The Cognitive Mechanism Of Organizational Routines And Their Rigidity/Flexibility

Although the conceptualization of organizational routines has been transformed from early mere behavioral patterns into behavioral patterns with some cognitive elements,the emphasis is always on the behavioral side,not on the cognitive side.The present paper's viewpoint is that although organizational routines are always manifested themselves in behavioral patterns,it is the cognition that determines the behavior,not the other way around.Furthermore,the rigidity or flexibility of organizational routines is also determined by cognition.In order to clarify this point,the paper proposes a new conceptual framework of organizational routines,putting the cognition on the level higher than behavior's.In this framework organizational routines are divided into two processes,i.e.controlled and automatic process,and into two levels,i.e.behavioral and cognitive level.The paper also proposes that higher-order cognition plays an important role in the transformation and coordination between controlled and automatic cognition,thence between controlled and automatic behavior,thus explains why some routines are rigid and others are flexible.We also propose a kind of negative feedback control system to build higher-order cognition.To further test this theoretical framework empirically,we conduct two case studies in real firms,and finally the results of them verify our theory quite well.