Task variety is a familiar concept in organization theory and in job analysis. Standardized scale... more Task variety is a familiar concept in organization theory and in job analysis. Standardized scales to measure task variety have been developed and shown to be reliable, but results reported here suggest that while these scales may measure the number of different tasks performed, they do not measure variety in work process. Comparing results from the standard, survey-based measures and detailed, process-based measures in four task units, we discovered that work processes in the most "routinized" task units (as measured by the standard scales) are more varied than the least "routinized" task unit.
This paper introduces the narrative network as a device for representing patterns of technology-i... more This paper introduces the narrative network as a device for representing patterns of technology-in-use. The narrative network offers a novel conceptual vocabulary for the description of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their relationship to organizational forms. The narrative network is a constructive synthesis of concepts from actor network theory, adaptive structuration theory, the theory of organizational routines, and narrative theory. A narrative network expresses the set of specific patterns (performances) that have been, or could be, generated by combining and recombining the elements of the system. This paper discusses how thinking of technology and organizations as narrative networks influences our understanding of design. The concept of narrative networks helps us understand the relationship between specific actions and abstract patterns, a fundamental factor in understanding the simultaneity of change and stability. 1 This paper is the result of a co-equal collaboration.
ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel framework for managing design processes using a formal gramm... more ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel framework for managing design processes using a formal grammar as the theoretical foundation to represent, manipulate and execute design processes. The grammatical approach allows designers to represent a complex activity concisely with a small number of higher-level tasks and to explore alternative processes within a space of feasible alternatives. These capabilities allow the engineers to "visualize" the design process so that they can fully understand the alternative methods before making any design decisions. The framework, called MIDAS, includes separate layers for process specification and execution. Using the process specification layer designers can capture the overall design process and each designer can understand his or her task with respect to the whole design process. In the process execution layer design tasks are executed according to the information in specification layer so that designers can be informed of the current design status, alternative design methods, and their impacts in a whole design process. The framework has the potential to improve design productivity by accessing, reusing, and revising previous processes for a similar design. We use a gearbox design process to demonstrate the framework.
Using the example of a failed software implementation, we discuss the role of artifacts in shapin... more Using the example of a failed software implementation, we discuss the role of artifacts in shaping organizational routines. We argue that artifact-centered assumptions about design are not well suited to designing organizational routines, which are generative systems that produce recognizable, repetitive patterns of interdependent actions, carried out by multiple actors. Artifact-centered assumptions about design not only reinforce a widespread misunderstanding of routines as things, they implicitly embody a rather strong form of technological determinism. As an alternative perspective, we discuss the use of narrative networks as a way to conceptualize the role of human and non-human actants, and to represent the variable patterns of action that are characteristic of ''live" routines. Using this perspective, we conclude with some suggestions on how to design organizational routines that are more consistent with their nature as generative systems.
Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 1995
literature on organizational learning tends to be theoretically fragmented, drawing on analogies ... more literature on organizational learning tends to be theoretically fragmented, drawing on analogies to individual learning theory or simply using organizational learning as an umbrella concept for many different kinds of organizational change or adaptation. This paper introduces a framework for the analysis of organizations as knowledge systems composed of a collection of knowledge processes: constructing, organizing, storing, distributing, and applying. The knowledge system framework draws heavily on the sociology of knowledge and emphasizes the social nature of each of these constitutive processes. The paper uses the framework to analyze the case of a small engineering consulting company that implemented a new information system to automate one of its core business activities: energy audits of commercial buildings. Traditional approaches to organizational learning have emphasized the ways in which information systems can lower the costs and increase capacity for search, storage, and retrieval of information. The knowledge system framework suggests a deeper level of influence, whereby information systems can also affect the objects of knowledge and the criteria for knowledge construction.
In this essay, we take a fresh look at the IS academic community's enduring concern with the mana... more In this essay, we take a fresh look at the IS academic community's enduring concern with the management implications of its research. We examine in particular what we call the "variables-centered" research paradigm, which focuses its attention on covariance among independent and dependent variables. As the predominant research tradition in the field, the variables-centered paradigm ought to constitute a major platform from which our community can speak to issues of managerial interest. Unfortunately, the variables-centered paradigm appears to distance researchers from the organizational actors, such as managers, to whom they would give advice and counsel. Particularly disturbing is the systematic erasure of those very actors from the domain of inquiry. Erased, too, are their actions and means of acting. Thus, when it comes time to offer useful prescriptions for action, our community attempts to do so on the basis of research in which, ironically, neither actors nor action directly appear. We offer some recommendations that may help to rectify this problem and, thereby, enrich the capacity of variables-centered research to speak in an informative and useful way to issues of practice.
