Solution or Opportunity? A Comparative Study of Resourcing in Schools

Managers and employees act on objects or relationships to create resources that solve pressing organizational problems. In some cases, new problems stimulate action. Yet, there are organizational situations when managers and employees are inundated with problems. With too many problems to act on independently, managers and employees may instead be stimulated by new opportunities for resource creation. They act to solve a problem once they have identified an opportunity to do so. In this paper, we elaborate a theory of opportunistic resourcing. Using a comparative, multiple case study of nine organizations, we explain that different resourcing actions in response to organizational problems create different resources, and also different meta-resources. Meta-resources are resources for resource creation, and people take up meta-resources as they discern new opportunities for resource creation. As the organizations we study are primary (K-8) schools, most from low-income neighborhoods, opportunistic resourcing is widely evident. Yet, different schools have different meta-resources, and thus act on different kinds of resourcing opportunities. Comparing cases, we observe a tendency at some schools to rely as a default on existing meta-resources, rather than explore new ways of resourcing. It seems meta-resources and opportunistic resourcing can be both a capability and constraint. Our study contributes to scholarly and practical understanding of resource creation, particularly in organizations facing high levels of environmental turbulence necessitating frequent but unpredictable adaptation