Routines Resistance: How Conflicts within Transactive Memory Obstruct Routinization

Peter T. Bryant (), Nathalie Lazaric and Moustapha Niang ()
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Peter T. Bryant: IE Business School
Moustapha Niang: University of Nice Sophia Antipolis

No 2013-43, GREDEG Working Papers from Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France

Abstract: Routines resistance is observed among groups of experts that experienced a significant redefinition of their tasks and organizational goals within in a large French government agency. To expose the origins of such resistance, we investigate the processes by which transactive autobiographical memory supported organizational identification as an organization of technical experts, and how this memory structure led to the failed memorization of new action patterns which contradicted the pre-existing expert identity. We find that transactive autobiographical memory is deeply related to a complex process of identification, via the association of different contexts of identity, narrative and temporality, reflecting the levels and functions of autobiographical memory. More specifically, problems arose when managerial directives for new coordination actions conflicted with the pre-existing embedded sense of expert identity, related goals and relationships, leading to dis-identification among employees. The result was failed memorization and routine resistance, driven by conflicts with pre-existing transactive autobiographical memory. We propose a model of the micro-foundations of routines which explains these effects.

Keywords: Routine; Transactive memory; Identity; Knowledge Sharing; Organizational Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B31 B32 D8 J28 M12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2013-11
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Working Paper: Routines Resistance: How Conflicts within Transactive Memory Obstruct Routinization (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gre:wpaper:2013-43

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