... Traditionally, the meek have had the inside track. But if we take Michael Power (1999) ser-io... more ... Traditionally, the meek have had the inside track. But if we take Michael Power (1999) ser-iously, auditors may be the ones who win out in the end. ... But I believe the same trend is apparent anywhere that the public calls for ``accountability'' in government. ...
This article addresses how trust changes over time. We introduce a social psychology-based Inform... more This article addresses how trust changes over time. We introduce a social psychology-based Information Processing Model (IPM) that explains how trust changes over time based on three cognitive mechanisms: attention, attribution, and judgment. This model is contrasted with the traditional incremental progression model of trust change. We also explain three extensions of the model. These models are then simulated and the results suggest that incremental progression may be inconsistent with established psychological theory.
In this paper, we use a computer simulation to explore the effects of dynamic capabilities on the... more In this paper, we use a computer simulation to explore the effects of dynamic capabilities on the evolution of businessprocesses. Dynamic capability is conceptualized as variation and selective retention (Campbell, 1965; Bickhard andCampbell, 2003) which governs the development and adaptation of business process. The model demonstrates that variationand selective retention of business processes explain the evolution of business process. The effect between variation andselective retention is offsetting. When variation ...
... The ritual structure of a quick question required that the interaction be short and unobtrusi... more ... The ritual structure of a quick question required that the interaction be short and unobtrusive. ... Because taking a look makes a stronger claim than a quick question, the ritual constraints are also more stringent. The person making this claim must have some basis on which to do it. ...
In this paper, we challenge the traditional understanding of organizational routines as creating ... more In this paper, we challenge the traditional understanding of organizational routines as creating inertia in organizations. We adapt Latour's distinction between ostensive and performative to build a theory that explains why routines are a source of change as well as stability. The ...
This book covers the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and c... more This book covers the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and communities–both physical and virtual. Community technology applications are studied in many contexts. The book demonstrates the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of evolving communities and technologies scholarship.
Field observations of two audit engagements are used to interpret auditing as a ritual which tran... more Field observations of two audit engagements are used to interpret auditing as a ritual which transforms the financial statements of corporate management from an inherently untrustworthy state into a form that the auditors and the public can be comfortable with. The analysis draws on Collins' theory of interaction ritual chains (American Journal of Sociology, 1981, pp. 984–1014) to create an interpretative theory of auditing which offers insights into both the micro-level interactions within the audit team and the macro-level role of auditing in the economic order.
This paper describes a data collection methodology for business process analysis. Unlike static o... more This paper describes a data collection methodology for business process analysis. Unlike static objects, business processes are semi-repetitive sequences of events that are often widely distributed in time and space, with ambiguous boundaries. To redesign or even just describe a business process requires an approach that is sensitive to these aspects of the phenomena.
Organizational routines can be conceptualized as generative systems with internal structures and ... more Organizational routines can be conceptualized as generative systems with internal structures and dynamics. In this paper, we propose three different ways that organizational routines can be approached as a unit of analysis. One option is to treat the entire routine as an undifferentiated 'black box'. A second option is to study particular parts of the routine in isolation (e.g. routines as patterns of action). A third option is to study the relationships between these parts and the processes by which the parts change. For some questions, routines can be taken as a unit of analysis without considering their internal structure, but there are many research questions for which it is useful to consider the parts of routines either separately or as they interact. We discuss the importance of understanding the internal structure and dynamics of organizational routines for exploring core organizational phenomena such as stability, change, flexibility, learning and transfer.
This paper describes a new project intended to provide a firmer theoretical and empirical foundat... more This paper describes a new project intended to provide a firmer theoretical and empirical foundation for such tasks as enterprise modeling, enterprise integration, and process re-engineering.
T his paper describes a novel theoretical and empirical approach to tasks such as business proces... more T his paper describes a novel theoretical and empirical approach to tasks such as business process redesign and knowledge management. The project involves collecting examples of how different organizations perform similar processes, and organizing these examples in an on-line "process handbook." The handbook is intended to help people: (1) redesign existing organizational processes, (2) invent new organizational processes (especially ones that take advantage of information technology), and share ideas about organizational practices.
... This paper develops the grammatical metaphor into a rigorous model for describing and ... Unl... more ... This paper develops the grammatical metaphor into a rigorous model for describing and ... Unlike other sequential data analysis techniques, grammatical models pro-vide a natural way of describing the layering and nesting of actions that typifies organizational processes. ...
