William Ocasio | Northwestern University (original) (raw)

Papers by William Ocasio

yert and March's (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm and the broader Carnegie School form ... more yert and March's (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm and the broader Carnegie School form critical theoretical underpinnings for modern organization studies. Despite its impact, however, we suggest that researchers who rely on the Carnegie School have progressively lost touch with its defining commitment to a decision-centered view of organizations. Decision making has given way to learning, routines, and

The Academy of Management Annals, 2012

The Behavioral Theory of the Firm has had an enormous influence on organizational theory, strateg... more The Behavioral Theory of the Firm has had an enormous influence on organizational theory, strategic management, and neighboring fields of socio-scientific inquiry. Its central concepts have become foundational to any theoretical and empirical work focussed on organizational phenomena. Unlike past reviews of this work, we start by focusing less on reviewing these concepts than we do on discussing the new agenda they created for students of organizations and related subjects. We then explain the theoretical commitments implied ...

Information and Organization Design Series

This study advances an attention-based view of corporate strategy and explores its implications f... more This study advances an attention-based view of corporate strategy and explores its implications for organizational design. We examine the governance of resource allocation in a multi-business organization through the firm's network of decision-making and communication channels. Using both primary and secondary sources, we analyze the changes in the decisionmaking channels at General Electric (GE) over a 51-year period across four CEO regimes: Ralph J. Cordiner, Fred J. Borch, Reginald H. Jones and John F. Welch. We identify four distinct channel functions: reporting, staff, control and agenda management. Through our analysis, we find that strategy does not emerge from any unitary, bounded process but from the pattern that emerges from a network of tightly and loosely coupled channels operating simultaneously.

Organization Science, 2010

The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2013

A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert & March, 1963) laid a conceptual foundation for the ap... more A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert & March, 1963) laid a conceptual foundation for the application of the “Carnegie School” approach to studying and understanding organization- level behavior and outcomes. The book has exerted enormous influence across fields such as organization theory, business strategy, economics, and organizational sociology in the now 50 years since its initial publication. As 2013 represents the 50th anniversary of the publication of Cyert and March (1963), this is an opportune time to reflect on BTF and its influence. This reflection should both (i) celebrate the foundational contributions of the BTF to organizational theory and strategic management and (ii) look forward toward how BTF may continue to guide future inquiry into the behavior of organizations (Gavetti et al., 2012). Therefore, we propose a panel symposium at the 2013 Academy of Management meeting to discuss the first 50 years of “A Behavioral Theory of the Firm” and project what the next 50 years may hold for work...

Wechallenge conventional accounts of the rise and fall of strategic planningby examining the hist... more Wechallenge conventional accounts of the rise and fall of strategic planningby examining the history and evolution of strategic planning practices at the General Electric Company (GE) during six CEO regimes: Wilson, Cordiner, Borch, Jones, Welch and Immelt. We distinguish strategic planningd a system of strategy formulation, decision making and controld from particular planning technologies such as SBUplanning.We showhowan integrative systemof strategic planning was first established in GE in the 1950s and continues, albeit transformed, to this day. Integrative strategic planning at GE was originally called long range planning, later strategic planning, and after the abandonment of SBU planning, GE’S Operating System, but changes in the use of labels mask continuities in prevailing practices. The history of strategic planning atGE has several implications for contemporary strategymaking: first, the practice of strategic planning cannot remain static but must evolve to facilitate cha...

Journal of Organization Design, 2021

by Mark W. Moffett, Simon Garnier, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Nathan R. Furr, Massimo Warglien, Cost... more by Mark W. Moffett, Simon Garnier, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Nathan R. Furr, Massimo Warglien, Costanza Sartoris, William Ocasio, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Lars A. Bach & Joachim Offenberg ABSTRACT Thus far the articles in the series JOD calls the "Organization Zoo" have employed the notion of a "zoo" metaphorically to describe an array of human institutions. Here we take the term literally to consider the design of the most complex organizations in the living world beside those of humans, a favorite of insect zoos around the world: ant colonies. We consider individuality and group identity in the functioning of ant organizations; advantages of a flat organization without hierarchies or leaders; self-organization; direct and indirect communication; job specialization; labor coordination; and the role of errors in innovation. The likely value and limitations of comparing ant and human organizations are briefly examined.

