Management Fashion Adoption: Sensemaking and Identity Construction in Individual Managers’ Adoption Accounts

294 Pages·2002·5.09 MB·German

by  Charles-Clemens Rüling (auth.)

Charles-Clemens Rüling
Management Fashion Adoption
GABLER EDITION WISSENSCHAFT
Charles-Clemens Rüling
Management Fashion Adoption
Sensemaking and Identity Construction in
Individual Managers' Adoption Accounts
With a foreward by Prof. Dr. Gilbert J. B. Probst
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH
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Dissertation Universität Genf, 2001
1. Auflage Juli 2002
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ISBN 978-3-8244-7647-3 ISBN 978-3-663-10707-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-663-10707-1
Foreword
This study differs from a lot of mainstream management writing in its choice of topics
and its research approach. Instead of proposing yet another management too1 or
reviewing the particu1ar application conditions of some current management idea, the
author examines how popu1ar management too1s and methods get adopted and become
taken for gran ted theories in the life world of practicing managers. The book addresses
fads and fashions in management - an issue which has recent1y become "hot" in itself,
as a research perspective and as a growing preoccupation of managers who are starting
to wo nd er to what extent they may have become fashion victims.
Charles-Clemens Rüling proposes a broad coverage of sociological fashion theory,
organizational innovation research and more recent theorizing on sensemaking and
identity construction, and develops a conceptual framework that helps his readers to
discover and understand why and how managers adopt popular management concepts.
The setup of this study reflects the author's wide ranging experience in the fields of
management, sociology, organizationa1 leaming and change management at the
Universities of St. Gallen and Geneva, and - most recently - the Grenoble Graduate
Schoo1 of Business. The ease with which he relates to different disciplines is not only
reflected in his thoughtfu1 review of classical sociological fashion thinking and the
insights into the management research literature, but also in the study's original
research approach, which aims at disentangling adopting managers' sensemaking and
positioning moves.
The study provides a broad theoretical basis, a creative framework and solid
qualitative research, all together producing novel insight into a particular facet of
managerial behavior. From my point of view, Charles-Clemens Rüling's work
represents an important contribution to understanding the evolution of management
fads and fashions and the ways in which managers position themselves in relation to
fashionable management knowledge. The author is not only an excellent researcher but
also a good te ach er, who is able to bring together different worlds and to share his
enthusiasm and knowledge with his audience. The study is hard, but insightful reading,
which I can only recommend to practicing managers, scholars, and students of
management and organization.
Gilbert 1.B. Probst
Preface
One incident during one of my early days as a doctoral student at the University of
Geneva marks the beginning of the journey that has given rise to this study: In the mid
1990s, we had been asked by the head of strategie planning of a major financial
services organization to prepare abrief presentation discussing the potential benefits of
an Early Warning System. When we compared the literature with the tools the
organization had already put in place, we found that they had actually no need for an
additional system. When we presented our conc1usion to the managers in the
department, they were more than unhappy with our recommendation. Only afterwards,
it occurred to us that what they had hoped for had been neither a realistic evaluation of
the method in question, nor the conc1usion we presented. As we found out later, the
whole strategie planning unit was at that time in desperate need for a raison d'etre, in
other words: projects that would justify its further existence within the group.
Why this anecdote? Several incidents like this one made me think ab out the role of
language and the symbolic (as opposed to the instrumental) use of management
knowledge in organizations. Fascinated by the idea that the development of
management knowledge could be explained as a result of fashion dynamies, I started
looking at sociological fashion literature, then moved towards research on innovation
(processes) in organizations, and finally ended up with more recent discussions of
sensemaking and identity construction in management.
In parallel with these theoretical explorations, I engaged in several empirical
projects in which I tried to grasp the development of management knowledge. These
inc1uded an analysis of patterns of changing popularity of management concepts on the
macro level, the analysis of changing discourses relating to particular managerial
innovations, a more quantitative study on managers' general perceptions of manage
ment and managerial innovations, a study on the diffusion of the "managing diversity"
discourse, and - last but not least - interviews with fourteen senior managers about
their individual experiences with adopting and implementing popular management
concepts.
