Organizational Learning from Performance Feedback: A Behavioral Perspective on Innovation and Change

by Henrich R. Greve

Overview

Revisiting Cyert and March's classic 1963 "Behavioral Theory of the Firm", Henrich Greve offers an intriguing analysis of how firms evolve in response to feedback about their own performance. Based on ideas from organizational theory and social psychology and research from many industries, it demonstrates that high-performing organizations quickly lower their rates of market entry, innovations and asset growth, but low-performing organizations only slowly increase those rates. The analysis outlines the consequences of this behavior for organizational survival and performance, and suggests ways to improve organizations with performance feedback.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521534918
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/26/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Henrich R. Greve is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. He holds a PhD in organizational behavior from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, along with an MA in Sociology. Henrich's main research interest is the causes and consequences of strategic change in organizations, but he also studies organizational innovations, and organizational founding and growth in young industries.

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Foundations; 3. Model; 4. Applications; 5. Advanced topics; 6. Conclusion; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Organizational Learning From Performance Feedback is an extraordinarily impressive achievement and a must-read for all serious students of organizational learning, innovation, decision-making, and performance. The persuasiveness of the author's theory of performance feedback is exceeded only by its profound implications for our understanding of how organizations change and learn. The theory and applications in this book integrate a vast literature into a remarkably elegant and path-breaking model of organizational learning. No one can afford to overlook this remarkable volume." Christine Oliver, Henry J. Knowles Chair and Professor of Organizational Strategy, Schulich School of Business, York University

"From his perch atop the shoulders of giants - Cyert, March and Simon, Kahneman and Tversky - Henrich Greve offers us a powerful model of organizational learning, innovation and strategic change that bridges the behavioral sciences. The view he affords is inspiring, revealing Greve as a giant himself. A feast for thought that every serious student of strategy and organization will consume with pleasure." Joel Baum, Canadian National Chair in Strategic Management, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

"Greve has done a marvelous job linking organizational aspirations, risk taking and learning in analyzing the effects of performance feedback on organizational change. Providing an exciting new framework this book is going to become a standard reference for scholars interested in studying how organizations learn, innovate and change." Zur Shapira, William Berkley Professor of Management, Stern School of Business, New York University

"Greve provides an outstanding review of both the theoretical and empirical literatures that address the influence of performance on corporate behavior. He also offers new and interesting empirical results. This is an essential book for anyone interested in performance feedback in organizations." Philip Bromiley, Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Strategic Management, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

"This is a finely wrought work of scholarship that enriches performance feedback theory with new arguments and new evidence drawn from the radio and ship-building industries. Writing with remarkable grace, Henrich Greve makes performance feedback theory not only accessible to the novice but also engrosses the expert. In short, a remarkably engaging and innovative accomplishment." Hayagreeva Rao Richard L. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Change, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

"Organizational Learning with Performance Feedback assembles a vast body of evidence demonstrating that firms respond on a number of dimensions—R&D, investment, the strategic direction of the firm—to what they learn about their performance. How strongly firms respond depends on their aspirations: generally, performance below aspiration levels triggers more dramatic responses than performance above these levels. But here's the kicker: almost all performance measures are noisy and short-term measures are especially noisy, hence too much performance feedback is dysfunctional because it triggers searches for problems that do not exist. We have had a feeding frenzy of performance measurement, and it will get worse until managers grasp the implications of OLPF." Marshall W. Meyer, Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management and Sociology, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

"Important"
American Journal of Sociology, John P. Walsh

From the Publisher