Fabiola BERTOLOTTI - personale UniMoRe

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Fabiola BERTOLOTTI

Professore Ordinario
Dipartimento di Scienze e Metodi dell'Ingegneria

Pubblicazioni

2024 - Many teams, one better career? A study on the impact of MTM on individual career success [Working paper]
Incerti, V.; Bellesia, F.; Bertolotti, F.; Mattarelli, E.
abstract

This study investigates individuals who experience Multiple Team Membership (MTM) with the aim to understand the interplay between MTM and careers. We gathered 6-years longitudinal data of employees working in multiple teams in a mid-sized IT consultancy company, and we investigate how the number of MTMs and its change over time affect employees’ career progression in particular. We highlight a complex relationship between the number of concurrent team memberships and career progression, a relationship that is also contingent on employees’ seniority. Our results suggest that, to increase their probability of career success, individuals need to experience low variability in the number of concurrent team memberships, especially when they are junior members of the organization. However, experiencing an increase in the number of concurrent teams over time is also beneficial for career progression. More broadly, our study contributes to the understanding of how complex organizational arrangements, such as those driven by MTM, affect individual career trajectories. Moreover, it contributes to the growing conversation on MTM, by introducing and investigating different dimensions of concurrent team memberships and their effects on individuals.

2023 - Algorithmic work-life balance: How algorithms influence gig-workers perceptions of work-life boundaries on platforms [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bellesia, F.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.
abstract

With the rising trend of individuals embracing freelance work on online labor markets, it becomes crucial to comprehend how platforms and algorithms influence their experiences of well-being. This study employs a mixed methods approach to explore the effects of platforms and various algorithms, including matching, control, and rating algorithms, on freelancers' work-life balance. Drawing on preliminary data collected through surveys and interviews with freelancers on a major online labor market platform, our findings reveal that control and rating algorithms negatively impact work-life balance by amplifying feelings of insecurity among freelancers. However, we also discovered that freelancers who perceive the platform they work on as useful exhibit greater proficiency in navigating the boundaries between their work and family life. Our study sheds light on the intricate dynamics between platforms, algorithms, well-being, and work-life balance for freelancers and emphasizes the need for further exploration of algorithmic interventions that promote work-life balance in the online freelance context.

2023 - Algorithms and their Affordances: How Crowdworkers Manage Algorithmic Scores in Online Labour Markets [Articolo su rivista]
Bellesia, Francesca; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

2023 - Multiple Team Membership (MTM) and the Future of Work: How MTM Experiences Affect Knowledge Workers [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Incerti, Valerio; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bhappu, Anita D.; Rishani, Mayssa; Jasmin Hoever, Inga; Van Dierendonck, Dirk; Anantha Ramakrishnan, Poornika; Fodor, Oana; Curseu, Petru; Meslec, Nicoleta; Ahmadpour, Leila; Raghuram, Sumita; Iubatti, Daniela; Rua-Gomez, Carla
abstract

Knowledge workers are asked to work concurrently on several teams, but very few studies have tried to operationalize Multiple Team Memberships (MTM) using a variety of metrics, above and beyond the number of teams. However, broader conceptualizations of MTM (for instance, different forms of context variety) could help appreciate some unique benefits and challenges for multi-teamers. Relatedly, we still need to more broadly understand how people interpret and give meaning to their different experiences in MTM contexts. This symposium addresses these pressing issues by presenting four papers looking at the interplay between various conceptualizations of MTM (e.g., number of teams, variety of perceived team inclusion, variety of perceived team prestige) and several underexplored individual outcomes such as creativity, emotions, thriving at work, and the likelihood to enter multiple boards. Importantly, the papers use multiple methods and multiple sources of data such as qualitative data based on interviews, quantitative data based on surveys, and longitudinal panel data. They also focus on the experiences of people when engaged in scenarios of MTM within the boundaries of single firms as well as when they work across multiple firms.

2022 - Dynamic Stereotyping Across Occupations. How Management Academics and Practitioners Negotiate the Knower-Doer Stereotype in Interaction [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Despite the growing debate on the difficult relationship between management theory and practice, we still know little about what happens when academics and practitioners meet in liminal contexts, and how they deal with perceived differences. We study a corporate executive program where management academics and R&D managers draw on the 'knower-doer' stereotype to exchange knowledge about technology innovation management. We introduce the concept of dynamic stereotyping -i.e. using readily available occupational images to engage immediately in temporary and fluid exchanges with members of other occupations. Dynamic stereotyping (anticipation, reaction and reversal) can help reduce the relational insecurity experienced by academics and practitioners when they meet and promote the transition from abstracted to more embodied and realistic views of each other. We contribute to the theory-practice debate and to the literatures on stereotypes and occupations by providing a process-based view on stereotyping and the conditions favoring dynamic versus rigid stereotyping.

2022 - From Lone Wolves to Members of the Pack: Exploring interpersonal identity work within identity workspaces [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, F; Tagliaventi, Maria Rita; Dosi, Clio
abstract

Individuals can experience the urge to realize their desired work selves, inspired either by the ‘roads not taken’ in the past or positive images of the self in the future. Based on a qualitative study of healthcare professionals working in Italian community hospitals, we develop a process model of how communities of individuals who are unable to enact their desired work selves in their current occupations, create new entities to act as identity workspaces to host their identity work. They may do so even if they hold different desired work selves, engaging in interpersonal identity work. The processes of identity work and collective creation of an identity workspace are intertwined since the identity work of one individual is in an ongoing dynamic relation with the identity work of other individuals. People converge to play out their desired work selves in an identity workspace which is supportive. However, the heterogeneity of the desired work selves involved can lead to the individual’s identity work encroaching on the identity work of the others, and this heterogeneity results in impasse. This impasse is resolved only when individuals engage in interpersonal identity work, through mutual exploration and enactment of expanded work selves in an enabling identity workspace.

2022 - How designed work environment and enacted work interactions impact creativity and work-life balance [Articolo su rivista]
Mattarelli, E; Cochis, C; Bertolotti, F; Ungureanu, P
abstract

Purpose This paper investigates how (1) a work environment designed to sustain creativity (i.e. through flexible arrangements and elements of the social-organizational work environment) and (2) the amount of enacted work interactions among employees, interpreted as facilitators of new idea generation (i.e. outdegree centrality in instrumental networks), differently impact creativity and work-life balance. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a quantitative study in a knowledge-intensive multinational company and collected data through a survey on a sample of 207 workers. Findings Findings highlight that flexible work arrangements are positively related to increased work-life balance but not to creativity, whereas having access to a social-organizational work environment designed to foster creativity is associated to an increased level of idea generation, but to a reduction in work-life balance. In addition, centrality in instrumental social networks is also associated to a reduction of work-life balance. Findings thus point to a potential trade-off between structures aimed at increasing creativity and initiatives aimed at engendering work-life balance. Originality/value The research contributes to the current debate on new organizational practices for innovation and creativity, highlighting their unexpected implications for workers. The research also contributes to the literature on work-life balance by unraveling previously unexplored antecedents, i.e. social networks and the social-organizational work environment designed for creativity.

2022 - Promoting Performance and Positive Organizational Environment Through Multiple Team Membership [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Incerti, Valerio; Mattarelli, Elisa; Raghuram, Sumita; Johan Van De Brake, Hendrik; Finuf, Kayla D.; Gibson, Hise O.; Mecham, Bradley R.; Mistry, Sal; Crawford, Eean; Grossman, Rebecca; Jang, Sujin; Ann Margolis, Jaclyn; Mell, Julija; Middlebrooks, Arthur; Montanye, Michael; Moore, Ozias; Mortensen, Mark; Ptashnik, Thomas; Stewart, Greg L.; Yücesan, Enver
abstract

Inspired by the Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective—that is, committed to create and sustain work environments that support human potential, thriving, and wellbeing (e.g., Cameron et al., 2012)—with this symposium we aim to open up this black box and shed light on such complexity by giving answers to a pressing question: how can we design and manage an organizational MTM system that promotes both performance and a positive organizational environment conducive to individual and collective wellbeing and flourishing?

2022 - The Effect of Role-Based Product Representations on Individual and Team Coordination Practices: A Field Study of a Globally Distributed New Product Development Team. [Articolo su rivista]
Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.; Prencipe, A.; Gupta, A.
abstract

The investigation of the appealing indication that a modular product architecture is best associated to a loosely coupled organizational structure—that is, the mirroring hypothesis—has produced contradictory evidence, especially in the dynamic and ambiguous context of new product development. By integrating modularity theory and productrepresentation theories, we investigate how individual agency affects coordination in teams developing modular products.We conducted a field study of Flower-Net, a globally distributed team in a major IT company, engaged with the development of a modular software using agile practices. Our grounded model shows that, whereas top managers defined the product as modular and coordinated work accordingly, individuals developed different representations of the product’s architecture and conflicting individual coordination practices. We traced the individual development of product architecture representations back to the individual interpretations of organizational roles as more or less “segmented.” Conflicting individual practices, associated to different role-based product representations, were not addressed by the team—that developed a state of illusory concordance—and impaired the functioning of the team. This study contributes to the literature on modularity and the mirroring hypothesis by proposing individual role-based representations as an underexplored level of analysis for the matching between product and organizational modularity (Mirroring Hypothesis II). It also contributes to the debate on how representations affect team coordination, by detailing how role-based product representations can influence teammembers’ divergence and sustain illusory concordance.

2022 - Work Datafication and Digital Work Behavior Analysis as a Source of HRM Insights [Capitolo/Saggio]
Fabbri, T.; Scapolan, A.; Bertolotti, F.; Mandreoli, F.; Martoglia, R
abstract

The digital transformation of organizations is boosting workplace networking and collaboration while making it “observable” with unprecedented timeliness and de-tail. However, the informational and managerial potential of work datafication is still largely unutilized in Human Resource Management (HRM) and its benefits, both at the individual and the organizational level, remain largely unexplored. Our research focuses on the relationship between digitally tracked work behaviors and employee attitudes and, in so doing, it explores work datafication as a source of data driven HRM policies and practices. As a chapter of a wider research pro-gram, this paper presents some data analysis we performed on a collection of En-terprise Collaboration Software (ECS) data, in search for promising correlations between behavioral and relational (digital) work patterns and employee attitudes. To this end, the digital actions performed by 106 employees in one year are trans-formed into a graph representation in order to analyze data under two different points of view: the individual (behavioral) perspective, according to the user who performed the action and the performed action, and the social (relational) perspec-tive, making explicit the interactions between users and the objects of their ac-tions. Different employees’ rankings are thus derived and correlated with their at-titudes. Finally, we discuss the obtained results and their implications in terms of People Analytics and data driven HRM.

2021 - Crowds, Gigs and Platforms. An Integrative Review and Research Agenda on the Future of Online Work [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bellesia, F.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.; Sobrero, M.
abstract

As organizations outsource jobs traditionally performed by employees to the ‘crowd’ – i.e. to an external, undefined workforce with very different backgrounds, skills, expertise, and cultures – through online platforms, we still lack a detailed understanding of the experiences of workers on these platforms and how platforms change individual work. We conducted an integrative literature review on the changing nature of work on online platforms, based on 64 papers dated 2006-2020. We identified three main research areas, related to (I) work characteristics, i.e. motivation to engage in online work, workers’ behaviors and performance, meaning of work; (II) the relation between workers and platforms, i.e. workers interactions with algorithms and control issues, such as algorithmic scores management; and (III) workers relations with peers, especially in online communities. For each of these areas we propose and detail future research directions.

2021 - Designing services for employees' wellbeing: principles for an improved employee experience [Articolo su rivista]
Vignoli, M.; Di Norcia, M.; Bertolotti, F.
abstract

This research proposes a set of design principles that designers and managers responsible for the design of organizational support services could adopt to improve employees' wellbeing. Through a qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews, we carried out a cross-context analysis of wellbeing initiatives developed in three organizations. Adopting the perspective of science-based design, we drew seven design principles. We also experimented within an organization operating in the Infrastructures and Cities, Energy, Healthcare, and IT industry to validate the design principles' use and their effects on a design process. We emphasize the importance of including these principles in the process of designing services oriented to employees' wellbeing in organizational contexts using the Design Thinking approach, and their application in broader contexts where services may play a crucial role.

2021 - Gig workers on platforms. An integrative literature review and research agenda [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bellesia, F.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.; Sobrero, M.
abstract

2021 - How perceptions of work-life balance and technology use impact upon creativity in collaborative spaces [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Cochis, C.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.; Scapolan, A. C.; Montanari, F.; Ungureanu, P.
abstract

This paper unpacks creative processes in collaborative spaces (CS). We focus on how the positive resources related to wellbeing and work-life balance derived from working in CS interplay with the use of collaborative technology in affecting individual creativity. We conducted a survey study with individuals working in 27 different CS in Italy. We propose and find a positive relationship between the perceived level of work-life balance satisfaction and individual creativity. Instead we do not find a significant relationship between the frequency of technology mediated interactions with external actors and individual creativity. Furthermore, the relationship between work-life balance and creativity is negatively moderated by technology mediated interactions with external actors. In other words, an intense use of collaborative technology with actors external to the CS can generate perceptions of overload thus making the impact of work-life balance on creativity not significant. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.