I alone bear the responsibility for this study, but I would have never been able to
finish my project without the help of many friends and colleagues that accompanied
me during longer (or shorter) periods oftime throughout the last seven years. First and
VIII Preface
foremost my directeur de these, Gilbert Probst, teacher and friend, who always found
the necessary resources, and provided both the intellectual latitude and theoretical
ingredients that have since my early days in academia shaped the way I think about
organizations. I would also like to thank Susan Schneider, whose intellectual
generosity, I feel today, I have solicited far too little, and Yves Fricker and the
University of Geneva's sociology department for hosting some of my graduate work. I
have leamed a lot from the members of the European Group of Organization Studies'
standing work group on the diffusion of managerial ideas and practice, as well as from
all my colleagues and friends at the Copenhagen Business School's Department of
Organization and Industrial Sociology, where I had the opportunity - thanks to a
research grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation - to stay during a very
decisive year. I am most grateful to Finn Borum, who accepted to be a member of my
dissertation committee, and to Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen - both were there to
continuously challenge my ideas and to set up just the right amount of pressure to
advance my work.
During all the years, many people have either direct1y or indirect1y left their traces
not only in this study. To name just some of them, I would like to mention my friends
Bettina Büchel, Steffen Raub, Philippe Regazzoni, and Arne Deußen, who have
marked some of the best days in Geneva, and Claus Noppeney, who has read and
commented on the first chapters of my dissertation. I owe very much to my parents,
Renate and Wolfgang Rüling, for supporting and assuring me in the direction I have
chosen (and for not asking too often when the dissertation would be finished), and to
my si ster, Anneli Rüling, for all the discussions we had. The biggest thanks, however,
goes to Stephanie for her encouragement and love ...
Charles-Clemens Rüling
Contents
1. Introduction: Setting the stage ............................................................................... 1
1.1 Development of management fashion research ................................................... 3
1.1.1 Preparing the ground: Antecedants of management fashion research .......... 3
1.1.2 Management fashion: An emerging field of research ................................... 6
1.2 Towards a working definition of "management fashion" .................................... 8
1.3 Delimitation of scope: Type of phenomena and level of analysis ..................... 11
1.4 Research orientation, empirical study and basic assumptions ........................... 14
1.4.1 Overall research orientation ........................................................................ 14
1.4.2 Empirical project ......................................................................................... 15
1.4.3 Basic assumptions ....................................................................................... 16
1.5 Dissertation structure ......................................................................................... 18
2. Theoretical foundations ......................•................................................................. 21
2.1 Fashion and the general fashion literature ......................................................... 21
2.1.1 Perspectives on fashion ............................................................................... 22
2.1.2 Fashion and modemity ................................................................................ 25
2.1.3 Conspicuous consumption and the fashion ofthe leisure class .................. 27
2.1.4 Distinction, adherence and fashion as a social form ................................... 28
2.1.5 Fashion as a process of collective se1ection ................................................ 30
2.1.6 Struggle for dominance in the fashion field ................................................ 33
2.1.7 Functions offashion .................................................................................... 34
2.1.8 Conclusions from the general fashion literature ......................................... 39
2.2 Fashion adoption as innovation ......................................................................... 40
2.2.1 What is an innovation? ................................................................................ 41
2.2.2 What kind of innovation is a popular management technique? .................. 43
2.3 Overview over the organizational innovation literature .................................... 44
2.3.1 Research orientations .................................................................................. 44
2.3.2 Innovation, adopter and environmental attributes ....................................... 49
2.3.3 Innovation decision and innovation process ............................................... 56
2.3.4 Conclusions from the organizational innovation literature ......................... 61
3. Towards a conceptual framework ....................................................................... 67
3.1 Explaining innovation adoption ......................................................................... 68
3.1.1 Instrumental/rational perspective ................................................................ 69
x Contents
3.1.2 Power/politics perspective .......................................................................... 71
3.1.3 Sociallinstitutional perspective ................................................................... 75
3.1.4 Syrnbolic-interpretive/sensemaking perspective ......................................... 81
3.1.5 Explaining innovation adoption: Conc1usions ............................................ 86
3.2 Sensemaking and identity framework ................................................................ 88
3.2.1 Sensemaking and identity ........................................................................... 88
3.2.2 Fashion and identity .................................................................................... 93
3.2.3 Overall sensemaking and identity framework ............................................ 94
4. Research methods .................................................................................................. 97
4.1 Research orientation ........................................................................................... 99
4.1.1 Positivist versus constructionist research .................................................. 100
