Organizational Innovations in a Long-Term Perspective: Legitimacy and Souls-of-Fire as Critical Factors of Change and Viability
基于一项长达10-20年的保险部门案例研究，分析了组织创新中“灵魂之火”（即变革推动者）如何通过持续维护组织价值观和文化来推动变革，同时面临学习与变革的两难困境。
What may be learned from organizational innovations in a long-term perspective? This article is based on eight studies over a period of 10-20 years. An insurance department is used as an illustrative and representative case. The department manager was a successful soul-of-fire (i.e., champion) during the change process. The continuous defense of the organization's values and culture distanced him from the rest of the company. Legitimacy (especially top management acceptance) is something that has to be continuously regenerated. The soul-of-fire faces two major dilemmas: first, the learning dilemma, i.e., the need to balance the efforts for internal learning and development in the unit with diffusion activities and the creation of external legitimacy; second, the change dilemma, i.e., the need to balance the direction and control of change with support for employee autonomy and influence.