hierarchy becomes collaborative

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Collaborative Processes ◽  
Individual Actions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to expand understandings of interorganizational collaboration among high reliability organizations (HROs). It proposes that HROs face unique needs for relationship building, pre-planning, and retrospective sensemaking that do not fit within prior models of collaboration. For HROs, definitions of collaboration vary contextually based on needs that arise during emergency situations. HROs have a need for both hierarchical structure and collaborative processes and use collaboration as a sensemaking frame that allows practitioners to attend to both needs. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a case study from an ongoing ethnographic study of an emergency response collaboration. The paper uses open-ended interviews about collaboration with all key members of the incident response hierarchy, and participant observation of collaboration before, during and after a key emergency incident. Findings The paper proposes a new framework for HRO collaboration: that collaboration is a sensemaking frame for HROs used to make sense of individual actions, that HRO collaboration is more complex during pre-planning and focused on individual decision making during incidents, and that members can communicatively make sense of the need for hierarchy and collaborative action by defining these needs contextually. Research limitations/implications The paper uses an in-depth case study of an incident to explore this collaborative framework; therefore, researchers are encouraged to test this framework in additional high reliability collaborative contexts. Practical implications The paper includes implications for best communicative practices to recognize the need to be both hierarchical and flexible in high reliability organizing. Originality/value This paper fulfills a need to expand collaboration literature beyond idealized and egalitarian definitions, in order to understand how practitioners use communication to understand their actions as collaborative, especially in organizations that also require hierarchy and individual actions. This case study suggests that collaboration as a sensemaking frame creates collaborative advantages for HROs, but can also limit sensemaking about incident management.

Shaping accountability at an NGO: a Bourdieusian perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjaya Chinthana Kuruppu ◽  
Sumit Lodhia
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Considerable Change ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
External Forces

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of accountability as it relates to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) evolving through a period of considerable change in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth single case study of a large NGO working in Sri Lanka is presented. Data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews with a range of NGO employees and stakeholders, undertaking participant and non-participant observation and document analysis. Findings This paper shows how accountability is a contested notion that is shaped by struggles among stakeholders within a field. The authors explore how the “widespread field” consisting of the aid context in Sri Lanka and internationally is rapidly shifting. This creates unique pressures within the “restricted field” of the case NGO and its constituents. These pressures are manifested in the contest between the different capitals held by various stakeholders to shape the NGO. The nature of access to these capitals is important in the way that the NGO is shaped by external forces, and also by the individuals within it. Research limitations/implications This study adds fresh perspective to the growing body of work in NGO accountability. The paper highlights the tensions NGOs face through a holistic application of a Bourdieusian conceptual framework. The authors show how the habitus of the organisation is shaped in such a way that conceptions of accountability were captured by powerful external and internal constituencies. Ultimately, the nature of an organisation’s agency is questioned. Practical implications The authors present a more nuanced understanding of forces which shape accountability in an NGO setting which is of practical relevance to NGOs and their stakeholders. The authors highlight the struggle for an NGO to maintain its agency through resisting external forces that impact on its operations. Originality/value This study presents a comprehensive and holistic application of Bourdieu’s concepts and their interactions in an organisational setting. The struggle to harness various forms of capital in the field, shapes doxa and the habitus of NGO actors, illuminating the role of symbolic violence in the creation of an organisational identity.

The collective consumption network

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 545-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Närvänen ◽  
Evert Gummesson ◽  
Hannu Kuusela
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Weak Links ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Heterogeneous Consumption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a network perspective to the study of collective consumption. The authors examine the characteristics of heterogeneous consumption collectives formed around a Finnish footwear brand. The case is both theoretically and practically relevant. It differs from previous research by featuring consumer grassroot activities, face-to-face interaction and strong pre-existing social relationships. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative case study research was conducted with different methods of data generation including interviews, participant observation and cultural materials such as newspaper articles and photos. Findings – A new concept of collective consumption network is introduced. Five kinds of consumption collectives are identified, including place focussed, brand focussed, activity focussed, idea focussed and social relations focussed consumption collectives. The strength of ties as well as the role of the brand varies within the collectives. Practical implications – Suppliers should find an appropriate network position, where they can enable and support shared value creation. Developing skills to identify and cultivate weak links as well as mobilize resources are important. Originality/value – The findings illustrate the heterogeneity and complexity of collective consumption. In particular, the paper discusses the way self-organizing and emergent consumption collectives and the supplier interact and integrate resources within the network.

Artificial intelligence in personnel management: the development of APM model

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-388
Author(s):  
Kirk Chang
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Personnel Management ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Job Levels

Purpose Managers have mixed views of how artificial intelligence (AI) affects personnel management (PM). The purpose of this paper is to identify potential knowledge gap and bring new insights to the AI-personnel-management literature. Design/methodology/approach Both applicability and theoretical perspectives are adopted to critically discuss the constraint and opportunity of AI in PM. Tables and narrative analysis are used to clarify the role of AI in managerial practices. Findings Research findings have helped to develop a new model titled AI in Personnel Management (APM). The APM model unfolds itself in three levels, followed by potential outcome. The three levels comprise “organizational, managerial and individual job levels,” and the outcome comprises “organizational performance, employees’ well-being and staff turnover rate”. Research limitations/implications The APM model helps managers to understand the implication of AI in their workplace. With better understanding of AI’s implication, managers are more likely to develop appropriate AI-driven managerial policies, which in turn benefit employees and their organizations. The APM model acts as a reference guide, helping managers to evaluate the AI’s constraint and opportunity in their managerial practices. Originality/value The APM model is valuable and informative to the academic researchers, as it has first responded to Malik et al. (2019)’s call (re: the absence of AI and management literature), and, more importantly, it has advanced the knowledge of AI–management relationship, supporting scholars to further understand the role of AI in PM.

scholarly journals The instrumental time of memory: local politics and urban aesthetics in a tourism context

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio-Miguel Nogués-Pedregal
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Expressive Dimension ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Urban Aesthetics

Purpose This paper aims to show that tourism is one of the most perfect creations of the capitalist mode of production insofar as not only does it consume places and territories and perpetuate dependency relations, but in the expressive dimension, it also produces feelings and meanings and generates a new relationship of the past with the present and future (chronotope). Design/methodology/approach The study was carried out using a socio-anthropological approach with participant observation over several decades. Findings The modes of time are described and how the tourism chronotope shapes the historic centre of a consolidated tourist destination. The case study, analysed with the model of the “conversion of place through the mediation of tourism space”, illustrates the prevalence of instrumental and commercial values over one’s own aesthetic-expressive values in tourism contexts. This fact encourages the emergence of local political projects and the incorporation of uniformities outside the local place. These processes end up uprooting the anchors from collective memory. The definition of territories according to visitors’ imaginaries and expectations encourages the abusive occupation of public space and the adoption of new aesthetic attributes of urban space. Research limitations/implications Because of the chosen research approach and methodologies, the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test both the model and the propositions further. Originality/value This study approaches the relationship of the idea Tourism with the idea Development based on the anchors of memory.

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