Exploring management innovation: An analysis of the development of Six Sigma from morphogenetic and sociology of translation perspectives

How and why do new management ideas develop, gain currency, and become successfully put into practice? This dissertation uses a retrospective analysis of the origination of Six Sigma, a management innovation that has been acknowledged as having had a profound impact on industry, to investigate the process by which new value creating ideas emerge and develop. Current perspectives on innovation processes in organizations agree that innovation is a complex, dynamic, and multi-level phenomenon. Yet, few substantive theoretical accounts exist which adequately integrate multiple levels of analysis and explain innovation and change in terms of the interconnections between structural influences and individual action. Addressing this challenge requires an explanatory framework that takes into account both micro and macro perspectives. This study incorporates these dual perspectives by coupling morphogenetic theory and the sociology of translation together as an explanatory framework in order to provide a more holistic explanation of the innovation development process. The resulting model depicts the development of Six Sigma as a multilayered process occurring via socio-ideational-political cycles involving the complex interaction of cultural, agential and structural influences over time.; This conceptualization of the dynamics of innovation development enabled this study to depart from previous work by offering an analysis and examination of interactions between contextual levels and the structural and cultural connections that must exist in order for new ideas to become an implemented reality. In tracing the evolution of Six Sigma using such a framework this study revealed the intricate linkages among causal mechanisms at different levels of analysis, finding that industry sector developments and institutional ideas and beliefs influenced strategy and actions at multiple levels of the organization. Innovation development involved the creation of structural and cultural linkages between the old and the emerging order. The innovation pathway was shaped by unfolding cycles of prescribed and emergent actions which created meaning and movement through the bridging of both interpretive and structural boundaries across organizational levels.