2021 - Reputation in the Workplatforms: How Crowdworkers Manage Algorithmic Scores in Online Labor Markets [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bellesia, F.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.
abstract

2021 - Working in the era of multiple virtual team membership. A study on the effects of variety of communication rules on individual management of knowledge resources [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Incerti, V.; Bellesia, F.; Bertolotti, F.; Chudoba, K.; Fadel, K.; Mattarelli, E.; Ungureanu, P.
abstract

In contemporary workplaces, individuals are concurrently members of more than one virtual team. As they experience multiple virtual team membership, they may be subjected to different rules related to communication with collaborative technology. We propose that this context variety (i.e. different communication rule systems) and switching between teams negatively affect individual capability to acquire and provide resources in a team, due in part to an increased perception of role overload. In our experimental studies, we confirm that context variety directly and negatively affected individuals' ability to acquire resources, and, through role overload, negatively influenced the ability to provide resources. Contrary to our hypotheses, switching frequently between teams reduced role overload, which, in turn, increased ability to provide resources. Our results have theoretical implications for understanding the changing nature of work in increasingly virtual and complex team contexts, as well as practical implications for managing teams and designing collaborative technology.

2020 - Backing up emergency teams in healthcare and law enforcement organizations: strategies to socialize newcomers in the time of COVID-19 [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, P.; Bertolotti, F.
abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting significant pressure on emergency teams in healthcare and law enforcement organizations. In order to provide rapid backup, new workers must be socialized rapidly and effectively. In addition to considering the pros and cons of various newcomer socialization strategies and tools, healthcare and law enforcement organizations may need to design hybrid socialization strategies at the light of four essential processes of emergency teams: roles, knowledge, interpersonal relations and emotion management. We suggest that emergency teams based on the combined resources of old-timers and newcomers where the more experienced team members contribute actively to the socialization of new members can have unexpected positive effects on the team.

2020 - Can Stereotypes Be Facilitators? Dynamic Stereotype Use in Knowledge Exchanges Across Occupations [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

This study investigates how inter-occupational stereotypes -i.e., readily available occupational images used by individuals to define selves and members of other occupations- shape knowledge exchanges across occupations. To investigate how occupational members alternate between sharing and non-sharing knowledge during interaction in contexts characterized by multiple boundary spanning, temporariness and absence of pre-existent structures, we conducted an in-depth study about the use of the knower-doer stereotype in a corporate program where academics and practitioners exchanged knowledge about innovation management. Our findings show that stereotypes are used differently across collaboration stages and leading to different knowledge exchange strategies. Anticipatory scripts that include a) inter-occupational stereotypes and b) complementary proposals of knowledge exchange are used to reduce exchange anxiety in the first stages of the collaboration. However, since anticipatory scripts are often self-referential, they trigger the reactive behaviors of those being stereotyped (reactive scripts). Provisional scripts then allow exchange parties to face reactive scripts by switching expertise and circling self and alter stereotypes in search of a mutually acceptable compromise. By showing the flexible and generative role that stereotypes can have in inter-occupational knowledge exchanges, we contribute to the literature on cross-occupational boundary work and to inter-group stereotypes more broadly."

2020 - Collaboration and identity formation in strategic interorganizational partnerships: an exploration of swift identity processes [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, P; Bertolotti, F; Mattarelli, E; Bellesia, F
abstract

We investigate how collective identity formation processes interplay with collaboration practices in an inter-organizational partnership promoting regional innovation. We found that initial collaboration challenges are dealt with by setting up an early ‘swift identity’ which is associated with material artifacts to increase its strength and stability (‘swift identity reification’). However, as the partnership evolves, the reified identity becomes misaligned with partners’ underdeveloped collaboration practices. To ensure realignment, new attempts at reification are performed, as partners buy time for learning how to collaborate. Our findings contribute to extant identity research by proposing alternative (i.e., ‘swift’ and ‘reified’) mechanisms of identity formation in contexts characterized by both heterogeneity challenges and integration imperatives. They also integrate the debate about the role of identity formation in the evolution of interorganizational partnerships. For both literatures we highlight the important role of materiality.

2020 - Explaining path dependence in boundary work for internal and external innovation. The role of corporate collaborative spaces. [Capitolo/Saggio]
Ungureanu, P.; Cochis, C.; Bertolotti, F.; Scapolan, A.
abstract

2020 - From gaps to tangles: A relational framework for the future of the theory-practice debate [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, P; Bertolotti, F
abstract

The article contributes to a better understanding of the relation between management theory and managerial practice by providing an integrative and historically contextualized review of the theory-practice debate among management scholars, and by proposing a new integrative position which we call entanglement. The integrative review reveals that since its origins in the 1950s up to the last decade, positions in the debate have shifted according to a rigor-relevance pendulum, portraying academics and practitioners as members of distinct, closed communities. To advance this debate, we propose an entanglement position which re-conceptualizes relations between academics and practitioners as trans-epistemic networks of interest within which knowledge can travel via three different boundary spanning strategies: legitimation, mobilization, and enactment. By showing the different degrees of relational intensity (i.e. required boundary spanning effort) of these strategies, we reconcile and integrate contrasting findings in the theory-practice debate. We advance the debate by proposing new research directions in relation to each strategy.

2020 - Managing Reputation in the Workplatform: How Freelancers Interpret Algorithmic Scores in OLM [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bellesia, F.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.
abstract

Although considered independent from the platforms they work from, freelancers in online labor markets need to develop an ‘algorithmic competence’ to become and stay competitive. To increase the likelihood of being hired, in particular, they need to deal with algorithmically calculated reputation, which is a standardized score associated to their quality as workers. By drawing on signaling theory, this research aims to explore how freelancers working on online platforms interpret algorithmic calculated reputation and with what consequence for their work. The grounded model we developed through interviews and documents collected with freelancers from a major platform reveals two phases through which freelances manage their reputation. First, freelancers interpret algorithmic scores as barriers and strive to build their initial reputation with emotional consequences in terms of feelings of hardship and loneliness. In a second phase, freelancers develop three different strategies to manage reputation, that we labelled as instrumental, relational, and indifferent. The interpretations and behaviors associated to the different strategies lead to different, although mainly negative, emotional responses, i.e. emotion regulation, anxiety, and frustration. We believe our model offers implications for theories on imposed reputation signals, gig work, and emotions in new work contexts."

2020 - Multiplex boundary work in innovation projects: the role of collaborative spaces for cross-functional and open innovation [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, P.; Cochis, C.; Bertolotti, F.; Mattarelli, Elisa.; Scapolan, A. C.
abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external stakeholders. In particular, the study focuses on collaborative spaces as tools for multiplex (i.e., simultaneous internal and external boundary management in innovation projects). Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a qualitative study in a multi-divisional organization that set up in its headquarters a collaborative space for collaborative product development. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Findings: Findings highlight that the relation between expectations and experiences about the collaborative space impact on employees' ability to perform boundary work inside and outside the organization. In addition to the collaborative space's affording role for expectations about hands-on collaborative innovation (space as laboratory), the study also highlights a set of collaboration constraints. These latter are generated by perceived boundary configurations (i.e. degree of boundary permeability and infrastructure in internal and external collaborations) and by discrepancies between expectations (space as laboratory) and actual collaboration experiences in the space (i.e. space as maze, cloister, showcase and silo). We show that space-generated constraints slow down internal and external boundary work for innovation and generate a trade-off between them. Originality/value: Using the process-based perspective of boundary work, the paper connects studies on cross-functional teaming and open innovation through the concept of “multiplex boundary work.” It also contributes to the literature on boundary work by showing the challenges of using collaborative spaces as organizational support tools for multiplex boundary spanning.

2020 - Top Management Team International Experience, International Information Acquisition and International Strategic Decision Rationality [Articolo su rivista]
Azam, A.; Bertolotti, F; Boari, Cristina; Mian, A.
abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test whether Top Management Team (TMT) international experience is associated positively to international information acquisition from managerial international contacts and whether international information partially mediates the positive relationship between TMT international experience and international strategic decision rationality. Methodology: Data were collected through a survey of small- and medium-sized (SMEs) Pakistani international software firms. Findings: This paper finds that TMT international experience is related positively to international information acquisition and that this information acquisition partially mediates the TMT international experience–international strategic decision rationality relationship. Practical Implications: When selecting the members of their TMT, international firms should pay careful attention to their international experience. Originality: Previous research demonstrates that TMT international experience has a positive effect on international strategic decision rationality and that this effect is transferred to performance. This study shows that the positive effect of TMT international experience derives from the personal international knowledge and the international information collected from managers’ international contacts. This ability to make rational international strategic decisions could have a positive effect on decision making and firm performance.

2020 - Work datafication and digital work behavior analysis as a source of social good [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, F.; Fabbri, T.; Mandreoli, F.; Martoglia, R.; Scapolan, A. C.
abstract

The digital transformation of organizations is boosting workplace networking and collaboration while making it 'observable' with unprecedented timeliness and detail. However, the informational and managerial potential of work datafication is still largely unutilized in Human Resource Management (HRM) and its social benefits, both at the individual and the organizational level, remain largely unexplored. Our research focuses on the relationship between digitally tracked work behaviors and employee attitudes and, in so doing, it explores work datafication as a source of social good. As part of a wider research program, this paper presents some data analysis we performed on a collection of Enterprise Collaboration Software (ECS) data, in search for promising correlations between behavioral and relational (digital) work patterns and employee attitudes. To this end, we transformed the digital actions performed by 106 employees during a one year period into a graph representation to analyze data under two different points of view: the individual (behavioral) perspective, according to the user who performed the action and the action undertaken, and the social (relational) perspective, making explicit the interactions between users and the objects of their actions. Different employees' rankings are thus derived and correlated with their attitudes. We discuss the obtained results and their benefits in terms of perspective social good for both the company and the employee

2019 - HOW PERCEPTIONS OF WORK LIFE BALANCE AND TECHNOLOGY USE IMPACT UPON CREATIVITY IN COLLABORATIVE SPACES [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Cochis, Carlotta; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Scapolan, Anna Chiara; Montanari, Fabrizio; Ungureanu, Paula
abstract

This paper unpacks creative processes in collaborative spaces (CS). We focus on how the positive resources related to wellbeing and work-life balance derived from working in CS interplay with the use of collaborative technology in affect-ing individual creativity. We conducted a survey study with individuals working in 27 different CS in Italy. We propose and find a positive relationship between the perceived level of work-life balance satisfaction and individual creativity. In-stead we do not find a significant relationship between the frequency of technolo-gy mediated interactions with external actors and individual creativity. Further-more, the relationship between work-life balance and creativity is negatively moderated by technology mediated interactions with external actors. In other words, an intense use of collaborative technology with actors external to the CS can generate perceptions of overload and therefore making the impact of work-life balance on creativity not significant. We conclude with theoretical and practi-cal implications

2019 - HR Analytics in the Digital Workplace: Exploring the Relationship between Attitudes and Tracked Work Behaviors [Capitolo/Saggio]
Fabbri, T; Scapolan, A; Bertolotti, F; Canali, C
abstract

The increasing use of digital technologies in organizational contexts, like collaborative social platforms, has not only changed the way people work but also provided organizations with new and wide ranges of data sources that could be analyzed to enhance organizational- and individual-level outcomes, especially when integrated with more traditional tools. In this study, we explore the relationship between data flows generated by employees on companies’ digital environments and employees’ attitudes measured through surveys. In a sample of 107 employees, we collected data on the number and types of actions performed on the company’s digital collaborative platform over a two-year period and the level of organizational embeddedness (fit, sacrifice, and links dimensions) through two rounds of surveys over the same period. The correlation of the quantity and quality of digital actions with the variation of organizational embeddedness over the same period shows that workers who engaged in more activities on the digital platform also experienced an increase in their level of organizational embeddedness mainly in the fit dimension. In addition, the higher the positive variation of fit, the more employees performed both active and passive digital actions. Finally, the higher the variation of organizational embeddedness, the more employees performed networking digital behaviors.

2019 - Making matters worse by trying to make them better? Exploring vicious circles of decision in hybrid partnerships [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bellesia, Francesca
abstract

Our research is concerned with how and why vicious circles of decision occur in hybrid partnerships. The literature reports three types of decision dysfunctions that can alter the trajectory of multi-stakeholder collaborations: escalation of commitment, procrastination, and indecision. While previous studies focused on one dysfunction at a time, we inquire about cases in which dysfunctions coexist and interact in the same partnership. Employing multiple sources of qualitative data, we conducted a longitudinal field study in a cross-sector partnership that co-created and managed a science park. We offer an in-depth account of ‘vicious circles of decision’ in which partners’ attempts to solve a dysfunction paradoxically lead to the accumulation of additional dysfunctions. We explain that the process is more likely to happen when solutions are 1) conditioned by the very risk-opportunity tensions they try to solve and 2) inscribed in material artefacts for greater visibility. In addition to the literature on hybrid partnerships, we also contribute to the debate in organization studies about the evolution of collaborations within frames of concurrent risk-opportunity tensions and theorize about the role of materiality in such processes.

2019 - Platforms as Entrepreneurial Incubators? How Online Labor Markets Shape Work Identity [Articolo su rivista]
Bellesia, F.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, F.; Sobrero, M.
abstract

Purpose. This study explores how the process of work identity construction unfolds for gig workers experiencing unstable working relationships in online labor markets. In particular, it investigates how digital platforms, intended both as providers of technological features and online environments, affect this process. Design. We conducted an exploratory field study and collected data from 46 interviews with freelancers working on one of the most popular online labor markets and from online documents such as public profiles, job applications, and archival data. Findings. Our findings reveal that the online environment constrains the action of workers who are pushed to take advantage of the platform’s technological features to succeed. This interplay leads workers to add new characteristics to their work self and they end up developing an entrepreneurial orientation. Practical implications. Our study offers insights to platform providers interested in improving workers’ experiences in online labor markets, highlighting mechanisms for uncertainty reduction, and diversifying a platform’s services according to gig workers’ identities and orientations. Value. Our study expands our knowledge on work identity construction processes of gig workers, detailing the relationship between work identity and IT, and documents previously unexplored antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation in non-standard working contexts.