Task variety is a familiar concept in organization theory and in job analysis. Standardized scale... more Task variety is a familiar concept in organization theory and in job analysis. Standardized scales to measure task variety have been developed and shown to be reliable, but results reported here suggest that while these scales may measure the number of different tasks performed, they do not measure variety in work process. Comparing results from the standard, survey-based measures and detailed, process-based measures in four task units, we discovered that work processes in the most "routinized" task units (as measured by the standard scales) are more varied than the least "routinized" task unit.
This paper introduces the narrative network as a device for representing patterns of technology-i... more This paper introduces the narrative network as a device for representing patterns of technology-in-use. The narrative network offers a novel conceptual vocabulary for the description of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their relationship to organizational forms. The narrative network is a constructive synthesis of concepts from actor network theory, adaptive structuration theory, the theory of organizational routines, and narrative theory. A narrative network expresses the set of specific patterns (performances) that have been, or could be, generated by combining and recombining the elements of the system. This paper discusses how thinking of technology and organizations as narrative networks influences our understanding of design. The concept of narrative networks helps us understand the relationship between specific actions and abstract patterns, a fundamental factor in understanding the simultaneity of change and stability. 1 This paper is the result of a co-equal collaboration.
ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel framework for managing design processes using a formal gramm... more ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel framework for managing design processes using a formal grammar as the theoretical foundation to represent, manipulate and execute design processes. The grammatical approach allows designers to represent a complex activity concisely with a small number of higher-level tasks and to explore alternative processes within a space of feasible alternatives. These capabilities allow the engineers to "visualize" the design process so that they can fully understand the alternative methods before making any design decisions. The framework, called MIDAS, includes separate layers for process specification and execution. Using the process specification layer designers can capture the overall design process and each designer can understand his or her task with respect to the whole design process. In the process execution layer design tasks are executed according to the information in specification layer so that designers can be informed of the current design status, alternative design methods, and their impacts in a whole design process. The framework has the potential to improve design productivity by accessing, reusing, and revising previous processes for a similar design. We use a gearbox design process to demonstrate the framework.
Using the example of a failed software implementation, we discuss the role of artifacts in shapin... more Using the example of a failed software implementation, we discuss the role of artifacts in shaping organizational routines. We argue that artifact-centered assumptions about design are not well suited to designing organizational routines, which are generative systems that produce recognizable, repetitive patterns of interdependent actions, carried out by multiple actors. Artifact-centered assumptions about design not only reinforce a widespread misunderstanding of routines as things, they implicitly embody a rather strong form of technological determinism. As an alternative perspective, we discuss the use of narrative networks as a way to conceptualize the role of human and non-human actants, and to represent the variable patterns of action that are characteristic of ''live" routines. Using this perspective, we conclude with some suggestions on how to design organizational routines that are more consistent with their nature as generative systems.
Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 1995
literature on organizational learning tends to be theoretically fragmented, drawing on analogies ... more literature on organizational learning tends to be theoretically fragmented, drawing on analogies to individual learning theory or simply using organizational learning as an umbrella concept for many different kinds of organizational change or adaptation. This paper introduces a framework for the analysis of organizations as knowledge systems composed of a collection of knowledge processes: constructing, organizing, storing, distributing, and applying. The knowledge system framework draws heavily on the sociology of knowledge and emphasizes the social nature of each of these constitutive processes. The paper uses the framework to analyze the case of a small engineering consulting company that implemented a new information system to automate one of its core business activities: energy audits of commercial buildings. Traditional approaches to organizational learning have emphasized the ways in which information systems can lower the costs and increase capacity for search, storage, and retrieval of information. The knowledge system framework suggests a deeper level of influence, whereby information systems can also affect the objects of knowledge and the criteria for knowledge construction.
In this essay, we take a fresh look at the IS academic community's enduring concern with the mana... more In this essay, we take a fresh look at the IS academic community's enduring concern with the management implications of its research. We examine in particular what we call the "variables-centered" research paradigm, which focuses its attention on covariance among independent and dependent variables. As the predominant research tradition in the field, the variables-centered paradigm ought to constitute a major platform from which our community can speak to issues of managerial interest. Unfortunately, the variables-centered paradigm appears to distance researchers from the organizational actors, such as managers, to whom they would give advice and counsel. Particularly disturbing is the systematic erasure of those very actors from the domain of inquiry. Erased, too, are their actions and means of acting. Thus, when it comes time to offer useful prescriptions for action, our community attempts to do so on the basis of research in which, ironically, neither actors nor action directly appear. We offer some recommendations that may help to rectify this problem and, thereby, enrich the capacity of variables-centered research to speak in an informative and useful way to issues of practice.