Journal of Management Inquiry

Recent critiques by Alvesson, Hallett, and Spicer have characterized neo-institutional theory (NI... more Recent critiques by Alvesson, Hallett, and Spicer have characterized neo-institutional theory (NIT) specifically as confronting a mid-life crisis and institutional theory (IT) more generally as uninhibited. While offering valid points, these critiques lack a fundamental understanding of how organizational institutionalism (OI) has become distinct from NIT. In contrast to NIT’s master hypothesis of isomorphism and focus on structural determinism, OI has made remarkable progress in explaining institutional variation and change. Notably, like organization theory more generally, OI is not a coherent theory, but rather a big tent community with its own set of internal differences, and at times confusing concepts. Rather than abandoning the concept of institutions, we suggest continued progress in OI requires greater clarification. Institutions are everywhere, but not everything, so it is important for researchers to specify which institutions are being studied, distinguish between instit...

Journal of Management Inquiry

Organizational crises have often stimulated scholarly theorizing that has been productive for our... more Organizational crises have often stimulated scholarly theorizing that has been productive for our field. Rarely, however, are there opportunities to theorize regarding crises that happen in our own professional associations. A crisis experienced by Professor Anita McGahan when she was the President of the Academy of Management, described in an accompanying article, has presented such an opportunity. In this set of nine brief reflections, several scholars have considered how McGahan’s actions with regard to that crisis can be understood conceptually and how they may stimulate development of previously established conceptual perspectives. These reflections make evident that McGahan’s actions cannot be appreciated without recognition of the complex dilemmas to which she was responding. These dilemmas include issues of trustworthy leadership, gendered power, leader voice, sensemaking and learning, organizational identities, psychological contracts, institutional leadership, and “good bu...

Strategy Science

For the attention-based view, the origins of the ideas behind a great strategy are less important... more For the attention-based view, the origins of the ideas behind a great strategy are less important than the ability of the organization to sustain focused attention in developing, implementing, and elaborating good ideas into a distinctive strategic agenda for value creation. We propose that the transformation of ideas into a great strategy is shaped by the firm's identity and corresponding patterns of organizational attention. Furthermore, great strategies focus attention on creating value for the customer-through the firm's value proposition and business model-relative to capturing value for the shareholders. Finally, we propose that great strategies emerge from a focused, strategic agenda communicated and distributed throughout the organization. We illustrate our propositions by comparing Apple and Motorola, which began with similar ideas for developing a strategy for seamless integration and seamless mobility, with smartphones as the digital hub. Apple sustained focused attention on transforming the ideas into the great strategy and business model behind the iPhone, while Motorola did not focus or sustain attention throughout the organization on developing its original ideas, leading to strategic failure.

Strategic Management Journal

The attention-based view (ABV) has highlighted that role of organizational attention in strategic... more The attention-based view (ABV) has highlighted that role of organizational attention in strategic decision-making and adaptation. While the original formulation recognized the importance of communication channels, subsequent research has tended to focus on communications as "pipes and prisms" for information processing, which limits the scope of ABV in addressing strategic change. Here we propose a broader role for communication in generating attention to new strategic issues and initiatives, and forming and implementing a new firm strategy. We offer specific suggestions for future research on the role of communication practices, vocabularies, rhetorical tactics, and talk and text in shaping organizational attention in strategic change. We believe that such enhanced view of ABV can contribute to advancing research on dynamic capabilities, strategy processes, strategy-as-practice, and behavioral strategy.