2019 - Strategic Alignment Matrix: supporting management coordination in complex organizations [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, F; Macrì, Diego; Vignoli, M
abstract

Purpose The paper proposes a framework, labeled Strategic Alignment Matrix, to attain organizational alignment by integrating the horizontal dimension of performance (results driven by activities carried out by multiple organizational units) and the vertical dimension (results of single units) through the use of a sophisticated information structure composed of quantitative measures and management processes. Design/methodology/approach A science-based design approach was adopted. A review of the literature on Strategic Performance Management Systems (SPMS) and coordination allowed the identification of a set of design principles (guidelines reflecting the accumulated knowledge in the literature). The design principles guided the design of the proposed framework. The framework was tested in a tiles company on the new product development process. Findings Five design principles are presented for the design of a working SPMS: (1) to integrate the horizontal and vertical dimensions of performance; (2) to have all the relevant information in one place (package); (3) to understand how actors contribute to the overall performance; (4) to favor the emergence of integrating conditions for coordination; (5) to enrich the role of quantitative non-financial information to attain inter-functional integration. During the test of the framework, managers highlighted their increased ability to coordinate actions and the existence of a double-loop learning. Research limitations/implications The model was tested in one organization. The study should be replicated in other contexts connecting the Strategic Alignment Matrix to the budgeting and incentives systems. Originality/value Working at the interface between science and design helps to address the theory-practice gap that has been a priority in management studies for a long time.

2019 - The dynamics of inter-organizational hybrid partnerships in technology transfer [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, F; Mattarelli, E; Ungureanu, P
abstract

Drawing on the literature on inter-organizational and hybrid partnerships, we put forth a process-based perspective on the evolution of regional innovation systems (RIS), with particular attention to the changing role of TTOs through-out the RIS lifecycle. We theorize on how perceptions of environmental turbu-lence (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, in short VUCA) may influence partners’ decisions to adopt a given organization model for the bro-ker/TTO that manages the partnership. We show that perceptions of environ-mental turbulence may lead to a set of possible decision pathologies at the partnership level that interfere with the organizational structure of the TTO. We suggest that perceptions of turbulence and decision pathologies play an important part in explaining RIS may deviate from the intended direction or produce outcomes that are unexpected

2019 - The relationship between polychronicity and social networks: A mixed-methods study of research and development professionals [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Dukerich, Janet
abstract

How do knowledge workers interact with their colleagues when organizations increasingly ask them to work on multiple activities, projects and working spheres simultaneously? Given the importance of social networks for individual and organizational success, in this study we explore the relationship between individual preferences for engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously (individual polychronicity), the perception of the organization’s demands in terms of engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously (organizational polychronicity), and centrality in instrumental networks. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, we collected data from knowledge professionals in a research and development (R&D) unit. Our results show that both individual and organizational polychronicity were related to network centrality. However, the effect of individual polychronicity on instrumental network centrality was stronger, especially for advice-related interactions, suggesting that individual preferences matter more when it comes to knowledge-related interactions. Not only do we link polychronicity to a previously unexplored context, that is, social networks, but we also propose the use of a cultural toolkit perspective to explain how individuals differentially make sense of organizational temporal demands. Finally, we advance research on the antecedents of network centrality and contribute to the ongoing debate on the delicate balance between structure and individual characteristics.

2019 - What drives alignment between offered and perceived well-being initiatives in organizations? A cross-case analysis of employer–employee shared strategic intentionality [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, P.; Bertolotti, F.; Pilati, M.
abstract

This study investigates the conditions of alignment between an organization’s business strategy, the well-being initiatives (WBIs) offered to employees and employees’ perceptions of the latter. We conducted a comparative study on the conditions of alignment between offered and perceived WBIs in three companies with different business strategies. Findings highlight that the alignment between offered and perceived benefits depends on what we label as ‘shared strategic intentionality’: (1) how employers’ use their understanding of the organization’s business strategy to craft WBIs and (2) employees’ perceptions of WBIs at the light of the attributions about why their employers offer WBIs the way they do, and of the broader understanding of the organization’s business strategy. We contribute to the Strategic HRM literature by proposing an integrative position with respect to the macro (i.e., employer-focused) and micro (i.e., employee-focused) research traditions. Our position has the advantage of looking at employers’ intentions and at employees’ attributions of intentions simultaneously and unravels the central role of business strategy in shaping their alignment. From a practical standpoint, not only do we bring a more nuanced understanding of the strategic HRM challenges faced by employers and employees in settings with different business strategies, but also initiate a discussion about the traps and best practices associated to configuring effective WBIs in organizations.

2018 - Are academics and practitioners that different after all? An entanglement perspective for the theory-practice debate in management [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, P; Bertolotti, F
abstract

The article contributes to a better understanding of the relation between organization theory and managerial practice, by providing a systematic review of the theory-practice debate and proposing a new integrative position called entanglement. A careful analysis of the debate highlights a dichotomist pattern (science versus commonsense, rigor versus relevance and cognition versus action) that propels a circling debate. To reconcile dichotomies, we propose an entanglement position that re-conceptualizes relations between academics and practitioners as loops of trans-epistemic boundary work. We identify three loops that explain how and why academics and practitioners alternate between science and commonsense (legitimation), translate standards of rigor into multiple systems of relevance (mobilization), and form common action-cognition meshes (enactment). We show that not all loops require the same relational effort, which explains some of the contrasting findings in the theory-practice debate. We try to advance the debate by proposing new research directions for each loop.

2018 - Brokers or Platforms? A Longitudinal Study of How Hybrid Interorganizational Partnerships for Regional Innovation Deal with VUCA Environments [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

The study investigates the role played by turbulent environments in the evolution of hybrid (i.e., multi-party, cross-sector) partnerships for regional innovation. Although extant research suggests that organizations decide to participate in such partnerships to cope with their turbulent environments, little is known about how actual perceptions of turbulent environments influence the setup and evolution of a partnership. Our qualitative study adopts a longitudinal design to investigate the evolution of a cross-sector regional innovation partnership between ten very different organizations. With the help of the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) model proposed by Bennett and Lemoine (2014a), we study the relation between partners’ initial perceptions of environmental turbulence and the models adopted for the partnership throughout its lifecycle (emergent, brokering and platform). We show that partners’ intentions to solve perceived environmental turbulence through collaboration can have the unexpected consequence of triggering perceived turbulence inside the collaboration itself. Specifically, we show that perceived partnership VUCA at each stage was a result of partners’ attempts to cope with the perceived VUCA in the previous stage. The study thus highlights a set of common traps that both public and private organizations engaged in hybrid partnerships might fall into precisely as they try to lower VUCA threats in their environments.

2018 - Building and Breaching Boundaries at Once. An Exploration of How Management Academics and Practitioners Perform Boundary Work in Executive Classrooms [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Based on an ethnographic study of exchanges between management academics and practitioners in an executive program, the research articulates a process perspective on how academics and practitioners engage in boundary work -how direct interaction strategies (boundary building or boundary breaching) shape their knowledge exchanges. Findings suggest that in order to deal resourcefully with relational insecurity, academics and practitioners use a set of strategies according to trial and error logics. In the beginning of an interaction episode, they draw intentionally on boundary building strategies. If these are refused, they draw on emergent strategies of boundary breaching which connect more creatively classroom roles (in situ) with roles outside the classroom (ex situ). We show that each strategy triggers a different type of knowledge exchange, and that intentional boundary building triggers more limited knowledge exchanges (knowledge transfer) than emergent boundary breaching (new understandings). Our findings contribute to the boundary work literature and integrate arguments about a theory-practice gap with arguments emphasizing the relational potential of academic-practitioner exchanges. We also suggest that if business schools de-infrastructure and encourage trial and error interaction, they can increasingly become trading zones for academic-practitioner boundary work.

2018 - Innovating onsite or coordinating online? An exploration of how knowledge practices shape the onsite and online collaboration interplay across the lifecycle of collaborative communities [Articolo su rivista]
Ungureanu, Paula; Cochis, Carlotta; Rodighiero, Stefano; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Montanari, Fabrizio; Rinaldini, Matteo; Scapolan, Anna Chiara
abstract

This paper inquires about how collaborative communities configure online and onsite collaboration practices throughout their lifecycle, paying specific attention to how knowledge practices and online-onsite collaboration practices interplay. While previous literature shows that the same online and onsite collaboration practices can be both good and bad for an organization’s ability to generate new knowledge, we show that this insight can be better understood at the light of an organization’s lifecycle. By studying the evolution of a collaborative community of designers, we show that different stages of development afford different types of community structuring, identity processes and knowledge practices, which in turn shape different needs in terms of online-onsite interplay. We contribute to the literature on collaborative spaces by underscoring the importance of considering hybrid workspaces where the interplay of onsite and online collaboration assumes complex and dynamic configurations.

2018 - Organizational context, employer-employee shared intentionality, and well-being perceptions [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Ungureanu, Paula; Pilati, Massimo
abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between well-being initiatives (WBI) and employees’ perceptions of WBI in different organizational contexts. We conducted a cross-context analysis of WBI in three companies operating in different sectors. Findings highlight that organizational contexts (organizational culture, organizational structure and work processes) shape management’s strategic intentions about the WBI offered (i.e., the criteria used to configure the well-being packages), and the intentions that employees attribute to management’s decision to offer a given configuration of WBI. We contribute to the process-based research of Human Resource Management (HRM) and to the well-being literature by theorizing on the interplay (alignment or misalignment) between employers’ strategic intentions and employees’ attributions of intentions as a form of shared intentionality. We explain that shared intentionality depends on employers’ and employees’ ability to manage the context interdependencies in which they are embedded. Finally, not only we bring a more nuanced understanding of the well-being challenges people face in different work settings, but also initiate a discussion about the traps and best practices associated to configuring effective WBI.

2018 - Service design principles for organizational well-being: Improving the employee experience through design thinking [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; DI NORCIA, Marco; Vignoli, Matteo
abstract

The aim of this paper is to link Service Design to organizational well-being and propose a set of design principles that can be adopted by both designers and managers responsible for the design of organizational services that aim at improving employees' well-being. Through a qualitative study, we conducted a cross-context analysis of well-being initiatives developed in three companies operating in different industries. By applying a science-based design perspective approach, we were able to derive a set of seven design principles. We highlight the importance of including these principles in the process of designing services in organizational contexts using Design Thinking, in particular services oriented to employees’ well-being, as well as considering their application in broader contexts in which services may play a crucial role.

2018 - The journey of great expectations: A study on how institutional expectations impact collaboration expectations and collaboration enactment in hybrid interorganizational partnerships [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, P; Bellesia, F; Bertolotti, F; Mattarelli, E.; Cochis, C.
abstract

Our research is concerned with the role played by expectations in hybrid interorganizational collaboration projects. In particular, we look at how organizations participating in public-private partnerships negotiate broad and ill-defined goals and expectations set by policymakers to carry forward heterogeneous expectations about the partnership. We empirically study a hybrid partnership in which public and private actors came together with the broad goal of supporting regional innovation and fostering knowledge exchange. We use a process-perspective derived from the sociology of expectations to analyze the generative and transformational role of expectations, that is, how expectations shape dynamics and outcomes of hybrid collaboration. In particular, we document that the tendency to create ad-hoc material objects or spaces (in our case, a regional science park) can lead to vicious self-reinforcing mechanisms that push partners away from the initial collaboration goals. Notably, too many expectations and promissory commitments associated to an already configured physical space may lock partners in rigid and repetitive interaction schemes, especially when the configuration of the space is not backed up by social centrality— willingness and ability to modify pre-existing organizational structures. We offer contributions to a better understanding of collaborative dynamics in partnership failure and a more nuanced understanding of policy goal-setting through hybrid private-public partnerships.

2018 - Top management team international experience and strategic decision-making [Articolo su rivista]
Azam, Akbar; Boari, Cristina; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Purpose: This study explores the influence of top management team international experience on international strategic decision-making rationality and, subsequently, its effect on decision effectiveness (decision performance). Design/methodology/approach: This analysis is based on survey data of small-medium sized international Pakistani firms operating in the IT industry. Findings: Results show that top management team international experience is positively related to international strategic decision-making rationality and this latter partially mediates the international experience – decision effectiveness relationship. Research limitations: The study is based on data collected from a single industry and focuses on an international decision that occurred within a time-frame of previous 4 years. Practical implications: Findings suggest that international firms, when composing their top management teams, should favor the inclusion of internationally experienced managers. Originality/value: The study of the influence of international experience on the decision-making process in general and decision-making rationality in particular has been largely neglected in extant literature. This paper highlights one way through which the international experience of the top management team as a whole relates to the effectiveness of international decisions. The paper also advances emergent managerial cognition literature focusing on the top management team and not individual decision makers.