... Traditionally, the meek have had the inside track. But if we take Michael Power (1999) ser-io... more ... Traditionally, the meek have had the inside track. But if we take Michael Power (1999) ser-iously, auditors may be the ones who win out in the end. ... But I believe the same trend is apparent anywhere that the public calls for ``accountability'' in government. ...
This article addresses how trust changes over time. We introduce a social psychology-based Inform... more This article addresses how trust changes over time. We introduce a social psychology-based Information Processing Model (IPM) that explains how trust changes over time based on three cognitive mechanisms: attention, attribution, and judgment. This model is contrasted with the traditional incremental progression model of trust change. We also explain three extensions of the model. These models are then simulated and the results suggest that incremental progression may be inconsistent with established psychological theory.
In this paper, we use a computer simulation to explore the effects of dynamic capabilities on the... more In this paper, we use a computer simulation to explore the effects of dynamic capabilities on the evolution of businessprocesses. Dynamic capability is conceptualized as variation and selective retention (Campbell, 1965; Bickhard andCampbell, 2003) which governs the development and adaptation of business process. The model demonstrates that variationand selective retention of business processes explain the evolution of business process. The effect between variation andselective retention is offsetting. When variation ...
... The ritual structure of a quick question required that the interaction be short and unobtrusi... more ... The ritual structure of a quick question required that the interaction be short and unobtrusive. ... Because taking a look makes a stronger claim than a quick question, the ritual constraints are also more stringent. The person making this claim must have some basis on which to do it. ...
In this paper, we challenge the traditional understanding of organizational routines as creating ... more In this paper, we challenge the traditional understanding of organizational routines as creating inertia in organizations. We adapt Latour's distinction between ostensive and performative to build a theory that explains why routines are a source of change as well as stability. The ...
This book covers the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and c... more This book covers the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and communities–both physical and virtual. Community technology applications are studied in many contexts. The book demonstrates the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of evolving communities and technologies scholarship.
Field observations of two audit engagements are used to interpret auditing as a ritual which tran... more Field observations of two audit engagements are used to interpret auditing as a ritual which transforms the financial statements of corporate management from an inherently untrustworthy state into a form that the auditors and the public can be comfortable with. The analysis draws on Collins' theory of interaction ritual chains (American Journal of Sociology, 1981, pp. 984–1014) to create an interpretative theory of auditing which offers insights into both the micro-level interactions within the audit team and the macro-level role of auditing in the economic order.
This paper describes a data collection methodology for business process analysis. Unlike static o... more This paper describes a data collection methodology for business process analysis. Unlike static objects, business processes are semi-repetitive sequences of events that are often widely distributed in time and space, with ambiguous boundaries. To redesign or even just describe a business process requires an approach that is sensitive to these aspects of the phenomena.
Organizational routines can be conceptualized as generative systems with internal structures and ... more Organizational routines can be conceptualized as generative systems with internal structures and dynamics. In this paper, we propose three different ways that organizational routines can be approached as a unit of analysis. One option is to treat the entire routine as an undifferentiated 'black box'. A second option is to study particular parts of the routine in isolation (e.g. routines as patterns of action). A third option is to study the relationships between these parts and the processes by which the parts change. For some questions, routines can be taken as a unit of analysis without considering their internal structure, but there are many research questions for which it is useful to consider the parts of routines either separately or as they interact. We discuss the importance of understanding the internal structure and dynamics of organizational routines for exploring core organizational phenomena such as stability, change, flexibility, learning and transfer.
This paper describes a new project intended to provide a firmer theoretical and empirical foundat... more This paper describes a new project intended to provide a firmer theoretical and empirical foundation for such tasks as enterprise modeling, enterprise integration, and process re-engineering.
T his paper describes a novel theoretical and empirical approach to tasks such as business proces... more T his paper describes a novel theoretical and empirical approach to tasks such as business process redesign and knowledge management. The project involves collecting examples of how different organizations perform similar processes, and organizing these examples in an on-line "process handbook." The handbook is intended to help people: (1) redesign existing organizational processes, (2) invent new organizational processes (especially ones that take advantage of information technology), and share ideas about organizational practices.
... This paper develops the grammatical metaphor into a rigorous model for describing and ... Unl... more ... This paper develops the grammatical metaphor into a rigorous model for describing and ... Unlike other sequential data analysis techniques, grammatical models pro-vide a natural way of describing the layering and nesting of actions that typifies organizational processes. ...
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Papers by Brian Pentland