Power Dynamics and the Performative Aspects of Organizational Routines

Chapter 7 of Technical Notes on Howard-Grenville et al. (2016)

Abstract

This paper is a commentary on Chapter 7 of the Handbook of Routines. The purpose of Chapter 7 is to clarify the effects of power among organizational actors in the execution of routines. Three performance review interviews are used as case studies, recorded and analyzed in conversation. The analysis revealed that the power relationship between the supervisor and the subordinate in the execution of the routines changes whether or not deviations from the ostensive aspect occur. However, since this chapter is also biased toward a discussion of performative aspect in routine dynamics, it is considered necessary to reexamine the presence or absence of a patterning component in order to make this a truly routine dynamics study.