2017 - Can Different Professionals Talk and not Talk to Each Other at Once? Provisional Relations as Boundary Spanning Strategies between Management Academics and Practitioners [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

This study contributes to a better understanding of how individuals belonging to different occupational communities negotiate pressures for stability and change during cross-boundary exchanges. We describe micro-dynamics of boundary work enacted by two communities of organizational scholars and management practitioners that come together and interact during a one-year executive master’s program. By looking at how scholars and practitioners negotiated multiple pressures for stability and change (i.e., conformity with or deviance from the knowledge frames of their occupational communities of reference) we identify a set of resourceful strategies called provisional relations and discuss a series of implications for the literature on boundary spanning. Specifically, we propose a social interactionist perspective on change that addresses issues such as occupational interdependencies, mechanisms for coping with multiple simultaneous occupational exchanges, hybrid systems of expertise, and continuous transformation.

2017 - Interrelating Collaboration Practices and Identity Formation in Interorganizational Partnerships [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bellesia, Francesca; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

This work studies the process by which interorganizational partnerships develop collective identities, and, in particular, how collaboration practices and identity processes interplay as partnerships evolves through time. We conducted a longitudinal study in a partnership where organizations from different sectors collaborated to realize a science park. We followed the evolution of the partnership across four stages (setup, design, implementation, and redesign), highlighting for each phase how collective identity processes and collaboration practices interplayed. We document that the enthusiasm and urgency in the initial phases led partners to immediately create a strong sense of belongingness to the partnership, which we labelled as swift collective identity. While in the beginning the swift identity mobilized collaboration practices (i.e., precocious alignment), as the partnership evolved, it became dissonant with what partners could actually accomplish together (misalignment), and, after being dismantled and reelaborated, it set the basis for a more gradual, and slow paced identity (realignment). By discussing alternation between swift identities and small collaboration wins, we contribute to a better understanding of the identity-collaboration interplay in interorganizational settings. By connecting identity fluidity with reification and embeddedness, we also contribute to the current conversation on the construction of collective identities.

2017 - On the Impact of Multiple Team Membership on a System of Teams’ Performance [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Incerti, V.; Yücesan, E.; Mell, J.; Mattarelli, E.; Bertolotti, &
abstract

In this study, we investigate the complex and conjoint effects of Multiple Team Membership and other related system design characteristics on the performance of a system composed of teams. This is particularly relevant as organizations increasingly make use of teamwork to achieve their goals and most knowledge workers experience a situation of multi-teaming. In particular, we focus on the concurrent effects of the number of concurrent membership, and teams’ size and overlap. Results indicate that at the system of teams level the relationship between MTM and performance follows a curvilinear, inverted U-shaped relationship. Moreover, team size and team overlap show an effective, negative role in affecting performance. Following this, we propose a topology for MTM systems based on system design characteristics.

2017 - Well-Being or Well-Appearing? A Multi-case Analysis of Employees' Perceptions of Organizational Well-being Initiatives [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Pilati, Massimo
abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between well-being initiatives and employees’ perceptions of well-being initiatives in different organizational contexts. We conducted a cross-context analysis of well-being initiatives in three companies operating in different sectors. Findings highlight that organizational contexts (organizational culture, organizational structure and work processes) shape management’s strategic intentions about the well-being initiatives offered (i.e., the criteria used to configure the well-being packages), and the intentions that employees attribute to management’s decision to offer a given configuration of well-being packages.

2016 - Beyond boundaries. A relational study of knowledge exchanges between management scholars and business practitioners in executive classrooms [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Based on an ethnographic study of the interaction of two groups of management academics and practitioners in an executive master’s program, the research articulates a process perspective on how academics and practitioners exchange expert knowledge across boundaries. Findings suggest that academics and practitioners can resourcefully deal with knowledge exchanges that are pervaded by relational insecurity, thanks to a set of relational strategies that are used sequentially, according to trial and error logics. The four strategies that we identified connect, albeit to different extents, what goes on inside the classroom (in situ) with what goes on outside the classroom, in academics’ and practitioners’ day-to-day relations (ex-situ). We show that each strategy led to a different type of knowledge exchange and that the first two strategies –that were intentional- had less impact on new knowledge creation than the two strategies that emerged spontaneously from interaction. Our findings challenge orthodox understandings about the existence of a management theory - managerial practice gap and points out the importance of seeing theoretical and managerial expertise in practice as socially entangled rather than community-specific. We also show that business schools play an important role in facilitating academic-practitioner boundary work. By triggering insecurities, conflicts and reparatory negotiation processes, business schools settings allow for repeated contaminations between knowledge deriving from theorizing and practising.

2016 - Geographic Configuration Fluidity in Virtual Teams: Consequences for Individuals and Teams [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Incerti, Valerio; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Mark, Mortensen; Michael Boyer, O'Leary
abstract

As communications technologies become increasingly stable and secure, distributed virtual work is fast becoming a central component of how global organizations function (Caya, Mortensen & Pissoneault, 2013; Gibson, Huang, Kirkman & Shapiro, 2014). With U.S. virtual worker growth of over 100% in the past decade (Global Workplace Analytics, 2014) and an estimated 1.3 billion virtual workers worldwide (International Data Corporation, 2011), it is increasingly important for organizations and employees to effectively navigate this transformed work environment. Although work is becoming more and more virtual, our collective understanding of the effects of this change is still in its infancy. In a variety of articles across a range of domains, Organizational Behavior scholars have lamented the lack of clarity on whether existing, highly cited management theories wholly apply to virtual contexts (Bolino, Long & Turnley, 2015; Feldman & Ng, 2007; Grandey, 2015). Theories relating to interpersonal interactions, which often rely on synchronous communication, in person cues, and shared understandings, may operate differently in settings where individuals are separated by space, time, and technology. The goal of this symposium is to advance research on virtual work by illuminating new findings and theoretical developments within this emerging work context. The presentations in this symposium cross domains and methodologies to help build an understanding of how virtual work impacts employee status, voice, transactive memory, team creativity, and communication. Together, these presentations propose theories and offer practical implications that will advance our understanding of this increasingly popular business context.

2016 - Institutional Frames and Collaboration Expectations in Hybrid Interorganizational Partnerships [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Ungureanu, Paula; Bellesia, Francesca; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

Our research is concerned with the role played by expectations in hybrid interorganizational collaboration projects. In particular, we look at how organizations participating in multi-party cross-sector partnerships negotiate broad and ill-defined metaproblems set by policymakers to carry forward heterogeneous goals about the partnership. We used a process-perspective derived from the sociology of expectations to empirically study a hybrid partnership in which public and private actors came together with the broad goal of supporting regional innovation and creating and managing a new science park. In particular, we found that the ambiguity of institutional frames gave room to the proliferation of partners’ expectations about the collaboration. Such proliferation was driven by a clash between the pile-up of goals and commitments in relation to the main project of the partnership -i.e. the design of the science park- and the materialization of the project itself -i.e. the realization and use of the science park. Instead of admitting difficulties in making the science park function properly (i.e., managing the clash) our actors continuously alimented their positive expectations about the collaboration thanks to a rolling announcements strategy that constantly pushed expectations further into the future. We offer contributions to a better understanding of collaborative dynamics in hybrid partnership failure by surfacing the negative power of expectations, the dual role of materiality as collaboration enabler and constrainer, and the interplay between broadly defined institutional frames and the proliferation of heterogeneous goals within hybrid partnerships.

2016 - Organizzare la collaborazione nei luoghi di innovazione: le dinamiche relazionali tra spazi fisici e virtuali [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Mizzau, Lorenzo; Montanari, Fabrizio; Scapolan, Anna Chiara; Ungureanu, Paula
abstract

2015 - Exploring the relationship between multiple team membership and team performance: the role of social networks and collaborative technology [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Vignoli, Matteo; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

Firms devoted to research and development and innovative activities intensively use teams to carry out knowledge intensive work and increasingly ask their employees to be engaged in multiple teams (e.g. R&D project teams) simultaneously. The literature has extensively investigated the antecedents of single teams performance, but has largely overlooked the effects of multiple team membership (MTM), i.e., the participation of a focal team’s members in multiple teams simultaneously, on the focal team outcomes. In this paper we examine the relationships between team performance, MTM, the use of collaborative technologies (instant messaging), and work-place social networks (external advice receiving). The data collected in the R&D unit of an Italian company support the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between MTM and team performance such that teams whose members are engaged simultaneously in few or many teams experience lower performance. We found that receiving advice from external sources moderated this relationship. When MTM is low or high, external advice receiving has a positive effect, while at intermediate levels of MTM it has a negative effect. Finally, the average use of instant messaging in the team also moderated the relationship such that at low levels of MTM, R&D teams whose members use instant messaging intensively attain higher performance while at high levels of MTM an intense use of instant messaging is associated with lower team performance. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications for innovative firms engaged in multitasking work scenarios.

2015 - The interplay between organizational polychronicity, multitasking behaviors and organizational identification: A mixed-methods study in knowledge intensive organizations [Articolo su rivista]
Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Incerti, Valerio
abstract

This paper investigates how individual perceptions and attitudes about an organization influence multitasking behaviors in the workplace. While we know that individuals are significantly influenced in their behaviors by the characteristics of their organizations (e.g. ICTs, organizational structure, physical layout), we still do not know much about how the way individuals interpret their organization influences their multitasking behaviors. Thus, we specifically hypothesize that the individual perception of the organizational preferences for multitasking (i.e. organizational polychronicity) engenders the actual multitasking behaviors that an individual enacts in the workplace. We also hypothesize that the attachment to the organization (i.e. organizational identification) moderates the above relationship. We conducted a mixed method study in two knowledge intensive organizations (an R&D unit and a university department) and collected data through a survey, diaries, and semi-structured interviews. Our findings support the first hypothesis but not the moderating role of organizational identification. However, this latter is directly related to how much a person is willing to work on multiple activities on a single day. Further, our study suggests that not only the organizational context should be investigated in the study of multitasking behaviors, but also the larger work context, including the individuals’ professional communities. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications as well as methodological reflections on mixing methods in the study of multitasking in organizations.

2014 - Integrating knowledge through consistency between leadership and technology in distributed teams [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Vincenza, Poliandri; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Maria Rita, Tagliaventi; Alessandro, Grandi
abstract

The literature on distributed work has recognized the importance of enhancing our understanding of how leadership processes change in globally distributed teams (GDTs), and of the interplay between leadership processes and the use of collaborative technologies. Following the theoretical framework of e- leadership, the aim of this paper is to explore how emergent and formal leadership processes co-evolve with the use of collaborative technologies in a GDT and their influence on team performance. We conducted a multiple case study of five GDTs engaged in European scientific collaborations. Our analysis suggests that the consistency between leadership processes and technology use is related to better knowledge integration, which is an important antecedent of overall team performance. The grounded model that we build contributes to the literature on distribute teams effectiveness, knowledge integration, and team science, and provides practical hints to team managers and policy makers.

2014 - ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND MULTITASKING BEHAVIORS: A MIXED-METHOD STUDY [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Incerti, Valerio; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

This paper investigates how individual perceptions and attitudes about an organization influence multitasking behaviors in the workplace. While we know that individuals’ behaviors are influenced by the characteristics of their organizations (e.g., ICTs, physical layout), we still do not know much about how the way individuals interpret their organization influences their multitasking behaviors. We first hypothesize that individual perceptions of organizational preferences for multitasking (i.e. organizational polychronicity) have impacts on actually enacted multitasking behaviors. We also hypothesize that the attachment to the organization (i.e. organizational identification) moderates the above relationship. We conducted a mixed method study in two knowledge intensive organizations and collected data through a survey, diaries, and semi-structured interviews. Our findings support the first hypothesis but not the moderating role of organizational identification. However, this latter seems to be directly related on how much a person is willing to work on different activities, but not on how much she interrupts others or accepts being interrupted. Further, our study suggests that not only the organizational context should be investigated in the study of multitasking behaviors, but also the larger work context, including the individuals’ professional communities.

2014 - Social Networks and Group Effectiveness: The Role of External Network Ties [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Tagliaventi, M. R.
abstract

This research explores the relationship between group effectiveness and social networks. Through a five-month ethnographic observation within three work groups employed in one of the major Italian fashion firm, we recorded all interactions occurring within the groups and outside the groups’ boundaries, thereby deriving the enacted communication network. Then, by means of structured inter-views, we collected evaluations of group effectiveness. The evaluations given to the three groups differ and such difference cannot be traced back to the amount of communication network activated nor to the level of group members’ competencies, nor to their internal network structure. The field evidence suggest that the better evaluation received by one group relates to the quality of the relationships it sets up with external actors. This group assumes a coordinating role in the whole product development process: in particular, it spontaneously triggers, through reciprocal interactions, modalities of collaborative design, not formally required, which are rewarded by organizational members’ higher evaluations. The study has implications for social network research by pointing to the importance to grasp the actual content of network relationships, thus going beyond the assessment of their presence and/or strength, in order to fully comprehend how network ties really influence organizational members’ perceptions and actions.

2014 - The effect of consistency between leadership and technology on knowledge integration in GDTs [Capitolo/Saggio]
Poliandri, Vincenza; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Tagliaventi, Maria Rita; Grandi, Alessandro
abstract

The literature on distributed work has recognized the importance of enhancing our understanding of how leadership processes change in globally distributed teams (GDTs), and of the interplay between leadership processes and the use of collaborative technologies. However, we still find limited, and sometimes contradictory, empirical evidence on the topic. Following the theoretical framework of e-leadership, the aim of this paper is to explore how emergent and formal leadership processes co-evolve with the use of collaborative technologies in GDTs and their influence on team performance. We conducted a multiple case study in five GDTs engaged in scientific collaborations. Our analysis suggests that the attainment of consistency between leadership processes and technology use is related to better knowledge integration, which is an important antecedent of overall team performance.

