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The grounded theory method (GT) remains elusive and misunderstood by many—even those who advocate its use. In practice, many research studies cite the use of GT but merely apply certain a la carte aspects or jargon of the method while not actually incorporating the fundamental principles of the methodology. Consequently, the purpose of this article is fourfold: (a) to demystify the key tenets of GT, (b) to discuss the problematic impacts of adopting an a la carte approach to GT, (c) to draw attention to GT as a rigorous method for business research, and (d) to advocate for the increased use of GT by more researchers where appropriate. Throughout the article, the authors use the example of a recently completed GT study by the lead author to highlight the multiple dimensions of GT and how they all work together.

Empowerment, creativity, and organizational memory are constructs that have been researched in MIS. While each construct has received individual attention, we have found relatively little research linking them. One of the major edicts of empowerment is delegation of decision making authority to lower-level employees. Increased authority allows employees more freedom to be creative. However, if creative thought is generated but not captured, innovative ideas may be lost. Organizational memory can capture creative ideas as they are generated so that empowered teams can draw upon positive creative experiences. We developed a theoretical model to illuminate the relationships between organizational memory, worker empowerment, and creativity. The model portrays the linkages between empowerment and creativity, creativity and organizational memory, and organizational memory and empowerment. The model was developed based on the literature in each respective area and an interview-based study concerning “empowered” systems development project teams and organizational memory. Analysis of the interview data revealed that empowered workers generate creative solutions to problems. However, creative solutions can only be used for future projects if they are somehow recorded into organizational memory. Organizations that empowered their workforce and embraced creativity reported increased customer satisfaction, waste reduction, and some quality gains. In contrast, those that did not empower reported little or no change. Organizations that recorded creative solutions to problems believe that retrieval of this information could be potentially useful for future projects. Potential challenges faced by organizations classified into each cell are also presented. This classification scheme should prove useful as a guide to organizations examining the potential benefits and pitfalls of worker empowerment and organizational memory.

This research explores the gap in the management of lessons learned (MLL) in an Information Technology project (IT), validating a model (named Target) with the support of a wiki platform in a medium-sized company in the IT industry. This model supports the following MLL processes: awareness, collection, verification, storage, dissemination and reuse. This study adopts the paradigm of the Design Science Research and the Technical Action Research method to instantiate the Target model in the implementation phase of an IT project. The theoretical contribution lies in the practical utility of an LL model, which was validated in the field promoting innovation in the MLL. The practical implications can be seen in the company's learning to introduce the MLL, improve design productivity, increase employee collaboration and better disseminate knowledge., Esta pesquisa explora a lacuna na gestão de lições aprendidas (GLA) em um projeto de Tecnologia da Informação (TI), validando um modelo (denominado Target) com o apoio de uma plataforma wiki em uma empresa de médio porte no setor de TI. Este modelo suporta os seguintes processos do GLA: conscientização, coleta, verificação, armazenamento, disseminação e reuso. Este estudo adota o paradigma Design Science Research e o Método de Pesquisa-ação Técnica para instanciar o modelo Target na fase de implementação de um projeto de TI. A contribuição teórica reside na utilidade prática de um modelo de GLA, que foi validado no campo promovendo inovação na GLA. As implicações práticas podem ser vistas no aprendizado da empresa para introduzir o GLA, melhorar a produtividade do projeto, aumentar a colaboração dos funcionários e disseminar melhor o conhecimento.

Managerial devices are rapidly developing as a means for driving the legal behaviour of organisations, including those of states and corporations. This article explores the managerial rationality underpinning global legal indicators, and the constraints they convey on legal behaviour. In particular, it argues that indicators are better understood as part of a system of management control and distributed governance, which is steadily eroding state-centred forms of authority, including state law. In this context, legitimacy and reactivity are contingent to their cycle of production and implementation, which is fourfold: data-collecting, benchmarking, auditing and allocating incentives. Each process is meant to generate respectively subjectification, self-knowledge by comparison, accountability and stimulus for action. Indicators with higher degrees of legitimacy become entrenched in institutional practices and legal decision-making processes. The article concludes that regulatory spaces where indicators unfold need critical and political scrutiny to expose their pernicious effects, undesirable uses, and inevitable misuses.

The important role of entrepreneurship in the dynamics of the arts sector and the influence of the leader’s personality make succession a key issue in creative industries. What happens to an artistic organization when its founder leaves? How does it evolve? Can it adopt a style of management that is compatible with the founder’s absence? This article focuses on the case of Groupe Bernard Loiseau, an iconic French company in the culinary arts whose owner and chef died suddenly. It sheds light on how the question of succession and that of style were addressed in this organization and how they are addressed in artistic organizations in general.

Quantitative risk assessments of debris flows and other hydrogeological hazards require the analyst to predict damage potentials. A common way to do so is by use of proportional loss functions. In this paper, we analyze a uniquely rich dataset of 132 buildings that were damaged in one of five large debris flow events in Switzerland. Using the double generalized linear model, we estimate proportional loss functions that may be used for various prediction purposes including hazard mapping, landscape planning, and insurance pricing. Unlike earlier analyses, we control for confounding effects of building characteristics, site specifics, and process intensities as well as for overdispersion in the data. Our results suggest that process intensity parameters are the most meaningful predictors of proportional loss sizes. Cross-validation tests suggest that the mean absolute prediction errors of our models are in the range of 11%, underpinning the accurateness of the approach.