Student Essay – ConJunction

Agile practices in Open Strategy: A new approach to overcoming Open Strategy challenges and enhancing organizational decision-making

This research essay is authored by Max Heusgen, student in the master course Open Organizations and Organizing Openness at University of Innsbruck.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, organizations constantly seek methods that foster adaptability, responsiveness, and inclusivity in their strategic decision-making processes. One emerging trend is Open Strategy initiatives. Unlike traditional top-down strategies, open strategy promotes increased transparency, inclusion, and broad-based participation in strategic development, often facilitated by IT systems (Hautz et al., 2017; Tavakoli et al., 2017). However, as this openness scales, it becomes increasingly complex, leading to potential pitfalls that can hinder its execution, as evidenced by the Wikimedia Foundation (Laura Dobusch et al., 2019) and Premium Cola (Luedicke et al., 2017). Hautz et al. (2017) therefore outline the five dilemmas of process, commitment, disclosure, empowerment, and escalation. Interestingly, some companies are already reversing their open strategy approach in pursuit of greater control and profit from their innovations (Appleyard & Chesbrough, 2017).

Another prevalent trend is Agile working. Originating in software development, Agile methods prioritize flexibility, continuous improvement, and active stakeholder involvement. They are characterized by iterative development cycles and a swift response to change (Alsaqqa et al., 2020). Agile methods positively impact project success, efficiency, and stakeholder satisfaction in volatile and uncertain environments (Serrador & Pinto, 2015). The 15th State of Agile Report by Digital.ai (2022) reveals that 86% of Software Development and 63% of IT departments are working agile, with other departments like operations or production also seeing a significant increase from 2020 to 2021. Agile values align with Open Strategy on many occasions and provide tangible measures for their implementation.

The central thesis of this essay suggests that as open strategy is practiced more radically, its inherent challenges become increasingly pronounced. However, the principles and methods of Agile frameworks, known for their robust response to the complexities of software development and other areas, can offer valuable solutions to these open strategy pitfalls. This essay will introduce the values of Open Strategy and the challenges associated with scaling them in an organization. It will then explain how Agile methodologies handle these values and how Open Strategy could benefit from these practices.

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The Excluding Effects of Boundaries in the Case of English Wikipedia

(Picture taken from this blog post on “Diversity in Wikipedia”)

This research essay is authored by Eva-Maria Schillinger, student in the master course Open Organizations and Organizing Openness at University of Innsbruck.

As a worldwide, open and collaborative knowledge sharing platform, Wikipedia has largely replaced the need for physical encyclopedias for many. From children using it for their first school presentations to university professors and academics, the readership is broad and diverse. And since Wikipedia prides itself on being an open-for-anyone space for collaboration, you would think that the large community of editors and contributors should be similar in diversity, but this is not the case. While there are multiple dimensions of diversity that could be examined in the case of Wikipedia, gender is the most visible and prominent facet. But not only diversity among users is more scarce than expected, furthermore there is a lack of inclusivity of perspectives and alternative opinions, which in some cases can lead to misrepresentation. Recognizing the lack of diversity among editors and the resulting bias in the content displayed is crucial for making attempts to increase inclusivity in both areas, which according to Wikipedia’s principle of equality should be the goal of the organization and its vast community. Finding the causes for this exclusion is the next step. This essay will examine potential exclusionary effects of boundaries around and within Wikipedia and how they inhibit inclusivity for both contributors and content. In total, four boundaries and their potential for exclusion are discussed. The focus lies on the English version of Wikipedia to keep an appropriate scope.

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Efficiency, Efficiency, Everyhwere Efficiency: From a Linguistic Detail to a Paradigm in Organization Studies

This reflection essay is authored by Fabian Lugert and Richard Kempert, students in the master program Organization Studies at University of Innsbruck.

As students of Organization Studies, we often find ourselves in discussions, less often they get as intense as the one we had over the meaning and performativity of the word efficiency. This was challenging for us, because we constantly get confronted with the terms “efficiency”, “efficient” or “inefficient”. Subjectively perceived the word stem is used in every paper we read, which is not surprising as it is widely used and variable in its use. The most general definition of “efficiency” seems to be “doing the things right” (Drucker 1963). Other sources differ in their explanations. For example, the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the good use of time and energy in a way that does not waste any” (Cambridge Dictionary “Efficiency”). Another explanation provided by the dictionary: efficiency is “a situation in which a person, company, factory, etc. uses resources such as time, materials, or labor well, without wasting any” or “a situation in which a person, system, or machine works well and quickly” (Cambridge Dictionary “Efficiency”).

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Learning from Disasters: A ‘Framing’ Perspective

Was the launch of Siri a “disaster”? Depends on how you frame it. (Foto, CC BY-SA 2.0

This research essay is authored by Melissa Köhler, student in the master program Organization Studies at University of Innsbruck.