2013 - Enacting Possible Selves by Creating New Organizational Arrangements: Identity Work and Institutionalization [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Dosi, C.; Tagliaventi, M. R.
abstract

This paper investigates how processes of identity work originating from individuals’ efforts to deal with identity challenges can influence the creation of new organizational arrangements, and eventually affect institutional dynamics. Our evidence collected in the context of Italian Community hospitals show how recent perspectives on identity related to possible and alternative selves and to positive identity can help us grasp the motivations that prompt individuals to create new organizational arrangements. Overall, we offer new insights to the streams of research interested in identity work and in exploring the microfoundations of organizational and institutional change.

2013 - How Many Teams should we Manage at Once? The Effect of Multiple Team Membership, Collaborative Technologies, and Polychronicity on Team Performance [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Mortensen, M.; O'Leary, M.; Incerti, Valerio
abstract

This study explores the relationship between multiple team membership or ‘multi-teaming’ (the extent to which team members are simultaneously engaged in several teams in a given period of time and switch between different teams in a single work day), the performance of single teams, the intensity of use and perceptions of usefulness of collaborative technologies, and team members individual preferences for managing multiple tasks simultaneously (individual polychronicity). Drawing on theoretical work on multiple team membership (MTM) and theories of attention and knowledge acquisition, we argue that the number of MTMs has an inverted U-shaped relationship with team performance while the team average daily MTM is negatively related to the focal team performance. We also propose that the intensity of use of collaborative technologies will moderate the above relationships so that at low levels of MTM it will help teams to attain higher performance while at high levels of MTM it will reduce teams performance. Conversely, variance in collaborative technologies’ perceptions of uselfulness will moderate negatively the above relationships. Finally, we expect teams whose members are more polychronic to attain better performance in a multi-teaming context. We are exploring these issues through a field study based on quantitative and qualitative data collected in an Italian consulting firm that operates in the field of Business Intelligence Systems.

2013 - New Perspectives on Individual Identity Work, Organizational Arrangements, and Institutional Logics [Abstract in Rivista]
Bartel, C.; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Cappellaro, G.; Dosi, C.; Dukerich, J.; Lok, J.; Obodaru, O.; Petriglieri, J.; Tagliaventi, M. R.
abstract

This symposium aims at providing theoretical reflections and empirical evidence on how processes of identity work originating from individuals’ efforts to deal with identity challenges can influence existing organizations, create new organizational arrangements, and eventually affect institutional dynamics. We intend to highlight how recent perspectives on identity related to possible and alternative selves can help us appreciate the motivations in prompting individuals to change not only their work, but also their organization and beyond. The four papers triangulate on this topic by empirically examining: how individuals struggle with identity issues through the experience of alternative selves, and how their attempts to deal with multiphrenia impact organizations and institutions; how individuals handle the relationship between destabilized identification with their organization and identity through the identity-work enacted while interacting with multiple external audiences; how the search for enacting possible selves, when undertaken collectively, can extend beyond individual self crafting and play a role in creating new organizational forms; and how individual processes of identification with institutional logics influence the way employees organize their work and develop certain attitudes towards particular organizational practices. Presenters will explore these issues through field studies in a variety of settings and will offer new insights to the recent streams of research interested in identity work and in exploring the microfoundations of organizational and institutional change and transformation.

2013 - The Effect of Consistency between Leadership and Technology on Knowledge Integration in GDTs [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Poliandri, V.; Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Tagliaventi, M. R.; Grandi, A.
abstract

The literature on distributed work has recognized the importance of enhancing our understanding of how leadership processes change in globally distributed teams (GDTs), and of the interplay between leadership processes and the use of collaborative technologies. However, we still find limited, and sometimes contradictory, empirical evidence on the topic. Following the theoretical framework of e-leadership, the aim of this paper is to explore how emergent and formal leadership processes co-evolve with the use of collaborative technologies in GDTs and their influence on team performance. We conducted a multiple case study in five GDTs engaged in scientific collaborations. Our analysis suggests that the attainment of consistency between leadership processes and technology use is related to better knowledge integration, which is an important antecedent of overall team performance

2013 - The use of ethnography and grounded theory in the development of a management information system . [Articolo su rivista]
Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

This work presents new evidence on how ethnography and the grounded theory approach can be integrated within a participatory information system development process. We conducted an ethnography in a hospital unit, collecting data from observations, interviews and documents. The discussion about emergent themes with the actors in their natural context and the development of a grounded model allowed us to identify widespread discomfort felt by personnel and to code it as process conflict, i.e. a particular type of conflict caused by inefficiencies in the organization of work activities. The grounded model was the starting point for conducting a series of focus groups during which the organizational actors were allowed to face process conflict while defining the requirements of a new management information system. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for IS researchers and practitioners.

2013 - Work and family: Do polychronicity and social networks help or hurt? [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Mattarelli, Elisa; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Bagger, J.
abstract

We examine associations among polychronicity, work-family enrichment (affect, development, capital), and work-place social networks (advice receiving and giving). In a sample of University affiliates, we proposed and found a U-shaped relationship between polychronicity and work-family enrichment; polychronic or monochronic individuals reported higher levels of work-family enrichment compared to those who were neither polychronic nor monochronic. Advice receiving moderated this relationship such that monochronic and polychronic individuals reporting high levels of advice receiving experienced higher levels of work-family development and capital. Advice giving moderated the relationship in the opposite direction: central individuals low in polychronicity reported higher levels of work-family enrichment than central individuals high in polychronicity.

2012 - Modularity: objective or perceived? A case study of a R&D globally distributed team [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; A., Prencipe; A., Gupta
abstract

Globally Distributed Teams are being increasingly used by organizations to carry out knowledge intensive work and are often engaged in the development of modular products and services. While modularity is always treated as a given property of products and services, the findings of our qualitative research conducted in a GDT in charge of developing a new software product suggest that team members develop different perceptions of modularity, that, in turn, are related to different perceptions of interactions and team configuration. These different perceptions bring about both positive and negative outcomes.

2012 - Multiple Team Membership and Team Performance: The Effects of Social Networks and Technology [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Vignoli, Matteo; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

In this paper we examine the relationships between team performance, multiple team membership (MTM), i.e., the participation of team members in multiple teams simultaneously, the use of collaborative technologies (instant messaging) and work-place social networks (receiving advice). In a sample of R&D teams belonging to an Italian company, we found an inverted U-shaped relationship between MTM and team performance such that teams whose members are engaged simultaneously in few or many teams experience lower performance. We found that receiving advice moderated this relationship such that when MTM is low, it has a positive effect and when MTM is high, it has a negative effect. Finally the use of instant messaging also moderated the relationship such that at low levels of MTM, teams whose members used instant messaging intensively attain higher performance while at high levels of MTM an intense use of instant messaging is associated with lower team performance.

2012 - Perceived Modularity: A case study of a globally distributed team [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; A., Prencipe; A., Gupta
abstract

2011 - I team virtuali di R&D. [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; Mattarelli, Elisa; Vignoli, Matteo
abstract

Il caso presentato in questo capitolo riguarda l’unità di R&S di una media impresa italiana che sviluppa motori ad energia alternativa, avvalendosi di team di progetto a diverso grado di vir-tualità. I membri dei team lavorano su diversi progetti simultaneamente e questo influenza la performance dei singoli team. In particolare, esiste una relazione a U invertita tra il numero di progetti a cui mediamente i membri del team partecipano (MTM) e la performance del team. All’aumentare del valore di MTM, aumenta la performance del team, ma oltre una certa soglia la relazione si inverte, a causa del bisogno degli individui di ‘dividersi’ tra troppe attività diverse. La relazione tra MTM e performance è moderata (cioè influenzata) dal supporto che gli individui ricevono dai colleghi e dalle modalità d’uso delle tecnologie collaborative. In particolare, avere un ampio supporto da numerosi colleghi è positivo per la performance del team se le persone sono coinvolte su pochi progetti, mentre è negativa quando gli individui sono coinvolti su moltissimi progetti. L’uso dell’Instant Messaging è positivo per la performance del team, quando gli individui sono coinvolti su pochi progetti, ma è causa di troppe interruzioni, difficili da gestire efficientemente, quando gli individui nel team sono coinvolti in molti progetti simultaneamente. Il caso si conclude con la discussione di alcune implicazioni per le organizzazioni.

2011 - Le comunità online [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Vignoli, Matteo
abstract

Il capitolo introduce e definisce le comunità online, con particolare riferimento alle co-munità di sviluppo software a codice sorgente aperto (open source). Sono descritte le motivazioni che spingono centinaia di volontari a contribuire alle comunità e le modalità con cui tali comunità sono governate ed evolvono. Sono anche descritte le principali caratteristiche che accomunano e distinguono i team virtuali e le comunità online. I casi di studio di Apache ed Eclipse (due comunità open source), rispettivamente nate da un gruppo di utenti-sviluppatori e da un progetto avviato da IBM, illustrano i processi collaborati-vi, i ruoli e la divisione delle responsabilità in comunità che presentano genesi diversa. I casi mostrano come il successo sia da attribuirsi principalmente alla capacità delle due comunità di fornire metodologie e strumenti di lavoro a distanza, di progettare un software modulare e di costruire la comunità online sul senso di appartenenza e di contributo volontario nel caso di Apache, e sulla meritocrazia e trasparenza nel caso di Eclipse.

2011 - Prototyping In Organizational Process Engineering [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Vignoli, Matteo; Macri', Diego Maria; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Organizations are increasingly developing new forms of integration. With the support of Organizational Design and Engineering - a new perspective on pursuing organizational effectiveness - it is now possible to attain new forms of competitive advantage through organizational changes whose outcomes are more easily predictable than in the past. To enable these changes we propose to intervene on organizational processes, considered by many scholars a convenient level of analysis. This paper aims to suggest which are the appropriate techniques to prototype the different components of a process. To this intent, we classify processes according to three analytical dimensions and then we propose the use of Discrete Event Simulation for Operational processes, of System Dynamics for Behavioral processes and of Agent Based Modeling for Change processes. This analytical classification favors the comparison of the different techniques and their uses We argue that, in complex situations, several techniques should be simultaneously employed.

2011 - The relationship between team performance and multiple team membership: the role of social networks and technology [Working paper]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; Mattarelli, Elisa; Vignoli, Matteo
abstract

In this paper we examine associations between team performance, the belongingness of team members to multiple project teams simultaneously, the use of collaborative technologies and work-place social networks (advice network support). In a sample of R&D teams, we proposed and found an inverted U-shaped relationship between multiple team membership (MTM) and team performance such that teams whose members are engaged simultaneously in few or many teams experience lower performance. Network support is a moderator of this relationship so that when MTM is low, network support has a positive effect and when MTM is high, network support has a negative effect. Finally the use of collaborative technologies, specifically instant messaging, moderates the relationship such that at low levels of MTM, teams whose members make an intense use of collaborative technologies attain higher performance while at high levels of MTM an intense use of collaborative technologies is associated with lower team performance.

2010 - A perspective on practice in interunit knowledge sharing [Articolo su rivista]
M. R., Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

Interunit knowledge flows provide opportunities for mutual learning, favour the running of local and global operations, and foster innovation processes. This paper investigates the social processes that underlie interunit knowledge flows as spontaneous practice sharing among peers belonging to different subunits. We explore how practice-based flows develop between individuals who are affiliated with different subunits of a given organization, and how such flows coexist with vertical structures, such as the headquarters. Through a field study employing semi-structured interviews and social network analysis in an Italian multiunit company running operations worldwide, we show how headquarters and practice-based flows respond to different organizational and individual needs, thereby laying the premises for their likely coexistence. In particular, we highlight how individuals’ practice sharing is enrooted in the need to affirm a positive professional identity, while also benefiting the overall organizational coordination. We then discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

2010 - Different Perceptions and Perceptions of difference in globally distributed teams [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Mattarelli, Elisa; M. R., Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola; A., Gupta; A., Prencipe; N., Levina; S., Weisband; J., Wilson
abstract

This symposium will offer theoretical reflection and empirical evidence on the importance of perception and differences in globally distributed teams (GDTs). The use of GDTs, especially those dealing with knowledge-intensive tasks, has been constantly gaining relevance in academic and managerial literature due to recent technological advances and worldwide economic changes. When working from a distance, individuals engage in still underexplored processes of perception ofthemselves, others, and common phenomena. Leaders in fact face new challenges that can be interpreted differently in co-located and globally distributed teams. In addition, organizations assign bicultural leaders to GDTs based on somewhat inaccurate perceptions of how these individuals handle their bicultural identities. Likewise, team members try to understand how their distant coworkers may be and feel, and what the team outcomes are. In the symposium, we will specifically address the centrality of the issues of perception and differences in GDTs through thefollowing research questions: What are the challenges for leaders of co-located and globally distributed teams, and how are various types of leaders perceived by team members working in different team arrangements? How do bicultural managers assigned to offshore projects deal with their own bicultural identities, and how do others perceive them? What is the interplay between team members’ different propensity to multitasking and their perception of product modularity in GDTs? How does the perception of differences of professional identities across sites shape the construction of common practices? Presenters will explore these questions through studies in various R&D settings and discuss theoretical and managerial implications.

