Strategic management research overlooks dynamic capabilities generated from the “humanistic side” of organizational life, such as relationships, compassion, virtuous actions, and honorable behavior. However, exploring these dynamic capabilities can provide the field of strategic management with a different viewpoint of how organizations create value through human processes. To examine this issue, the article presents results from a case study of a nurse-midwife practice within a large research hospital. The study explores how the humanistic work ideology of the nurse-midwife practice creates dynamic capabilities. Through theoretical analysis of the case study data, the authors develop a framework to explain the humanistic work ideology of the midwives and its linkages to human resource management and patient service capabilities. Last, the authors conclude with a discussion proposing that institutional pressures legitimize the humanistic work ideology of the midwifery practice.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alder, P., & Alder, B. (1987). Members’ roles in field research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
Alder, P. S., & Borys, B. (1996). Two types of bureaucracy: Enabling and coercive. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 61-89.
3.
Alvesson, M., & Lindkvist, L. (1993). Transaction costs, clans and corporate culture. Journal of Management Studies, 30, 427-452.
4.
Ashcraft, K. (2001). Empowering “professionals” relationships: Organizational communication meets feminist practice. Management Communication Quarterly, 13, 347-392.
5.
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99-120.
6.
Becker, B., Huselid, M., & Ulrich, D. (2001). The HR scorecard: Linking people, strategy and performance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
7.
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1985). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. New York: Harper and Row.
8.
Benner, P., Tanner, C. A.,& Chesla, C. A. (2001). Expertise in nursing practice. New York: Springer.
9.
Bernard, H. (1994). Research methods in cultural anthropology. London: Sage.
10.
Boxall, P. (1998). Achieving competitive advantage through human resource strategy: Toward a theory of industry dynamics. Human Resource Management Review, 8, 265-288.
11.
Boxall, P., & Steeneveld, M. (1999). Human resource strategy and competitive advantage: A longitudinal study of engineering consultancies. Journal of Management Studies, 36, 443-463.
12.
Braus, P. (1997). Marketing women health care to women: Meeting new demands for products and services. Ithaca, NY: American Demographics Books.
13.
Cameron, K., & Caza, A. (2002). Organizational and leadership virtues and the role of forgiveness. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 9, 33-48.
14.
Cameron, K., Dutton, J., & Quinn, R. (2003). Positive organizational scholarship. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
15.
Cameron, K., & Quinn, R. E. (1998). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
16.
Chester, P. (1997). Sisters on a journey: Portraits of American midwives. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
17.
Cooke, R. A., & Rousseau, D. M. (1988). Behavioral norms and expectations: A quantitative approach to the assessment of organizational culture. Group & Organization Studies, 13, 245-273.
18.
DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W. (1983). The iron cagere visited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147-160.
19.
Durkheim, E. (1933). The division of labor in society. New York: Free Press.
20.
Eisenhardt, K. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 532-550.
21.
Eisenhardt, K., & Martin, J. (2000). Dynamic capabilities. What are they? Strategic Management Journal, 21, 1105-1121.
22.
Gittell, J. (2002). Relationships between service providers and their impact on customers. Journal of Service Research, 4, 299-311.
23.
Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (1996, November/December). What holds the modern company together? Harvard Business Review, 133-148.
24.
Hall, R. (1968). Professionalization and bureaucratization. American Sociological Review, 33, 92-104.
25.
Hall, R. (1992). The strategic analysis of resources. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 125-143.
26.
Hampton, G., McQuitty, S., & Hampton, D. (2000). Market orientation and professionalism. The case of nurse-midwives. Health Marketing Quarterly, 17, 77-93.
27.
Harber, D., Ashkanasy, N., & Callan, V. (1997). Implementing quality service in a public hospital setting: A path-analytical study of the organizational antecedents of employee perception and outcomes. Public Productivity & Management Review, 21, 13-29.
28.
Hayano, D. M. (1979). Auto-ethnography: Paradigms, problems and prospects. Human Organization, 38, 99-104.
29.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
30.
Huselid, M., Jackson, S., & Schuler, R. (1997). Technical and strategic human resource effectiveness as determinants of firm performance. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 171-188.
31.
Itami, H., & Roehl, T. (1987). Mobilizing invisible assets. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32.
Johnson, M. (2002). The routinization of health care and the professional calling. Dialogues, 1, 30-47.
33.
Jorgensen, D. (1989). Participant observation: A methodology for human services. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
34.
