Ruminations on process - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Ruminations on process

Raghu Garud

Pennsylvania State University

August 2011Slide2

Process vs. Variance

Longitudinal -- driven by questions

about "how phenomena emerge

”

Not

efficient

causality but generative causalitySlide3

Innovation Processes are Complex

Multiple people artifacts and metrics –

manifest

complexity.

Ecology of interactions between these heterogeneous elements –

relational

complexity.

F

ull of ups and downs, false starts and dead ends, “backing &

forthing

” –

temporal

complexity.Slide4

Consequentially

Ambiguity

is generated endogenously and is manifest in:

blurred

boundaries

shifting loci of

action

emerging

preferences

multiple & conflicting cuesSlide5

And

Practitioners have to commit to a course of action despite and even because of the ambiguity.

From

:

Garud

R. and Van de Ven A. H. 1992.

"An empirical evaluation of the internal corporate venturing process"

Strategic Management Journal

, Vol. 13, 93-109.Slide6

How Address Boundary Problem?

One approach is to let field members inform us about emerging boundaries.

In my case,

I

attended conferences on cochlear implants where actor networks constituted and

re-constituted

the emerging fields through their entanglements.Slide7

These and other studies and others have led to insight on

Innovation as:

C

omplex adaptive processes

C

omplex responsive processes

Complex becoming processesSlide8

Complex Adaptive P

rocesses

Metaphors from an

evolutionary

perspective include -- search, landscape, selection environments, structural holes etc.

Context is largely exogenous.

T

heorizing includes -- path dependence, absorptive capacity, punctuated equilibrium, two-stage dominant design, exaptation.

Implications for process research – follow and study shifts in landscapes over time.Slide9

An Example

This figure shows the transition from one sociotechnical regime to another as a consequence of exogenous niche innovations and landscape changes, as depicted by

Geels

&

Schot

(2007). Slide10

Complex Responsive P

rocesses

Metaphors from a

relational

perspective include -- interpretive flexibility, co-creation, translation.

Context is

endogenized

to yield a flat ontology (actor-network) that considers entanglements between social and material elements.

Theorizing includes -- path constitution,

bricolage

Implications for process research – follow and study

entanglements

over

time.Slide11

An Example

This figure shows the emergence and transformation of the bicycle through the constitutive entanglement of the social and the material as depicted by Pinch &

Bijker

(1987).Slide12

Complex Becoming Processes

Metaphors from an

intertemporal

perspective include

–

distentio

,

diachrony

,

chronos

& kairos, anticipation and recollection.Time is endogenized

to yield a Mobius strip of unfolding experiences.

T

heorizing includes -- transformative capacity, improvisation, path creation.

Implications for process research – follow

& study temporal agency.Slide13

An example

This figure is a temporally

emplotted

diagram of the research in the human genome

project.

The figure appeared in Mane and

Börner

(2004). Slide14

Summary of Complexity Perspectives

Adapted from:

Garud, R., Gehman, J. and Kumaraswamy. A. (2011) Complexity Arrangements for Sustaining Innovation: Lessons from 3M Corporation.

Organization Studies

32(6) 737–767

.

Garud, R. and Gehman, J. (2011) “

Metatheoretical

perspectives on sustainability journeys: Evolutionary, relational and

intertemporal

.”

Research Policy

(forthcoming).Slide15

Conclusion

We

first have to clarify what we mean by process

to conduct meaningful process research.

It is both a matter of personal choice and social acceptance as to what kind of process research we conduct.

As we

endogenize

context, text and sub-text, process research becomes all the more

challenging,

but at the same time more rewarding.