2010 - Integrazione organizzativa e tecnologia: schemi concettuali e tecniche per il ridisegno dei processi intra e inter-organizzativi. [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Macri', Diego Maria; Vignoli, Matteo; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

La pubblicazione illustra gli schemi concettuali e le tecniche per ridisegnare i processi sia inter sia intra-organizzativi al fine di raggiungere integrazione sia organizzativa sia tecnologica. I temi investigati sono le tecniche per lo studio e l'analisi dei processi organizzativi, le tecnologie dei sistemi informativi per l'integrazione delle informazioni e per l'analisi dei processi, gli strumenti di progettazione e di gestione dell'integrazione, la matrix alignment.

2010 - Inter-organizational collaboration in academia: is it worth one’s while? [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Vignoli, Matteo; Bertolotti, Fabiola; A., Grandi; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

Research organizations are increasingly a context where the barriers related to physical distance are blurring. Indeed social, political and organizational pressures to inter-organizational collaboration are intensifying. This paper adopts a longitudinal approach to study the phenomenon of collaboration, investigating specifically the relationship between the mix of internal and external collaboration ties and the researcher’s performance. Analyzing the collaboration ties of researchers employed in a major Italian University from 2000 to 2007 through panel analysis, we found support for the hypothesis that more inter-organizational collaboration leads to superior performance. This result helps to deepen the understanding of the evolution of collaboration in research organizations and has implications for both management and policy.

2010 - Multiple perceptions of modularity and multitasking in globally distributed teams: toward a theory of multi-modularity [Working paper]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; A., Prencipe; A., Gupta
abstract

Globally distributed teams (GDT) are an increasingly common organizational solution to carry out knowledge intensive tasks as they enable the development of products and services ‘around the clock’ (Carmel, 2006) in a ‘24 hours knowledge factory’ environment (Gupta et al., 2009). Most GDTs are engaged in the development of modular products or services: modularity enables the development and production of different modules to be assigned to different subgroups located across the globe (e.g. US, Ireland, and India) as product design assembly is built in the modular architecture.While modularity is always treated as a given property of products and services, in this paper we investigate (a) whether and how members of GDTs may develop different perceptions of modularity; (b) the interplay of such perceptions with individuals’ interpretations of their work in the team; and (c) the consequences of these different perceptions. In order to investigate these issues we conducted a qualitative research of a GDT in charge of developing a new software product. Our findings suggest that team members develop different perceptions of modularity, that, in turn, are related to different perceptions of interactions, team configuration, and team identity. Although these different interpretations may increase difficulty in sharing and coordinating knowledge, they positively reinforce individuals’ professional identity.The paper is structured as follows: we review literature on modularity in GDTs to introduce the construct of perceived modularity and we introduce our research question. After describing our empirical context, we present the adopted research methods and illustrate and discuss our results. We conclude with implications and directions for future research.

2010 - The relationship between team performance and multiple team membership: the role of social networks and technology [Abstract in Rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; Mattarelli, Elisa; Vignoli, Matteo
abstract

Organizations increasingly use teams, both co-localized and distributed, to perform knowledge intensivetasks and face fast-pace environmental changes. Although their importance is widely acknowledged, agrowing body of evidences suggests that teams frequently face difficulties in fully realizing theirpotential, especially in situations where team members are distributed and interact mainly throughcollaborative technologies. The structure of social networks in which teams are embedded is consideredan important predictor of team performance even though, at a group level of analysis, empiricalevidence is still scant. Previous research has investigated the relationships between densecommunication-networ k structure in predicting performance in localized teams and started to link socialnetwork structures to some outcomes of distributed teams such as rapport, trust, ease of coordination.However, in distributed teams, dense communication and advice networks may be difficult to maintain,because team members need to avail themselves almost exclusively of communication technologies(Hinds, McGrath, 2006). Therefore, in this paper, we aim to further investigate the interplay betweentechnologies and the structure of work-related social networks and its effect on team performancecomparing distributed and collocated teams.Organizations increasingly use teams, both co-localized and distributed, to perform knowledge intensivetasks and face fast-pace environmental changes. Although their importance is widely acknowledged, agrowing body of evidences suggests that teams frequently face difficulties in fully realizing theirpotential, especially in situations where team members are distributed and interact mainly throughcollaborative technologies. The structure of social networks in which teams are embedded is consideredan important predictor of team performance even though, at a group level of analysis, empiricalevidence is still scant. Previous research has investigated the relationships between densecommunication-networ k structure in predicting performance in localized teams and started to link socialnetwork structures to some outcomes of distributed teams such as rapport, trust, ease of coordination.However, in distributed teams, dense communication and advice networks may be difficult to maintain,because team members need to avail themselves almost exclusively of communication technologies(Hinds, McGrath, 2006). Therefore, in this paper, we aim to further investigate the interplay betweentechnologies and the structure of work-related social networks and its effect on team performancecomparing distributed and collocated teams.We collected data on 73 R&D professionals, situated across 29 project teams (both co-located andgeographically distributed) and belonging to a multi-national world-leading corporation operating in thealternative energy industry. We collected data on the advice, communication, potential interaction workrelated complete networks Performance was measured by asking both team members and managers toevaluate the team outcomes in terms of quality of output, respect of budget, deadlines and clientsatisfaction. This work contributes to the social network as well as collaboration and distributed workliterature.

2010 - The role of polychronicity and social networks in the work-family enrichment relationship [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
J., Bagger; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

The current paper examines associations among measures of polychronicity, work-family enrichment (affect, development, and capital), and social networks (network support and network centrality in the advice network). Specifically, in a sample of 88 University employees and academics, we proposed and found a U-shaped relationship between polychronicity and work-family enrichment, such that individuals who are highly polychronic or highly monochronic report higher levels of work-family enrichment. Furthermore, this relationship was found to be moderated by network support, albeit no support was found for one work-family enrichment dimension (affect). Specifically, individuals with strong network support experience higher levels of work-family development and capital than individuals with weak network support. Finally, contrary to our expectation, network centrality moderated the relationship between polychronicity and the measures of work to family enrichment (affect, development, and capital) but in the opposite direction of proposed hypotheses. Specifically, central individuals who are low in polychronicity reported higher levels of work-family enrichment (all three dimensions) than central individuals who are high in polychronicity.

2009 - Are you a good member of our organization? Multiple identifications, prototipicality assessment, and the transfer of work practices [Working paper]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

This paper investigates how multiple salient work-related identities influence the way highly identified individuals appraise their coworkers’ degree of prototypicality with the primary target of identification and, as a consequence, their willingness to engage in extra-role behaviors toward prototypical members. Through a field study in a hospital unit where members belonging to four different professional groups (doctors, technicians, physicists, and nurses) operate jointly, we show that when both organizational and professional identities are salient, highly identified individuals, while complying with the prototype of the most salient identity—in this case the organization—are also influenced by the prototypical behaviors of their professional identity. This interplay leads to the development of different priorities of prototypical behaviors with the primary target for different professionals such that behaviors of the organizational prototype that acquire most relevance are those overlapping with the core prototypic behaviors of the professional prototype. Professional prototypes therefore act as ‘prisms’ through which organizational prototypes are interpreted and coworkers evaluated. Our findings show that only coworkers perceived as prototypical become worthy recipients of extra-role behaviors. Specifically, the extra-role behaviors we observed include practice sharing between members of different professional groups. More generally, the study contributes to research on multiple identities and the outcomes that their interplay generates as well as to research on the role of interpersonal dynamics in identification processes within organizational contexts.

2009 - The interplay between work identity and polychronicity in R&D professionals' social networks [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; J., Dukerich; Mattarelli, Elisa; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

Individual work identity, or the way individuals define themselves in the workplace, is composed of a combination of organizational, professional, and other identities. Such identities, and the related patterns of identification, shape the roles individuals enact and the corresponding ways they behave in the workplace, e.g. their social networks. In this paper, drawing on recent contributions on identity in organizations, we interpret the preference or desire to work on different tasks at the same time (polychronicity) as part of individuals’ work identity and we explore how polychronicity, and professional and organizational identification are related to the patterns of interactions in the workplace. Specifically, we test a moderated mediated model where the relationship between individual polychronicity and network centrality is mediated by the perception of organizational polychronicity and moderated by the strength of professional and organizational identification. Adopting a mixed methods approach, we collected qualitative and quantitative data for R&D professionals employed in a world-leading company of the alternative energy industry. Theoretical and practical implications, together with future research directions, are discussed.

2009 - Work and family: Do multi-tasking and social networks help or hurt? [Working paper]
J., Bagger; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

Multitasking is becoming quite distinctive of modern organizations. The increased use of work teams and job rotation, the need for continuous learning and development of complementary skills, the direct participation of employees in decision making on multiple issues seem to drive organizations towards more ‘polychronic’ scenarios (Lindbeck and Snower, 2000; Milgrom and Roberts,1990). Individuals who are high in polychronicity tend to do better in these environments than individuals who do not naturally engage in multi-tasking. While employees struggle to do many things at once in the workplace, at the same time, they have demands from their families as well. This struggle may be eased by the capacity of individuals and organizations to build positive interactions in the workplace. In this paper we explore the interplay between the preference of individuals to do many things at once (polychronicity); their centrality in the workplace social networks and the level of support they are able to gain from such networks; and their ability to enrich their family domain from the experiences gained in the work domain (work family enrichment). The paper is structured as follows: we introduce the literature on polychronicity and work family enrichment and propose hypotheses on their relationships; we describe our data collection in a University department and the methodology that we followed; finally we illustrate and discuss some preliminary results.

2008 - An ethnography on process conflict in a hospital unit: insights for information systems design [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

This work brings new evidence to how the process of information systems design can be integrated with an analysis of organizational variables and a multi-stakeholders perspective. We conducted an ethnographic study in a hospital unit, collecting data from observations, interviews and focus groups. The discussion about emergent themes with the actors in their natural context allowed us to identify a diffused discomfort perceived by personnel and to code it as process conflict, that is, a particular type of conflict caused by inefficiencies in the organization of work activities. In co-evolution with the actors, we defined the characteristics of a new management information system to confront and manage conflict within the organization. We adopted a socio-technical perspective to conform the new information system to the actual organizational characteristics. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.

2008 - L’influenza della dinamica tra collaborazioni interne ed esterne sulla performance del ricercatore [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Vignoli, Matteo; Bertolotti, Fabiola; A., Grandi
abstract

Le organizzazioni di ricerca rappresentano sempre più un contesto dove le barriere legate alla distanza fisica sono labili mentre più forti sono le spinte sociali, politiche e organizzative alla collaborazione interorganizzativa. Questo lavoro adotta un approccio longitudinale per studiare il fenomeno della collaborazione nella prospettiva del ricercatore, indagando il rapporto tra il mix di relazioni di collaborazione interne ed esterne e la performance individuale. Analizzando le relazioni di collaborazione dei ricercatori di un importante Ateneo italiano negli anni dal 2000 al 2007 tramite un’analisi di tipo panel, viene supportata l’ipotesi che l’aumento dei legami di collaborazione con l’esterno dell’organizzazione rispetto all’interno determini performance superiori. Questo risultato contribuisce ad approfondire la comprensione del fenomeno dell’evoluzione della collaborazione nelle organizzazioni di ricerca e offre implicazioni per il management e la policy.

2008 - Multiple Work Identities and R&D professionals’ networks [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; J. M., Dukerich; Macri', Diego Maria; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

Individual work identity, or the way individuals define themselves in the workplace, is composed of a combination of organizational, professional, and other identities. Such identities, and the related patterns of identification, shape the roles individuals enact and the corresponding ways they behave in the workplace, e.g. their social networks. In this paper, drawing on recent contributions on identity in organizations, we interpret the preference or desire to work on different tasks at the same time (polychronicity) as part of individuals’ work identity and we explore how polychronicity, professional and organizational identification affect the patterns of interactions in the workplace. Specifically, we test a model where the relationship between individual polychronicity and network centrality is mediated by the perception of organizational polychronicity and moderated by the strength of professional and organizational identification. Adopting a mixed methods approach, we collected qualitative and quantitative data on R&D professionals employed in a world-leading company of the alternative energy industry. Theoretical and practical implications, together with future research directions, are discussed.

2008 - The influence of polychronicity and identification processes on interactions in the workplace [Working paper]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; J., Dukerich; Macri', Diego Maria; Mattarelli, Elisa
abstract

Individual work identity, or the way individuals define themselves in the workplace, is composed of a combination of organizational, professional, and other identities. Such identities, and the related patterns of identification, shape the roles individuals enact and the corresponding ways they behave in the workplace, e.g. their social networks. In this paper, drawing on recent contributions on identity in organizations, we interpret the preference or desire to work on different tasks at the same time (polychronicity) as part of individuals’ work identity and we explore how polychronicity, professional and organizational identification affect the patterns of interactions in the workplace. Specifically, we test a model where the influence of individual polychronicity on interactions is mediated by the perception of organizational polychronicity and moderated by the strength of professional and organizational identification. Adopting a mixed methods approach, we collected qualitative and quantitative data on R&D professionals employed in a world-leading company of the alternative energy industry. Theoretical and practical implications, together with future research directions, are discussed.

