A co-evolutionary perspective on business processes Evidence from the performance appraisal of a service firm

Purpose - What new empirical implications can emerge in the organizational adaptation domain by adopting a multi-level co-evolutionary theoretical perspective? How does the performance appraisal process affect the evolution of the organization? The purpose of this paper, positioned within the organizational evolution research field, is to untangle the complexity behind emergence, development, and extinction of business processes over time, highlighting the inner mechanisms behind the adaptation process. Design/methodology/approach - The work is presented as a longitudinal, single case study of a service firm. Scholars concur in considering this approach particularly reliable when investigating the evolution of a practice (Feldman, 2000; Howard-Grenville, 2005; Lazaric and Denis, 2005). Data have been collected during 2014 through three main methods: unstructured interviews, meeting observations, and direct observation of participants. Findings - From the analysis, it emerges that the impact of the performance appraisal routine on individual and group dynamics is the main determinant behind organizational inertia and resistance to change. In particular, the degree of managerial control exerted, the feedback scheme applied, and the group interaction mechanisms are predictors of the degree of business process exploitation or exploration within a practice. Research limitations/implications - In order to address the exploratory nature of the work, further developments may deepen the analysis investigating and comparing the findings obtained in different business contexts, highlighting important similarities or differences in various sectors. Different empirical settings might also be beneficial in further investigating the complexity of additional dimensions of routines' evolution, especially at the group and organization level of analysis. Practical implications - The insights from the case may serve as useful inputs to improve the efficiency of the service firm examined, and to identify possible mechanisms to foster knowledge production and replication within the practice. Originality/value - The paper, by adopting a co-evolutionary perspective, has been conceived as a deliberate search for new empirical implications in the organizational evolution research domain at multiple levels of analysis.