Understanding the emergence of unintended novelty is central for developing socially sustainable organizing. This research project focuses on the dynamics between strategic novelty and stability by examining how subtle, unintended novelty emerges, how it is recognized, and potentially stabilized in organizations. This project combines two longitudinal sets of empirical material (city organization and professional sports organization) collected by interviews and observation. Particular attention is given to how novelty is recognized through organizational polyphony. This project (1) aims to show how novelty may be recognized by shifting emphasis from management-led strategies to organizational polyphony by searching for deviant and even resisting voices, and (2) reveal practices that either hinder or promote the stabilization of novelty in organizations and society more broadly.

2023

2027