Oxford Handbooks Online

In this chapter, we develop a theoretical framework of an attention-based view of organizational ... more In this chapter, we develop a theoretical framework of an attention-based view of organizational learning. Specifically, we explain how the three pillars of Ocasio’s (1997, 2011) attention-based view—focus of attention (and its subnotions of executive attention and attentional vigilance), situated attention, and structural distribution of attention—are relevant for three main outcomes of organizational learning: knowledge creation, retention, and transfer. We also discuss how attention interacts with other well-known learning mechanisms, such as performance feedback, capabilities, trust, and experience, and when and how attention either amplifies or negates their effectiveness for learning. We conclude with an evaluation of the attention-based view of organizational learning and suggestions for future research.

This study examines the cross-level effect of group-level managers on member firms’ problemistic ... more This study examines the cross-level effect of group-level managers on member firms’ problemistic search in hierarchical business groups. Using multi-level data from Korean business groups, we propose that the effects of failure to meet an aspiration level on R&D search intensity increase when member firm performance and R&D investments are more cognitively accessible to group-level managers. Specifically, we find, first, that when underperforming firms are widespread in a business group, a focal member firm intensifies R&D search in response performance below an aspiration level because member firm performance, as a group-level problem, becomes cognitively accessible to group-level managers. Second, as member firms operating in R&D intensive industries are more prevalent in a business group, R&D investments, as a search solution, become more cognitively accessible to group-level managers. Thus, a focal member firm reinforces R&D search in response to the performance shortfall. We di...

An Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource, 2015

This essay discusses a new approach to institutional analysis—the institutional logics perspectiv... more This essay discusses a new approach to institutional analysis—the institutional logics perspective (ILP). This perspective is a meta-theory useful for integrating and augmenting a variety of social science theories to better understand the effects of cultural institutions on individuals, organizations, and societies. We describe the history of the development of the ILP, define its core concepts and mechanisms, and review and discuss foundational and cutting-edge research. Prior overviews emphasize the mechanisms, variety of substantive contexts, and the cross-level effects. We take a different approach by organizing the literature review by institutional orders. This meta-analysis reveals a pattern of institutional change—the weakening of the professions and the spread of the market logic in many domains. We discuss implications of this finding and suggest future research. Keywords: institutional theory; institutional logics; institutional orders; institutional fields; institutional change

A New Approach to Culture, Structure and Process, 2012

yert and March's (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm and the broader Carnegie School form ... more yert and March's (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm and the broader Carnegie School form critical theoretical underpinnings for modern organization studies. Despite its impact, however, we suggest that researchers who rely on the Carnegie School have progressively lost touch with its defining commitment to a decision-centered view of organizations. Decision making has given way to learning, routines, and

The Academy of Management Annals, 2012

The Behavioral Theory of the Firm has had an enormous influence on organizational theory, strateg... more The Behavioral Theory of the Firm has had an enormous influence on organizational theory, strategic management, and neighboring fields of socio-scientific inquiry. Its central concepts have become foundational to any theoretical and empirical work focussed on organizational phenomena. Unlike past reviews of this work, we start by focusing less on reviewing these concepts than we do on discussing the new agenda they created for students of organizations and related subjects. We then explain the theoretical commitments implied ...

Information and Organization Design Series

This study advances an attention-based view of corporate strategy and explores its implications f... more This study advances an attention-based view of corporate strategy and explores its implications for organizational design. We examine the governance of resource allocation in a multi-business organization through the firm's network of decision-making and communication channels. Using both primary and secondary sources, we analyze the changes in the decisionmaking channels at General Electric (GE) over a 51-year period across four CEO regimes: Ralph J. Cordiner, Fred J. Borch, Reginald H. Jones and John F. Welch. We identify four distinct channel functions: reporting, staff, control and agenda management. Through our analysis, we find that strategy does not emerge from any unitary, bounded process but from the pattern that emerges from a network of tightly and loosely coupled channels operating simultaneously.

