In defense of the comfort zone: against the hegemony of creative destruction
Résumé
In this chapter we argue that the in stark opposition to creative destruction as applauded by most mainstream writing in the field of entrepreneurship, one of the important and recurrent motifs in organizing are the attempts to acquire and solidify the sense of homeliness and familiarity in the workplace. We present material derived from an ethnographic study of alternative organizations and show how these workplaces provide homely spaces and a sense of belonging to participants and other stakeholders. Routine work not only takes up most of the time members devote to these organizations, but is also crucial for the creation and maintenance of stability, itself necessary for their longer-term viability: organizations persist only when they achieve a certain level of routinization, institutionalizing commonplace processes and activities. We argue that creation and presentation of the comfort zones for their members is a vital function of these organizations rather than an impediment to their growth, and that the widespread glorification of instability is harmful to management, organizations and society.