Bridging Social Constraint and Social Action to Design Organizations for Innovation

Abstract

Organization studies offers conflicting design ideas to organize large firms in mature industries for sustained product innovation. These conflicts arise in part from the bifurcation in theory between social constraint and social action, even though structuration views emphasize that neither exists without the other. Designs based on social constraint emphasize boundaries, authority, and reward mechanisms, while designs based on social action emphasize emergence, knowledgeable action, and self-fulfillment. This analysis applies a design science framework to reveal the incommensurate construction principles in the bifurcated designs. Construction principles are imperative statements for action that bridge organization theory and organization design, and highlight deeper meanings behind design guidelines. The construction principles for innovation evoke different patterns of managerial work, emphasizing either direct managerial agency while constraining employees or indirect shaping and enabling. I develop three alternate construction principles based on the mutual constitution of constraint and action. These principles capture some of the insights of the two separated sets of principles, but also reflect a coherent understanding of social order in organizations and organizing.