Organization Science, 2010

The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2013

A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert & March, 1963) laid a conceptual foundation for the ap... more A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert & March, 1963) laid a conceptual foundation for the application of the “Carnegie School” approach to studying and understanding organization- level behavior and outcomes. The book has exerted enormous influence across fields such as organization theory, business strategy, economics, and organizational sociology in the now 50 years since its initial publication. As 2013 represents the 50th anniversary of the publication of Cyert and March (1963), this is an opportune time to reflect on BTF and its influence. This reflection should both (i) celebrate the foundational contributions of the BTF to organizational theory and strategic management and (ii) look forward toward how BTF may continue to guide future inquiry into the behavior of organizations (Gavetti et al., 2012). Therefore, we propose a panel symposium at the 2013 Academy of Management meeting to discuss the first 50 years of “A Behavioral Theory of the Firm” and project what the next 50 years may hold for work...

Wechallenge conventional accounts of the rise and fall of strategic planningby examining the hist... more Wechallenge conventional accounts of the rise and fall of strategic planningby examining the history and evolution of strategic planning practices at the General Electric Company (GE) during six CEO regimes: Wilson, Cordiner, Borch, Jones, Welch and Immelt. We distinguish strategic planningd a system of strategy formulation, decision making and controld from particular planning technologies such as SBUplanning.We showhowan integrative systemof strategic planning was first established in GE in the 1950s and continues, albeit transformed, to this day. Integrative strategic planning at GE was originally called long range planning, later strategic planning, and after the abandonment of SBU planning, GE’S Operating System, but changes in the use of labels mask continuities in prevailing practices. The history of strategic planning atGE has several implications for contemporary strategymaking: first, the practice of strategic planning cannot remain static but must evolve to facilitate cha...

Journal of Organization Design, 2021

by Mark W. Moffett, Simon Garnier, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Nathan R. Furr, Massimo Warglien, Cost... more by Mark W. Moffett, Simon Garnier, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Nathan R. Furr, Massimo Warglien, Costanza Sartoris, William Ocasio, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Lars A. Bach & Joachim Offenberg ABSTRACT Thus far the articles in the series JOD calls the "Organization Zoo" have employed the notion of a "zoo" metaphorically to describe an array of human institutions. Here we take the term literally to consider the design of the most complex organizations in the living world beside those of humans, a favorite of insect zoos around the world: ant colonies. We consider individuality and group identity in the functioning of ant organizations; advantages of a flat organization without hierarchies or leaders; self-organization; direct and indirect communication; job specialization; labor coordination; and the role of errors in innovation. The likely value and limitations of comparing ant and human organizations are briefly examined.

Journal of Management Inquiry

Recent critiques by Alvesson, Hallett, and Spicer have characterized neo-institutional theory (NI... more Recent critiques by Alvesson, Hallett, and Spicer have characterized neo-institutional theory (NIT) specifically as confronting a mid-life crisis and institutional theory (IT) more generally as uninhibited. While offering valid points, these critiques lack a fundamental understanding of how organizational institutionalism (OI) has become distinct from NIT. In contrast to NIT’s master hypothesis of isomorphism and focus on structural determinism, OI has made remarkable progress in explaining institutional variation and change. Notably, like organization theory more generally, OI is not a coherent theory, but rather a big tent community with its own set of internal differences, and at times confusing concepts. Rather than abandoning the concept of institutions, we suggest continued progress in OI requires greater clarification. Institutions are everywhere, but not everything, so it is important for researchers to specify which institutions are being studied, distinguish between instit...

Journal of Management Inquiry

Organizational crises have often stimulated scholarly theorizing that has been productive for our... more Organizational crises have often stimulated scholarly theorizing that has been productive for our field. Rarely, however, are there opportunities to theorize regarding crises that happen in our own professional associations. A crisis experienced by Professor Anita McGahan when she was the President of the Academy of Management, described in an accompanying article, has presented such an opportunity. In this set of nine brief reflections, several scholars have considered how McGahan’s actions with regard to that crisis can be understood conceptually and how they may stimulate development of previously established conceptual perspectives. These reflections make evident that McGahan’s actions cannot be appreciated without recognition of the complex dilemmas to which she was responding. These dilemmas include issues of trustworthy leadership, gendered power, leader voice, sensemaking and learning, organizational identities, psychological contracts, institutional leadership, and “good bu...