‘We do not learn from experiences… we learn from reflecting on experiences.’ (John Dewey)

Unexpected and unusual incidents in organizational life often result in a change from stable conditions into situations that are ‘far from equilibrium’ (Rudolph and Repenning, 2002). Even if undesirable incidents entail an organizational breakdown and misery, organizations can try to make sense of the circumstances. They have the possibility to reflect and learn in order to prevent such occasions, or to improve their response the next time. To understand how organizations learn from disasters, current scientific literature mainly analyzes very popular incidents such as the Mount Everest climbing accident in 1996 or natural catastrophes. In order to gain substantial insights on how organizations learn from disastrous situations, this focus on extreme incidents seems quite narrow-minded. Who defines whether a specific event is a disaster or not? A ‘Framing’ perspective could help to induce a better understanding on how organizations learn from such situations.

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The Simulacrum of Massive Open Online Courses representing Open Educational Resources

This research essay is authored by Isabella Winkler, student in the master program Business Education at Universität Innsbruck and participant in the 2017 edition of the course “Open Organizations and Organizing Openness“.

Globalization and digitalization are keywords which characterize today’s society. The process of digitalization and dissemination of data has already found its way into education. It is one of the biggest concerns when talking about modernizations in educational systems (Dobusch & Heimstädt, 2016). One primary goal of recent education is to make knowledge accessible anywhere, anytime and for anyone. As a result education becomes egalitarian and contributes to the public’s welfare. In his educational ideal Humboldt already registered that it is the state’s duty to make knowledge available for everyone even for the poorest (Gaisbauer, Kaperer, Koch & Sedmak, 2013). Going one step further beyond open access for everybody the UNESCO has come up with the conception of Open Educational Resources (OER). “OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others.” (Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007, p. 4).

What also came along with this Open Education Movement were Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the segment of higher education. Since 2008 these educational opportunities offered by universities and commercial organizations have shaped the educational infrastructure. The number of MOOCs has rapidly grown in the last ten years because educational institutions have to fulfill the needs of potential students and to meet the requirements of the fast changing educational market towards learner-centered and individualized learning methods. MOOCs are online courses which provide each person free access to university level education without paying a fee and without the need to fulfill certain admission requirements (Yuan & Powell, 2013). Though, at this point it raises the question: To what extent does the ‘Open’ in Massive Open Online Courses correspond to the ‘Open’ in Open Educational Resources or do MOOCs not overcome the hurdle of providing only Open Access instead of Open Education? Continue reading “The Simulacrum of Massive Open Online Courses representing Open Educational Resources” →

Organizational Improvization beyond the Jazz Metaphor: Indian Music and Music Therapy

This research essay is authored by Cäcilia Bart, student in the master program Organization Studies at Universität Innsbruck.

Metaphors help t o understand organizations from different perspectives. Over the past 20 years the dominant metaphor for understanding organizational improvisation has been that of the Jazz band (Kamoche et al., 2003). However, this focus on one metaphor implies that we have forgotten an important lesson that Morgan (1997) taught us about metaphors: “a way of seeing is also a way of not seeing”. Continue reading “Organizational Improvization beyond the Jazz Metaphor: Indian Music and Music Therapy” →

Organizing Intuition and Playful Practice: The Jazz Band Metaphor Revisited

This research essay is authored by Hannes Henzinger, student in the master program Organization Studies at Universität Innsbruck.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift.” (Albert Einstein)

Preservation Hall Jazz band (Foto: Infrogmation, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

A common narrative in today’s organization and management literature is that this world, especially the world of business, has become increasingly complex and unpredictable. Not just the scope, also the velocity of change has increased. Such a dramatic shift in the image of the environment seems to ask for an abandonment of old organizational practices. Not just bureaucracy seems outdated. Even stable strategies, routines, and planning are running the risk of falling short of what is needed to react timely and adaptively in this new environment. This narrative calls for a reconstruction of the practice of organizing, “new models and metaphors are needed for organizing” (Barrett, 1998, p. 605). The metaphor of a jazz band, introduced by Karl Weick, is a particularly catchy one. With an allusion to peak performance, like a “flow” experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), it elegantly charms the reader into seeing jazz aspects in organizing and decision making. Beyond the lessons that are elaborated on in the article by Barrett (1998) the metaphor offers two further potentially valuable aspects, that, although foundational to the metaphor, often go unnoticed: the role of intuition in organizing and decision making and playful practice. Continue reading “Organizing Intuition and Playful Practice: The Jazz Band Metaphor Revisited” →

New Category at the ConJunction Blog: Student Research Essays

In some Organization Studies courses, students are required to write a short research essay, addressing one focused question or thesis related to the course topic. These essays are distinct from ‘ordinary’ seminar or term papers not only due to their short length but also because the students are encouraged to take a clear, maybe even provocative stance.

Foto: Bernhard Ginzler, CC-BY 4.0) — Foto: Bernhard Gitzler, CC-BY 4.0)

Reading these essays, Richard Weiskopf and I have regularly encountered works that were of such excellent quality that we think it would be a waste to just grade them. Rather, we have – and will continue to do so – asked authors of such essays to share them with a wider audience here at the ConJunction Community Blog.

The first two essays in what we hope will be an ongoing series, have been provided by Cäcilia Bart and Hannes Henzinger. While both essays deal with Jazz as a metaphor for organizing, they contribute quite different insights. Stay tuned for these and future student essays.