2008 - Weathering Identity Crises: Building Identity in C-form Organizations [Working paper]
Seidel, M. D.; Dukerich, J. M.; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

The new organizational landscape created by modern communication networks such as the internet has created a new architecture of organization – the C-Form (Seidel and Stewart 2001). The C-Form is characterized by a lack of formal boundaries, a community of volunteer labor, and inexpensive and efficient communication. Some modern day examples of the C-Form produce the software tools that run a good portion of the internet including Apache (the most frequently used web server software), Sendmail (handles 75% of all e-mail on the internet), and FreeBSD (an alternative operating system). Perhaps the best known C-Form organization is the Linux community – sometimes dubbed the “Microsoft killer.” The Linux operating system has recently been gaining media attention as the best free alternative to Microsoft Windows. The Linux C-Form focuses on creating the best technology – as an artform – knitted together by a social contract (McMillan 2000). The unclear formal boundaries of the C-Form lead to two major challenges: (1) explicitly defining who is in and who is outside of the organization, and (2) establishing a clear identity for the organization (i.e., the central, distinctive, and enduring attributes, Albert and Whetten, 1985). Resolving the first challenge of membership status is a critical step to organizational identification. Organizational identification has been described as the process by which the individual perceives “oneness” with an entity (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Cheney, 1983; Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail, 1994; Pratt, 1998; Tajfel, 1983). This process depends upon a clear definition of the entity, that is, the individual needs to understand the identity of the organization. These two issues are linked such that the identity of the organization emerges as critical players coalesce around the central, distinctive, and enduring attributes used to define the organization. Since the definition of who these “critical players” are cannot be resolved by formal boundaries in a C-Form organization, those individuals who provide guidance as to what the organization stands for, and what it does not stand for, may ultimately influence the identity of the organization, which in turn influences who does and who does not identify with the organization.In this paper we argue that understanding how identification issues are ultimately resolved is not enough. Specifically, in this unique setting one must consider the dual processes of disidentification (Elsbach, 1999) and identification simultaneously. Elsbach and Bhattacharya (1998) argue that, “Organizational disidentification is indicated by the degree to which a person defines him or herself as not having the same attributes that he or she believes define the organization...” Since a C-Form organization generally starts with a “higher purpose” of overcoming an existing situation that requires change, the start of membership identification may be disidentification with lacking existing organizations or products. Once the C-Form takes hold and starts to establish its own values, beliefs, and norms, membership identification may then transition to identification with the C-Form as opposed to the previous disidentification. This paper presents a theoretical framework of how the processes of both disidentification and identification help resolve membership boundary issues. Using the transcripts of a particular division of the Linux C-Form called the Simple End User Linux (SEUL) project we perform a rhetorical analysis of electronic communication among project members occurring over a three-year period. In the presentation of this process we will show how issues of boundary and identification are resolved in this new emerging organizational architecture drawing on network analytic techniques.

2007 - Discovering complex interdependencies in organizational settings: the role of social network analysis in qualitative research [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

The paper’s aim is twofold: to display how the application of social network analysis techniques to observational data provides researchers with a unique set of data to make sense of the dynamics of organizational settings; to contribute to knowledge on group design, self-managing teams, and processes of technology diffusion.The paper focuses on the findings of qualitative research, recently published, that we conducted in a major Italian clothing company producing garments for the top-end market. We employed observations, ethnographic interviews and analysis of documents for data collection. We used coding procedures and social network analysis techniques to analyse data. The long presence in the field allowed us to build two grounded theories. One deals with the process of CAD technology diffusion into a small group and it connects a number of variables usually studied separately in the literature. The second accounts for the enactment of spontaneous self-managing practices in a group formally designed as a manager-led team.

2007 - Epoca - Eccellenza nei Processi Organizzativi e nella Corporate Analysis [Spin Off]
Macri', Diego Maria; Vignoli, Matteo; Bisi, Olmes; Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Zambonelli, Franco; U., Cantarelli; E., Lodolo; G., Nigro; F., Pavoncelli; V., Poliandri; M., Storchi; P., Veroni
abstract

2007 - Interdipendenze tra partecipazione a reti di pratiche, identità e identificazione organizzativa ed effetti sugli scambi di conoscenza tra gruppi professionali [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

L’attenzione per le comunità di pratiche ha evidenziato la condivisione di valori tra simili come presupposto per attivare scambi di conoscenza. Identità di gruppo forti favoriscono flussi di conoscenza all’interno di gruppi omogenei per competenze detenute e attività svolte dai membri, ma limitano i flussi tra gruppi diversi, riducendo l’esposizione a nuovi stimoli e opportunità. Il ruolo dell’identificazione organizzativa nei processi di trasferimento di conoscenza tra gruppi non è stato finora esplorato in letteratura e a questo si rivolge la nostra ricerca esplorativa. Le evidenze raccolte in un reparto ospedaliero nel quale convergono più gruppi professionali mostrano come trasferimenti volontari di conoscenza inter-gruppo siano riconducibili a comportamenti di cittadinanza organizzativa innescati congiuntamente da alti livelli di identificazione individuale e dalla percezione di equivalenti livelli di identificazione negli interlocutori.

2007 - L'uso di evidenze etnografiche per favorire il cambiamento organizzativo: il caso della progettazione del sistema informativo gestionale di una unità ospedaliera [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

In questo lavoro proponiamo l’utilizzo di un approccio etnografico partecipativo per favorire il cambiamento organizzativo in un’unità ospedaliera. La ricerca e’ stata condotta raccogliendo evidenze tramite osservazioni, interviste e focus group. La discussione con gli attori del contesto dei temi emersi dal campo ha permesso di ricondurre il disagio diffuso nell’unita’ a un particolare tipo di conflitto legato all’organizzazione del lavoro (conflitto process). Abbiamo proposto come modalità per affrontare la gestione del conflitto lo sviluppo di un sistema informativo gestionale, il quale, coerentemente con la prospettiva sociotecnica e’ stato conformato alla situazione organizzativa e sviluppato congiuntamente agli attori del contesto. Concludiamo discutendo le implicazioni teoriche, metodologiche e applicative.

2007 - Social Networks and Group Effectiveness: the Role of External Network Ties [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

This research explores the relationship between group effectiveness and social networks. Through a five months long ethnographic observation within three work groups employed in one of the major Italian fashion firm, we recorded all interactions occurring within the groups and outside groups boundaries, thereby deriving the enacted communication network. Then, by means of structured interviews, we collected evaluations of groups effectiveness and information about the declared, i.e. self-reported, communication network. Performance evaluations of the three groups differ and the difference cannot be traced back to the amount of communication network activated nor to the level of group members’ competencies or their internal network structure. The field evidence suggests that the better evaluation received by one group relates to the quality of the relationships it activates. This group assumes a coordinating role in the whole fashion development process: in particular it spontaneously triggers, through reciprocal interactions, modalities of design for manufacturing not formally required, fostering a co-design which is rewarded by the organizational members with higher evaluations. The study has implications for social network research by pointing out the importance to grasp the actual content of network relationships, beyond their presence and/or strength, to comprehend fully how network ties really influence organizational members’ perceptions and actions.

2006 - Il comportamento nelle organizzazioni [Capitolo/Saggio]
R. N., Anthony; Bertolotti, Fabiola; V., Govindarajan; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

I sistemi di controllo manageriali influiscono sui comportamenti delle persone e quelli adeguati, cioè bene progettati, li influenzano verso la cosiddetta coerenza degli obiettivi: assicurano, in altri termini, che le azioni intraprese dai singoli individui allo scopo di perseguire i propri obiettivi personali contribuiscano al conseguimento degli obiettivi organizzativi. Il capitolo prende l’avvio spiegando che cosa si intende per coerenza (o congruenza) degli obiettivi e descrive quindi come essa risulti influenzata sia da azioni informali sia dai sistemi formali. Questi ultimi possono essere suddivisi in due categorie: le “regole”, intese nel senso più ampio del termine, e le attività sistematiche di pianificazione e controllo. Le diverse organizzazioni fanno leva su differenti strutture organizzative per implementare la strategia aziendale e un sistema di controllo manageriale efficace deve essere progettato in modo tale da risultare coerente con la struttura all’interno della quale sarà implementato e utilizzato . La parte finale del capitolo descrive il ruolo del controller, dunque la persona responsabile della progettazione e della gestione del sistema di controllo manageriale.

2006 - Retribuzione e incentivi per il management [Capitolo/Saggio]
R. N., Anthony; Bertolotti, Fabiola; V., Govindarajan; Macri', Diego Maria
abstract

Ogni organizzazione persegue una molteplicità di obiettivi e una funzione importante del sistema di controllo manageriale è quella di motivare i membri dell’organizzazione ad agire in modo tale da conseguirli. Il capitolo prende in esame i meccanismi di incentivazione e il loro ruolo nell’influenzare il comportamento dei membri dell’organizzazione con l’obiettivo di allineare gli obiettivi individuali a quelli dell’impresa. Generalmente, i dirigenti apportano un significativo livello di impegno in quelle attività che sono premiate, mentre lo riducono verso quelle che non lo sono, anche se non necessariamente i premi devono essere monetari.Poiché numerosi sono nella prassi gli esempi di sistemi retributivi che non premiano quei comportamenti che favoriscono il conseguimento degli obiettivi o che, addirittura, premiano quelli che agiscono nella direzione opposta, nel capitolo sono descritte le caratteristiche di sistemi di incentivazione che dovrebbero scongiurare “la folle logica per cui viene premiato il risultato A mentre in realtà si spera in B”.In primo luogo, sono analizzati i risultati della ricerca in tema di incentivi, quindi descritta la natura dei piani di incentivazione distinguendo fra i piani a breve e a lungo termine. Successivamente, sono illustrate le modalità per stabilire la retribuzione dei singoli manager, sia a livello corporate, sia di singola unità di business. Infine, è presentata la teoria dell’agenzia, un approccio teorico utile per individuare quale sia il migliore piano di incentivazione da adottare.

2006 - The Influence of Organizational Identification and Identity-Congruent Behaviors on Knowledge Sharing [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

This paper advances the perspective that the individuals' willingness to perform extra role behaviors directed at coworkers, like knowledge sharing, is simultaneously influenced by the former's strength of organizational identification and by their evaluation of the strength of identification of the potential recipients of such behaviors. Through an ethnography in a hospital unit where four professional groups operate jointly, we show how highly identified actors appraise the level of identification of the members of different professional groups on the basis of the observations of the extra-role behaviors that colleagues enact. Only when highly identified individuals perceive congruence between the level of identification expected and that displayed by colleagues are they motivated to devote time and effort to share knowledge with them. Moreover, our findings show that knowledge transfer between different professional groups can be interpreted as an unexplored type of organizational citizenship behavior. In fact, knowledge transfer implies the unrequired sharing of operational practices specific to a professional group with members of different professionals groups, which enables these latter to perform, in their turn, extra role behaviors to support the organization. More generally, our study suggests extensions to the model of organizational identification. It also contributes to research on knowledge transfer by highlighting how the processes of organizational identification can promote knowledge flows between heterogeneous groups.

2005 - How Networks of Practice and Organizational Identification Affect Inter-Group Knowledge Transfer [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Mattarelli, Elisa; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

The increasing attention paid to communities of practice underlines the sharing of common values among peers as a premise to trigger knowledge exchanges. Strong group identities can favor knowledge flows within groups characterized by homogeneous competencies and activities performed, while they can limit the knowledge flows between different groups, thus reducing the exposure to new opportunities and stimula. The role played by organizational identification in the processes of knowledge transfer between professional groups has not been deeply explored so far and it represents the focus of our exploratory study. The evidence, collected in a hospital department where different professional groups operate jointly, show how voluntary inter-group transfer of knowledge can be traced back to organizational citizenship behaviors triggered both by high level of organizational identification and by the perceptions of equal level of organizational identification of coworkers.

2005 - Spontaneous self-managing practices in groups - Evidence from the field [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

This study, based on qualitative research, accounts for a process of collective and spontaneous self-managing practices in a group formally structured as a manager-led team. It explains the group members' reactions to different types of work arrangements and their coordination in terms of their need to affirm their professional identity. The characteristics of the organizational context, of the labor market, and of the technology involved favor the emergence of self-management, too. The authors employed observation, ethnographic interviews, and analysis of documents in conducting this research.

2004 - Conseguenze inattese dei processi di identificazione organizzativa [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; P., Cantarelli; Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

Questo studio si propone di investigare le conseguenze inattese dei processi di identificazione organizzativa. Basato su osservazioni partecipative e interviste etnografiche condotte all’interno di un’unità di radioterapia oncologica di un grande ospedale del nord-Italia, il lavoro formula una teoria costruita sul campo che rivela come forti livelli di identificazione degli individui possano generare, in presenza di talune condizioni organizzative, dinamiche dialettiche tra gli attori potenzialmente ingestibili perché principalmente basate sui valori, cioè su idee e presupposti di fondo alla base della forte identificazione e così radicate da risultare sostanzialmente immodificabili. Implicazioni organizzative e indicazioni manageriali per gestire questo fenomeno sono discusse.

2004 - Le reti di pratiche dentro le organizzazioni [Articolo su rivista]
M. R., Tagliaventi; Macri', Diego Maria; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Questo paper propone una metodologia di ricerca per l’identificazione di reti di pratiche e la comprensione del ruolo che esse possono assumere in termini di sviluppo e trasmissione di conoscenza tra individui e organizzazioni diverse. Il contesto di studio è un gruppo italiano costituito da una holding e quattro imprese controllate. Attraverso interviste strutturate e interviste etnografiche a tutti i manager di primo livello delle divisioni e dell’headquarter, lo studio rivela come l’organizzazione non percepisca l’esistenza di reti di pratiche che spontaneamente si sviluppano tra le proprie divisioni e non sia dunque in grado di coglierne le conseguenze sui flussi di conoscenza né sui processi di coordinamento tra le divisioni.

