Transitional societies are faced with particularly challenging and pressing problems. These usually involve the passage from a centralised, socialist-based society, to a decentralised, market-based economy. This paper addresses a somewhat different case: that of Cuba. According to the official...

We draw on evidence scattered across thick descriptions of organizations to outline an alternative model of routine. Instead of defining routine as a process of compliance with prescribed rules and procedures we define it as a process of deviation from the prescribed elements of organizations,...

Management researchers and practitioners have developed a marked interest for the notion of quot;good companies to work forquot;, quot;exemplary workplacesquot;, quot;meaningful workquot;, quot;virtuous organizationquot;, quot;truly healthy organizationsquot; or quot;authentizotic...

Managers and organizations are normally focussed on a number of key issues and targets, such as strategic positioning, operations, competitors, internal processes, human relations, etc. Focus is fundamental to effective exploitation. Focus, however, carries with it some attendant risks. It may,...

We discuss why surprises, defined as events that happen unexpectedly or expected events that take unexpected shapes, are important to organizations and should be considered in the organizational literature. The concept of organizational surprises is unpacked on the basis of a typology built...

This paper advances a theory about the way patterns of positive and negative organizing unfold. It is grounded in data collected from 58 individuals. We followed an inductive logic and used critical incidents to collect information on positive and negative processes and outcomes. From this we...

Theories of management and organization have traditionally overlooked the concept of bricolage. Focused on the rationality of resource allocation, scholars have missed the relevance of the skill of quot;inventingquot; resources from available materials. Changes in the nature of competition are,...

Serendipity refers to the accidental discovery of something valuable. It is sometimes presented as an element of organizational learning but has been the object of scarce research. In this paper, I discuss the notion of serendipity in the organizational context, and elaborate a model of...

After the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe, management researchers devoted considerable energy to investigate ways to smooth transition to market economies. But one country of the former Soviet bloc, Cuba resisted transition and reaffirmed loyalty to communism. Little is known about...