Reimagining the Differentiation and Integration of Work for Sustained Product Innovation”, Organization Science 12: 612–631

This study describes the image of organizing that underlies a complex organization’s ability to incorporate streams of inno-vation with continuing operations. I argue that a mechanistic organization archetype prevents people from seeing in their minds ’ eyes—from imagining—how to do the work of inno-vation organizationwide, but that theorists have failed to artic-ulate an alternative to this archetype in its own terms. The study focuses on two elements of organizing: the differentiation and the integration of work. I build grounded theory for an alternate, innovative archetype of organizing by exploring the shared im-age of work differentiation and integration in twelve firms that vary in innovative ability. I find a fundamentally different im-age in innovative organizations that is centered on hands-on practice: People understand value creation as a long-term work