4.1.2 Quantitative versus qualitative approaches ............................................... 103
4.2 Study design and research strategy .................................................................. 105
4.3 Setting and participants .................................................................................... 107
4.4 Data collection and the role ofthe researcher .................................................. 109
4.4.1 Interviewing as a data collection technique .............................................. 109
4.4.2 Role ofthe researcher ................................................................................ 112
4.4.3 Interview structure .................................................................................... 114
4.5 Data recording, data management, and data analysis ...................................... 119
4.5.1 Data recording and data management ....................................................... 120
4.5.2 Data analysis and interpretive strategies ................................................... 121
4.6 Trustworthiness ................................................................................................ 125
5. Participants and adoption accounts ................................................................... 129
5.1 LN, A-Insurance .............................................................................................. 130
5.2 LM, Industry .................................................................................................... 132
5.3 LI, Engineering ................................................................................................ 135
5.4 LC, A-Bank ...................................................................................................... 137
5.5 MO, Packaging ................................................................................................ 140
5.6 MS, A-Electronics ............................................................................................ 142
5.7 ND, B-Bank ..................................................................................................... 145
5.8 PR, B-Insurance ............................................................................................... 148
5.9 SS, Transportation ............................................................................................ 151
5.10 TS, B-Electronics ........................................................................................... 155
5.11 TN, Meditech ................................................................................................. 158
5.12 TT, Security ................................................................................................... 162
5.13 TK, Retail ....................................................................................................... 166
Contents XI
5.14 XS, Beverages ................................................................................................ 169
6. Accounts in context: Themes and issues ............................................................ 173
6.1 Adoption narratives .......................................................................................... 174
6.1.1 Adoption triggers ...................................................................................... 174
6.1.2 Interpretation of concepts and implementation problems ......................... 179
6.1.3 Story types and structures ......................................................................... 184
6.1.4 Adoption narratives: Conclusions ............................................................. 188
6.2 Uncertainty and control .................................................................................... 189
6.2.1 Popular management concepts as a means for achieving control ............. 190
6.2.2 Popular management concepts as a source of insecurity .......................... 192
6.2.3 Uncertainty and control: Conclusions ....................................................... 193
6.3 Integration and differentiation ......................................................................... 193
6.3.1 Integration accounts .................................................................................. 195
6.3.2 Differentiation accounts ............................................................................ 196
6.3.3 Linking integration and differentiation ..................................................... 199
6.3.4 Integration and differentiation: Conclusions ............................................. 202
6.4 Power and politics ............................................................................................ 203
6.4.1 Adoption as a means to build up power .................................................... 204
6.4.2 Power as a necessary condition for adoption and implementation ........... 205
6.4.3 Power and politics: Conclusions ............................................................... 205
6.5 Labeling and rhetoric ....................................................................................... 206
6.5.1 Choice ofproject names ............................................................................ 206
6.5.2 Role oflabels ............................................................................................. 208
6.5.3 Labeling and rhetoric: Conclusions .......................................................... 210
6.6 Explanation and protection .............................................................................. 210
6.6.1 Defining management fashion .................................................................. 211
6.6.2 Explaining popularity changes .................................................................. 213
6.6.3 Protection against the intrusion of fashion ................................................ 216
6.6.4 Explanation and protection: Conclusions ................................................. 218
6.7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 219
7. Sensemaking and identity work ......................................................................... 225
7.1 Making sense of oneself ................................................................................... 225
7.1.1 Sensemaking framework ........................................................................... 227
7.1.2 Self-accounts as identity work .................................................................. 230
7.2 Instances of sensemaking in the adoption accounts ......................................... 232
7.2.1 Identity and the sense of self ..................................................................... 232