2004 - Social and organisational implications of CAD usage: a grounded theory in a fashion company [Articolo su rivista]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

This paper focuses on the process of Computer Aided Design (CAD) diffusion into a group engaged in the development of innovative products. Adopting an ethnographic approach, we build a grounded theory for interpreting CAD usage in terms of the interplay between variables such as management orientation, training, actors' specialisation and deskilling, availability of shared archives, technological discontinuities between organisational areas.

2003 - Creating an Identity in Community-Based Organizations [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
M. D., Seidel; J., Dukerich; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

The organizational landscape created by modern communication networks such as the internet has created a new architecture of organization – the C-Form (Seidel and Stewart 2001). The C-Form is characterized by a lack of formal boundaries, a community of volunteer labor, and inexpensive and efficient communication. The unclear formal boundaries of the C-Form lead to two major challenges: (1) explicitly defining who is in and who is outside of the organization, and (2) establishing a clear identity for the organization. These two issues are linked such that the identity of the organization emerges as critical players coalesce around the central, distinctive, and enduring attributes (Albert & Whetten, 1985) used to define the organization. Since the definition of who these “critical players” are cannot be resolved by formal boundaries, those individuals who provide guidance as to what the organization stands for, and what it does not stand for, may ultimately influence the identity of the organization. In this research we study the process of creating an organizational identity focusing on two C-Form organizations: Linux and Destination Imagination. Both of these organizations have discussion groups whose communications are open to the public. We coded the messages that these volunteer members have posted in terms of their identity-relevant language as well as conducted a network analysis of the key actors who have shaped the identities of the organizations. The findings indicate dual processes are involved: disidentifying (with a competitor organization) as well as identifying what the organization should be about.

2003 - Gestione della conoscenza, comunità di pratiche e sviluppo delle imprese: interdipendenze e linee di intervento [Capitolo/Saggio]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; A., Grandi; Mattarelli, Elisa; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

La crescente attenzione per la gestione della conoscenza nelle organizzazioni ha posto l’enfasi sulla creazione e diffusione di conoscenza all’interno di comunità: comunità spontanee di professionisti che condividono pratiche di lavoro all’interno di un’organizzazione e tra organizzazioni diverse e comunità strategiche formalmente progettate dal management per trasmettere conoscenze e generare innovazione. Pur nelle diverse forme, un aspetto rilevante che accomuna i contributi teorici ed empirici sulle comunità è che esse vadano adeguatamente promosse attraverso azioni manageriali coerenti, che variano dal riconoscimento e supporto a comunità già spontaneamente costituite all’incentivazione alla loro costituzione. Un altro aspetto rilevante riguarda le scelte manageriali di bilanciamento fra conoscenza trattenuta all’interno di un’organizzazione come suo patrimonio distintivo e conoscenza che filtra tra organizzazioni diverse contribuendo alla sviluppo di più ampi sistemi di organizzazioni. Obiettivo di questo lavoro è approfondire ruolo ed esiti della progettazione formale di comunità di pratiche e relazioni fra la conoscenza generata all’interno di comunità di pratiche e la conoscenza trasferita attraverso reti di pratiche. Nella prima parte viene analizzata la letteratura su gestione della conoscenza, comunità di pratiche e reti di pratiche. Nella seconda parte sono esaminate tre organizzazioni orientate alla conoscenza (una società di consulenza, il reparto di un ospedale e la comunità on line di Linux) diverse per meccanismi formali a supporto delle comunità di pratiche e per incentivi alla partecipazione a reti di pratiche. Nelle conclusioni vengono discussi i risultati empirici, evidenziando alcuni paradossi insiti nella gestione della conoscenza nelle organizzazioni, implicazioni manageriali e temi che necessitano di ulteriore ricerca.

2002 - A grounded theory for resistance to change in a small organization [Articolo su rivista]
Macri', Diego Maria; Mr, Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

This paper focuses on the process that generates resistance to change in a small organization. We build a grounded theory that interprets resistance to change in terms of interdependencies between the characteristics of the economic environment and of the industry, the dispositions of individuals, and the patterning of their actions within the social network. These three levels of analysis are mainly investigated separately from one another in empirical studies. An Italian small manufacturing firm was the object of our field study. Observations, ethnographic interviews and analysis of documents were the techniques employed.

2001 - 'Dirty Work' is in the eye of the beholder: new directions in how individuals cope with stigmatized occupations. [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
B., Ashforth; G., Kreiner; M., Clark; M., Fugate; Bertolotti, Fabiola; J., Kinnett; J., Dukerich; J., Newman; M., Logan; A., O'Leary Kelly; E., Whitener; A., Wrzesniewski
abstract

Dirty work is defined by Hughes (1958) as tasks that are “physically, socially, or morally” tainted. The stigma associated with taint may make it difficult for “dirty workers” to secure social validation and self-esteem for the work that they do. Our symposium examines how members of dirty work occupations individually and collectively perceive their work and how they attempt to secure positive meaning in the face of stigma. Three papers triangulate on this topic by empirically examining: (1) how managers from a variety of dirty work occupations perceive and adapt to their work, and socialize and motivate their subordinates, (2) how incumbents in a variety of dirty work occupations perceive their work and employ defense mechanisms to ward off stigma, and (3) how incumbents in a particular dirty work job (trucking) develop occupational identification in the face of stigma. Our intent, then, is to build on theoretical treatments of stigma management by studying dirty work occupations both in breadth (various occupations) and in depth (a single occupation) and from the perspective of front line employees and their managers. Finally, our fourth paper extends the theoretical treatment on stigma management by complementing the prevailing focus on cognitive defenses with a focus on behavioral defenses. The symposium is relevant to any occupation and organization where the social construction of meaning is problematic.

2001 - Sociometric location and innovation: how the social network intervenes between the structural position of early adopters and changes the power map [Articolo su rivista]
Macri', Diego Maria; Mr, Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

The introduction and development of innovation in small and medium firms has most often been considered as driven by the entrepreneur-owner who is supposed to conceive the innovation and then consistently to sponsor and pursue its implementation within the organization. However, when the innovation turns from abstract idea into a change embedded within a social network, fear of modifying the power map within the network can lead to inconsistent behaviors on the part of the owner, who may even try to make the innovation process fail.An ethnographic study was carried out in a small Italian firm that manufactures staircases, observing from start finish the process by which a new Information System was implemented. From the field notes, clear pro- and anti- innovation coalitions emerged. The findings of the study noted that the entrepreneur-owner, although unanimously acknowledged to have argued in favor of the innovation, withdrew his support from its implementation when he realized that, contrary to his expectations, it increased the power of a few core actors defined, in this instance, as those actors with greater and more sought- after technical know-how and skills.

2001 - Spontaneous Self-Managing Teams: Evidences From The Field [Abstract in Atti di Convegno]
Bertolotti, Fabiola; Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi
abstract

Previous research on task revision suggests that when individuals are in charge of procedures, roles, or tasks that they evaluate as incorrect and/or dysfunctional, they will engage in a spontaneous task redefinition. At the group level, while numerous studies have focused on the most appropriate group structure in relation to a variety of factors, little research has been conducted to examine the effect of a designed formal structure which is experienced by the group members as dysfunctional and conflicting with their and the organization’s goals. The purpose of this study is to understand what happens, collectively, when group members experience a designed structure and task assignments that they consider unfair and penalizing themselves and the organization. A field study of a group of 20 pattern makers operating in one of the major Italian fashion firms highlights the motivations and the processes through which members of the group engage in a spontaneous group redesign, enacting a structure totally different from the one designed by the management. Specifically, although the group was designed by management as an externally managed team, the group members themselves redefined tasks and group structure acting as a self-managing team, without that power being conferred upon them by managers. The new structure was discovered through observations and ethnographic interviews. Social network analysis techniques were applied to the data collected.

2000 - Conflitti interpretativi tra diversi attori: come il management disegna e come i membri vivono l’organizzazione di un gruppo [Capitolo/Saggio]
Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

La gestione dei piccoli gruppi ha suscitato crescente interesse negli studi organizzativi e nelle discipline manageriali Ciò che accomuna i contributi in letteratura è un’implicita semplificazione progettuale e il carattere sostanzialmente prescrittivo dei risultati. Le domande di ricerca di questi lavoro sono: a) se e come gli obiettivi che un gruppo autodetermina siano allineati con quelli espliciti a esso attribuiti dal management; b) se e come gli attori di un gruppo possano generare una struttura informale che si sovrappone o si oppone a quella per essi progettata; c) se e come tale struttura spontanea possa, a sua volta, modificare quella progettata. Lo studio empirico è stato impostato secondo i criteri di una ricerca qualitativa. Nel piccolo gruppo osservato, che sviluppa innovazione per una grande impresa italiana, le interazioni sono occasione di ampliamento delle competenze degli attori e di ricerca di spazi di libertà non concessi dal management. Queste stesse interazioni sono interpretate dalla direzione come elemento di disturbo e perdita di efficienza. La struttura formale e quella che spontaneamente il gruppo genera si stabilizzano, quindi, su posizioni antitetiche e difficilmente componibili. Mentre, infatti, per i membri del gruppo le interazioni suppliscono alla rigidità di una specializzazione che altrimenti determinerebbe demotivazione, scarsa crescita professionale e, in ultimo, anche perdita di efficienza, il management le percepisce come espressione di scarsa motivazione, di dispersione di competenze e come ostacolo alla ricerca di efficienza.

2000 - Innovazione e dinamiche degli attori nella rete sociale: la storia di un boicottaggio di un nuovo sistema informativo in una piccola organizzazione [Capitolo/Saggio]
Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Dopo decenni di ricerca sulle relazioni esistenti tra tecnologia e struttura organizzativa, il tema risulti ancora oggi confuso e controverso, soprattutto riguardo alla relazione fra posizione (localizzazione sociometrica) degli attori che per primi adottano un’innovazione e cambiamenti che ne conseguono nella mappa del potere intraorganizzativo. Gli studi sul rapporto tra localizzazione sociometrica e innovazione hanno teso a mettere a fuoco: (a) se i cambiamenti nella struttura sociale accadano più facilmente quando i primi utenti sono attori centrali o periferici all'interno della rete sociale; (b) se l'innovazione si diffonde all'interno di una comunità attraverso la coesione oppure attraverso somiglianze nei profili relazionali. Questo lavor elabora l'ipotesi che quanto più debole è la capacità degli attori di prevedere le conseguenze di un cambiamento tecnologico all'interno della rete sociale, tanto più alte sono le probabilità che esso fallisca durante la fase di implementazione.Le grandi organizzazioni sono più consapevoli della dimensione politica del cambiamento, il che porta a lunghi periodi di ideazione e negoziazione durante i quali le conseguenze politiche dell’innovazione vengono valutate. Al contrario, le piccole organizzazioni tendono a dedicare minor tempo alla fase di ideazione e negoziazione con l’obiettivo di accelerare l’implementazione. E’ così più facile che le grandi organizzazioni abbandonino i loro progetti in fase di ideazione dell’innovazione e che le piccole li abbandonino, invece, in fase di implementazione. Più in generale, la pubblicazione esamina, in una prospettiva di teoria organizzativa, l’interposizione della rete sociale tra la formulazione di un problema di cambiamento tecnologico e il tentativo di trovarvi una soluzione attraverso un'azione collettiva. La sistematica ridefinizione dei problemi permette agli attori di costruire la loro minaccia di defezione attorno alle loro competenze tecniche, di usare la loro abilità per affrontare l'incertezza, di definire aree di negoziazione e di creare posizioni di potere.

2000 - La resistenza al cambiamento in una piccola impresa: le interdipendenze fra l’ambiente economico, il settore industriale e la rete sociale in una teoria costruita sul campo [Capitolo/Saggio]
Macri', Diego Maria; M. R., Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

Sebbene sia naturale pensare ad associazioni coerenti tra la stabilità ambientale e la stabilità dell’organizzazione, e nonostante una simile affermazione possa ritenersi generale, le modalità per promuovere nelle organizzazioni il cambiamento sono, invece, specifiche. Requisito all’azione di rottura di un ordine consolidato è, infatti, una comprensione contingente e non generica di ciò che determina la stabilità e l’inerzia al cambiamento in un'organizzazione. Attraverso un'osservazione partecipativa applicato a una piccola impresa manifatturiera è stata formulata una congettura di resistenza al cambiamento per una piccola organizzazione che agisce in un ambiente economico poco evoluto e in un settore industriale poco attivo. L’effetto combinato di una scarsa evoluzione dell’ambiente economico locale e di standard di performance che una competizione poco dinamica mantiene costanti nel tempo genera un’inerzia al cambiamento attraverso un circolo di rinforzo fra: potere su base tecnica; scarsa propensione alla delega; bassi livelli di cooperazione; assenza di apprendimento “progettato”; modalità di coordinamento semplici; lunga permanenza degli attori nell’organizzazione. L’equilibrio si stabilisce come contrapposizione tra due spinte contrapposte: da un lato, la tendenza strutturale all’atomizzazione organizzativa, allo scarso apprendimento e a una perdita progressiva di efficienza e, dall’altro, la forza riequilibratice che la ricerca di legittimazione da parte del task environment impone.

1999 - How the social network can boycott a technological change: a grounded theory for innovation failure in a small organization [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Macri', Diego Maria; Mr, Tagliaventi; Bertolotti, Fabiola
abstract

A technological change can be partially or totally boycotted during its implementation. The initial sponsors of an innovation can end up causing its failure. It is only within a social network that the implications of an innovation become visible to the actors thus creating a misfit between their professed and performed attitudes. A study of the introduction of a new Information System in an Italian small firm has been carried out.

Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Pubblicazioni