Abstract: On the one hand, organizations face conformity pressures that urge them to remain similar to other organizations to gain legitimacy. On the other hand, organizations also confront differentiation pressures that urge them to be different from other organizations in the market to gain a competitive advantage. There is an inherent tension between the two forms of pressure, and a balance between conformity and differentiation is called optimal distinctiveness. This study sorts out and integrates prior researches on optimal distinctiveness, which scatters in many fields of organizational management. Then, this study theoretically constructs an organizational management model for optimal distinctiveness based on time-space theory, providing a holistic and comprehensive analytical framework for the theoretical development and the problem solving of optimal distinctiveness. This study analyzes the temporal and spatial characteristics of organizations’ conformity and differentiation through the theoretical perspectives of dynamics, levels, and dimensions. This study further proposes that, by establishing the reference systems of times, levels, and dimensions, comprehensively understanding the influence of multiple and relative time situations, skillfully carrying out the level transformation of strategic focus, flexibly adopting the division and integration of dimensions, organizations can better achieve a situational and dynamic balance between conformity and differentiation.

Key words: optimal distinctiveness, time-space theory, organizational management, conformity, differentiation