New book on standards and why companies deviate from them

The front page of the book "Understanding deviance in a world of standards".

Edited by Andrea Fried, Associate Professor in Business Administration at LiU, “Understanding Deviance in a World of Standards” investigates standards as global phenomenon that affects most industries and sectors.

The book explores the organizational conditions and contradictions under which different types of deviance from standards occur. Case studies of software-developing companies illustrate insightful generalizations on deviations from standards. They provide an explanation of why companies deviated from standards, for example in the case of recent aircraft crashes or violations of environmental standards for car emissions.

– The book is very interesting from many different perspectives. It is also thematically close to my research, says Solmaz Filiz Karabag, Associate Professor in Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship at LiU, and discussant of the book during the seminar.

She addresses that also individuals and universities sometimes violate the research integrity and commit misconduct during their research activities. Further, she highlights, the book’s perspective that organizational deviance does not only cover manipulation of standards but also the perspective that deviance from standards is also essential for innovation and learning.

A short version of the seminar can be seen in the video below.

"Understanding Deviance in a World of Standards"

Edited by Andrea Fried, published by Oxford University Press

Contributors