What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/14795/13847

Men and Women of the Corporation

This paper examines the development and initial validation of a multidimensional measure of servant leadership behaviour (Servant Leadership Behaviour Scale). Both qualitative and quantitative studies are reported to establish preliminary psychometric properties for the new 35-item, six-dimension measure. The resultant servant leadership model is characterized by its service orientation, holistic outlook, and moral-spiritual emphasis, thereby extending current models of servant leadership and existing works on contemporary leadership approaches. Theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed in the concluding section of the paper.

Defining and measuring servant leadership behaviour in organizations

Abstract : A study is reported of the variations in organizational commitment and job satisfaction, as related to subsequent turnover in a sample of recently-employed psychiatric technician trainees. A longitudinal study was made across a 10 1/2 month period, with attitude measures collected at four points in time. For this sample, job satisfaction measures appeared better able to differentiate future stayers from leavers in the earliest phase of the study. With the passage of time, organizational commitment measures proved to be a better predictor of turnover, and job satisfaction failed to predict turnover. The findings are discussed in the light of other related studies, and possible explanations are examined. (Modified author abstract)

/pdf/organizational-commitment-job-satisfaction-and-turnover-1m9aenmhzm.pdf

Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Among Psychiatric Technicians. Technical Report No. 16.

Locating work–life balance discourse in time and place
The huge recent growth in attention to ‘work–life balance’(WLB) dilemmas in academic, political, professional and popular literature might give the impression that this is, at best, a new area of concern, or at worst, a passing fad. This would, however, be
misleading. The WLB metaphor is a social construct located within a particular period of time and originating in a Western context, but dilemmas relating to the management of
paid work alongside other parts of life, especially family, have been the focus of research for several decades (see, e.g., Rapoport and Rapoport, 1965). Research on this topic has always reflected social, economic and workplace developments and concerns, shifting in response to new trends. For example, as the numbers of women entering the labour force grew, from the 1960s, research in certain contexts tended to focus on ‘working mothers’
or dual earner families, while concerns about stress and burnout associated with workplace changes in the 1980s and 1990s were reflected in research and debate about work–family conflict (Lewis and Cooper, 1999). The terminology used to refer to these issues continues to evolve in response to current concerns. In particular, a shift from
‘work–family’ and ‘family-friendly policies’ with their implicit focus on women, especially mothers, to ‘work–life’, the precursor of the more recent ‘work–life balance’
(WLB) discourse began in the 1990s. This linguistic shift reflected a broader and more inclusive way of framing the debate to engage men and women with and without children
or other caring commitments and was partly a response to backlash against work–family policies by those without obvious family obligations.

The constraints of a ‘work–life balance’ approach: an international perspective

The effective management of work/life balance (WLB) is an issue increasingly recognized as of strategic importance to organizations and of significance to employees. We argue that an organization's need to attract and retain valued employees in a highly competitive labour market is a strong motivating factor for increased organizational awareness and action with regard to implementation and management of WLB strategies. In this paper, we report the findings of three surveys conducted annually from 1997 to 2000 with organizations in Australia. We explore the range and usage of WLB strategies in Australian organizations and identify the barriers to those strategies. It is evident that, while some achievements have been made over the years, there remain substantial challenges for the uptake and management of WLB strategies.

Achievements and challenges for work/life balance strategies in Australian organizations

Work/life balance (WLB) is an issue increasingly recognised as of strategic importance to organizations and of significance to employees. We argue that an organization’s need to attract and retain valued employees in a highly competitive labour market is a strong motivating factor for increased organizational awareness and action with regard to implementation and management of WLB strategies. This article reports the findings of three surveys conducted from 1997 to 2000 of organizations in Australia. We explore the range and usage of WLB strategies in Australian organizations, and identify the barriers to those strategies. It is evident that, while some progress has been made over the years, there remain substantial challenges for the implementation and management of WLB strategies.

Barbara Holmes

Papers

Achievements and challenges for work/life balance strategies in Australian organizations

Achievements and challenges for work/life balance strategies in Australian organizations

Work/life balance strategies: progress and problems in australian organizations