Strategy Science

For the attention-based view, the origins of the ideas behind a great strategy are less important... more For the attention-based view, the origins of the ideas behind a great strategy are less important than the ability of the organization to sustain focused attention in developing, implementing, and elaborating good ideas into a distinctive strategic agenda for value creation. We propose that the transformation of ideas into a great strategy is shaped by the firm's identity and corresponding patterns of organizational attention. Furthermore, great strategies focus attention on creating value for the customer-through the firm's value proposition and business model-relative to capturing value for the shareholders. Finally, we propose that great strategies emerge from a focused, strategic agenda communicated and distributed throughout the organization. We illustrate our propositions by comparing Apple and Motorola, which began with similar ideas for developing a strategy for seamless integration and seamless mobility, with smartphones as the digital hub. Apple sustained focused attention on transforming the ideas into the great strategy and business model behind the iPhone, while Motorola did not focus or sustain attention throughout the organization on developing its original ideas, leading to strategic failure.

Strategic Management Journal

The attention-based view (ABV) has highlighted that role of organizational attention in strategic... more The attention-based view (ABV) has highlighted that role of organizational attention in strategic decision-making and adaptation. While the original formulation recognized the importance of communication channels, subsequent research has tended to focus on communications as "pipes and prisms" for information processing, which limits the scope of ABV in addressing strategic change. Here we propose a broader role for communication in generating attention to new strategic issues and initiatives, and forming and implementing a new firm strategy. We offer specific suggestions for future research on the role of communication practices, vocabularies, rhetorical tactics, and talk and text in shaping organizational attention in strategic change. We believe that such enhanced view of ABV can contribute to advancing research on dynamic capabilities, strategy processes, strategy-as-practice, and behavioral strategy.

Oxford Handbooks Online

In this chapter, we develop a theoretical framework of an attention-based view of organizational ... more In this chapter, we develop a theoretical framework of an attention-based view of organizational learning. Specifically, we explain how the three pillars of Ocasio’s (1997, 2011) attention-based view—focus of attention (and its subnotions of executive attention and attentional vigilance), situated attention, and structural distribution of attention—are relevant for three main outcomes of organizational learning: knowledge creation, retention, and transfer. We also discuss how attention interacts with other well-known learning mechanisms, such as performance feedback, capabilities, trust, and experience, and when and how attention either amplifies or negates their effectiveness for learning. We conclude with an evaluation of the attention-based view of organizational learning and suggestions for future research.

This study examines the cross-level effect of group-level managers on member firms’ problemistic ... more This study examines the cross-level effect of group-level managers on member firms’ problemistic search in hierarchical business groups. Using multi-level data from Korean business groups, we propose that the effects of failure to meet an aspiration level on R&D search intensity increase when member firm performance and R&D investments are more cognitively accessible to group-level managers. Specifically, we find, first, that when underperforming firms are widespread in a business group, a focal member firm intensifies R&D search in response performance below an aspiration level because member firm performance, as a group-level problem, becomes cognitively accessible to group-level managers. Second, as member firms operating in R&D intensive industries are more prevalent in a business group, R&D investments, as a search solution, become more cognitively accessible to group-level managers. Thus, a focal member firm reinforces R&D search in response to the performance shortfall. We di...

An Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource, 2015

This essay discusses a new approach to institutional analysis—the institutional logics perspectiv... more This essay discusses a new approach to institutional analysis—the institutional logics perspective (ILP). This perspective is a meta-theory useful for integrating and augmenting a variety of social science theories to better understand the effects of cultural institutions on individuals, organizations, and societies. We describe the history of the development of the ILP, define its core concepts and mechanisms, and review and discuss foundational and cutting-edge research. Prior overviews emphasize the mechanisms, variety of substantive contexts, and the cross-level effects. We take a different approach by organizing the literature review by institutional orders. This meta-analysis reveals a pattern of institutional change—the weakening of the professions and the spread of the market logic in many domains. We discuss implications of this finding and suggest future research. Keywords: institutional theory; institutional logics; institutional orders; institutional fields; institutional change

A New Approach to Culture, Structure and Process, 2012