Kondra, A., & Hinings, C. (1998). Organizational diversity and change in institutional theory. Organization Studies, 19, 743-767.
35.
Kotter, J., & Heskett, J. (1992). Corporate culture and performance. New York: Free Press.
36.
Kunda, G. (1992). Engineering culture: Control and commitment in a high-tech corporation. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
37.
Lado, A., & Wilson, M. (1994). Human resource systems and sustained competitive advantage: A competency-based perspective. Academy of Management Review, 19, 699-727.
38.
Leonard-Barton, D. (1992). Core capabilities and core rigidities: A paradox in managing new product development. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 111-125.
39.
Malloch, K. (2000). Healing models for organizations: Description, measurement and outcomes. Journal of Healthcare Management, 45, 332-345.
40.
Martin, J., Knopoff, K., & Beckman, C. (1998). An alternative to bureaucratic impersonality and emotional labor: Bounded emotionality at The Body Shop. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 429-469.
41.
Meyerson, S., & Scully, M. (1995). Temperedradical is mand the politics of ambivalence and change. Organization Science, 6, 585-600.
42.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. New York. Sage.
43.
Mintzberg, H. (1979). The structuring of organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
44.
Ouchi, W. (1980). Markets, bureaucracies, and clans. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 129-141.
45.
Ouchi, W., & Johnson, J. (1978). Types of organizational control and their relationship to emotional well-being. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 293-317.
46.
Parasuraman, A. (1987). Customer-oriented corporate culture are crucial to service marketing success. Journal of Service Marketing, 1, 39-46.
47.
Prahalad, C., & Bettis, R. (1986). The dominant logic: A new linkage between diversity and performance. Strategic Management Journal, 7, 485-501.
48.
Reinelt, C. (1994). Fostering empowerment, building community: The challenges for state-funded feminist organizations. Human Relations, 47, 685-705.
49.
Rider, E.,& Perrin, J. (2002). Performance profiles: The influence of patients at is faction data on physician’s practice. Pediatrics, 109, 752-757.
50.
Rooks, J. (1997). Midwifery and child birth in America. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
51.
Rousseau, D. (1990). Normative beliefs in fund-raising organizations: Linking culture to organizational performance and individual responses. Group & Organization Studies, 15, 448-460.
52.
Rothschild-Whitt, J. (1979). The collectivist organization: An alternative to rational-bureaucratic models. American Sociological Review, 44, 509-527.
53.
Rouse, M., & Daellenbach, U. (1999). Rethinking research methods for the resource-based perspective: Isolating sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 487-494.
54.
Rushing, B. (1993). Ideology in the reemergence of North American midwifery. Work and Occupations, 20, 46-67.
55.
Schneider, B., & Bowen, D. (1995). Winning the service game. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
56.
Scoggin, J. (1996). How nurse-midwives define themselves in relation to nursing, medicine and midwifery. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 41, 36-42.
57.
Spreitzer, G., & Sonenshein, S. (2003). Facilitating the extraordinary: Toward an understanding of positive deviance. In K. Cameron, J. Dutton, & R. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship (pp. 207-224). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
58.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
59.
Sutcliffe, K., & Vogus, T. (2003). Organizing for resilience. Unpublished manuscript, University of Michigan.
60.
Tasso, K., Behar-Horenstein, L., & Aumiller, A. (2002). Assessing patient satisfaction and quality care through observation and interview. Hospital Topics, 80(3), 4-10.
61.
Thompson, J. (1967). Organizations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill.
62.
Trice, H., & Beyer, J. (1993). The cultures of work organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
63.
Van Mananen, J., & Barley, S. (1984). Occupational communities: Control in culture in organizations. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 6, pp. 287-365). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
64.
Weick, K. (1979). The social psychology of organizing (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
65.
Wilkins, A., & Ouchi, W. (1983). Efficient cultures: Exploring the relationship between culture and organizational performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 469-481.
66.
Winter, S. (2002). Understanding dynamic capabilities. Unpublished manuscript, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
67.
Worline, M., Dutton, J., Frost, P., Kanov, P., & Maitlis, S. (2002, August). Creating fertile soil: The organizing dynamics of resilience. Paper presentedat annual Academy of Management Meeting, Denver, CO.
68.
Wright, P., McMahan, G., & McWilliams, A. (1994). Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: A resource-based perspective. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5, 301-326.
69.
Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs, careers, and callings: People’s relations to their work. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 21-33.
