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17 - Partial De-Organizing for Innovation and Strategic Renewal? A Study of an Industrial Innovation Programme

from Part 5 - The Partial Organization of Formal Organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2019

By
Frank den Hond ,
Kati Järvi  and
Liisa Välikangas
Edited by
Göran Ahrne  and
Nils Brunsson
Göran Ahrne
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Nils Brunsson
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
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Summary

The idea of partial organization has not been fully explored. Relatively little attention has been paid to organization within organizations or to the possibility of partial de-organization. We explore this possibility in the context of business firms for which innovation and strategic renewal are imperatives. The firm’s top management created conditions for autonomous action in the form of a dedicated internal development program for strategic renewal. Thus, it attempted to partially deconstruct its organizational hierarchy and other elements of its decided order. Employees from all over the organization were invited to participate in the program and to present proposals for new strategic initiatives. The contribution of the paper is in the introduction of the concept of partial de-organizing and in the argument that partial organization is also observable within, and not just without, the boundaries of formal organizations.

Keywords

autonomyhierarchyauthorityinnovationorganizingparadoxpartial de-organizationprocessself-organizationstrategic renewal
Type
Chapter
Information
Organization outside Organizations
The Abundance of Partial Organization in Social Life
 , pp. 359 - 389
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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