Organizational routines combine a fixed ostensive pattern with variable performance

Evidence

In a way, this argument echoes the conception of routines advanced by Feldman and Pentland (2003), stressing, on the one hand, the ostensive side as a fixed, overarching pattern and, on the other hand, the performative side as the actual practicing of a routine involving some variation. — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 49

Categorization

• DEFINE: The ostensive/performative distinction is the conceptual hinge the whole lock-in argument turns on.
• XREF: Connects to structuration theory (Giddens, ‘knowledgeable agents’) and to any prior reading on routines as generative systems rather than fixed scripts.