Interrelated Routines

What is it about?

Our paper shows two things. First, it points out that in doing our daily work in organizations we often rely on others doing their work in a way that supports rather than hinders us. Technically speaking, therefore, multiple routines are coordinated by prescribing how a focal routine ought to be performed in a way that takes into account the needs of the other, interdependent routines. Second, our paper shows that interdependent routines will often be grouped into clusters. As a direct consequence of the way interdependent routines are being coordinated, these cluster will evolve quite differently than single routines.

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Why is it important?

It is important to understand that routine clusters might evolve differently than single routines, because it demonstrates that the model explaining the micro-level of a single routine cannot be transferred directly to explain the meso-level of the routine clusters, let alone the macro level of the whole organization. Our research therefore highlights the need to be sensible to the important differences between these different levels of analysis.