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Liminal roles as a source of creative agency in management : the case of knowledge-sharing communities
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Swan, Jacky, Scarbrough, Harry and Ziebro, Monique C. (2016) Liminal roles as a source of creative agency in management : the case of knowledge-sharing communities. Human Relations, 69 (3). pp. 781-811. doi:10.1177/0018726715599585
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726715599585
Abstract
Studies suggest that the experience of liminality – of being in an ambiguous, ‘betwixt and between’ position – has creative potential for organizations. We contribute to theory on the link between liminality and creative agency through a study of the coordinators of ‘knowledge-sharing communities’; one of the latest examples of a ‘neo-bureaucratic’ practice that seeks to elicit innovative responses from employees while intensifying control by the organization. Through a role-centred perspective, our study found that both the structural and interpretive aspects of coordinators’ role enactments promoted a degree of creative agency. ‘Front-stage’ and ‘back-stage’ activities were developed to meet the divergent expectations posed by senior management and community members, and the ambiguity of their roles prompted an array of different role interpretations. Our findings contribute to theory by showing how the link between liminality and creative agency is not confined to roles and spaces (consultancy work, professional expertise) that are positioned across organizational boundaries, or free from norms and expectations, but may also apply to roles that are ambiguously situated within organizational contexts and that are subject to divergent expectations. This shows how neo-bureaucratic forms may be both reproduced and renewed through the creative responses of individual managers.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor | ||||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Innovation, Knowledge & Organisational Networks Research Unit Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Technological innovations | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Human Relations | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0018-7267 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | March 2016 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 69 | ||||||||
| Number: | 3 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 781-811 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/0018726715599585 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) | ||||||||
| Grant number: | RES 185-31-0021 (ESRC) |
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