The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift
This 12-month ethnographic study of an early entrant into the U.S. car-sharing industry demonstrates that when an organization shifts its focus from developing radical new technology to incrementally improving this technology, the shift may spark an internal power struggle between the dominant engin...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Sage Publications
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106892 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4934-2584 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4372-3498 |
| _version_ | 1811077439409881088 |
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| author | Truelove, Emily Stecker Kellogg, Katherine C. |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Truelove, Emily Stecker Kellogg, Katherine C. |
| author_sort | Truelove, Emily Stecker |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This 12-month ethnographic study of an early entrant into the U.S. car-sharing industry demonstrates that when an organization shifts its focus from developing radical new technology to incrementally improving this technology, the shift may spark an internal power struggle between the dominant engineering group and a challenger occupational group such as the marketing group. Analyzing 42 projects in two time periods that required collaboration between engineering and marketing during such a shift, we show how cross-occupational collaboration under these conditions can be facilitated by a radical flank threat, through which the bargaining power of moderates is strengthened by the presence of a more-radical group. In the face of a strong threat by radical members of a challenger occupational group, moderate members of the dominant engineering group may change their perceptions of their power to resist challengers’ demands and begin to distinguish between the goals of radical versus more-moderate challengers. To maintain as much power as possible and prevent the more-dramatic change in engineering occupational goals demanded by radical challengers, moderate engineers may build a coalition with moderate challengers and collaborate for incremental technology development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:43:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/106892 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:43:03Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Sage Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1068922022-09-30T22:30:51Z The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift Truelove, Emily Stecker Kellogg, Katherine C. Sloan School of Management Kellogg, Katherine C. Truelove, Emily Stecker Kellogg, Katherine C. This 12-month ethnographic study of an early entrant into the U.S. car-sharing industry demonstrates that when an organization shifts its focus from developing radical new technology to incrementally improving this technology, the shift may spark an internal power struggle between the dominant engineering group and a challenger occupational group such as the marketing group. Analyzing 42 projects in two time periods that required collaboration between engineering and marketing during such a shift, we show how cross-occupational collaboration under these conditions can be facilitated by a radical flank threat, through which the bargaining power of moderates is strengthened by the presence of a more-radical group. In the face of a strong threat by radical members of a challenger occupational group, moderate members of the dominant engineering group may change their perceptions of their power to resist challengers’ demands and begin to distinguish between the goals of radical versus more-moderate challengers. To maintain as much power as possible and prevent the more-dramatic change in engineering occupational goals demanded by radical challengers, moderate engineers may build a coalition with moderate challengers and collaborate for incremental technology development. 2017-02-10T16:23:57Z 2017-02-10T16:23:57Z 2016-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0001-8392 1930-3815 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106892 Truelove, Emily, and Katherine C. Kellogg. “The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-Occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift.” Administrative Science Quarterly 61.4 (2016): 662–701. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4934-2584 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4372-3498 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0001839216647679 Administrative Science Quarterly Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ application/pdf Sage Publications Prof. Kellogg |
| spellingShingle | Truelove, Emily Stecker Kellogg, Katherine C. The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift |
| title | The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift |
| title_full | The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift |
| title_fullStr | The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift |
| title_short | The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift |
| title_sort | radical flank effect and cross occupational collaboration for technology development during a power shift |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106892 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4934-2584 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4372-3498 |
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