In this paper we discuss, on the basis of system theory, the rigour-relevance gap in management research and the proposal to overcome it. From a system theory perspective, social systems are self-referential or autopoietic, which means that communication elements of one system, such as science,...

Organizational rules (standard operating procedures) are, at the same time, enabling and restraining. They are enabling, because, e.g., they represent highly effective coordination instruments and serve as stores of organizational knowledge. On the other hand, they tend to develop a dynamics...

In this paper we argue that incremental organizational change, that we conceptualize predominantly as rule change, has been severely neglected in research on organizational change. A longitudinal study of rule changes in a German bank produced among others the following results: (1) The...