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)

Part 1 The argumentative turn: policy institutions and practices: Policy discourse and the politics of Washington think tanks, Frank Fischer Discourse coalitions and the institutionalization of practice - the case of acid rain in Great Britain, Maarten Hajer Political judgement and the policy cycle - the case of ethnicity arguments in the Netherlands, Robert Hoppe Counsel and consensus - norms of argumentation in health policy, Bruce Jennings. Part 2 Analytical concepts - frames, tropes, and narratives: Survey research as rhetorical trope - electric power planning arguments in Chicago, J.A. Throgmorton Frame reflective policy discourse, Martin Rein and Donald Schon Reading policy narratives - beginning, middle, and end, Thomas J. Kaplan Learning from practice stories - the priority of practical judgement, John Forester. Part 3 Theoretical perspectives: Policy anlysis and planning - from science to argumentation, John Dryzek Planning through debate - the communicative turn in planning theory, Patsy Healey Policy reforms as arguments, William Dunn Two worlds of policy discourse - consensual versus adversarial proposal selection, Duncan MacRae.

http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_2/POLICY%20ANALYSIS%20The%20Argumentative%20turn%20in%20policy%20analysis%20and%20planning.pdf

The argumentative turn in policy analysis and planning

Apart from information retrieval there is virtually no other area of information science that has occasioned as much research effort and writing as ‘user studies’. Within user studies the investigation of ‘information needs’ has been the subject of much debate and no little confusion. The aim of this paper is to attempt to reduce this confusion by devoting attention to the definition of some concepts and by proposing the basis for a theory of the motivations for information‐seeking behaviour.

On user studies and information needs

The author, who is concerned with the methodological implications of critical theory, explores issues in the developing area of emancipatory research. She defines the concept of "research as praxis...

Research as Praxis

The third way: the renewal of social democracy

But immediately a problem arises. Sociology is a pluralistic discipline, characterized by numerous alternative conceptions of theory, explanation and data, that is, by different sodological approaches (or perspectives or orientations or paradigms).* Each different approach has its own conception of what is qualitative about sodal data and what are the problems and possibilities for the analysis of qualitative data.

The analysis of qualitative data

A Comparative Study of the Purchase, Management and Use of Large-scale Research Equipment in the UK and US Universities (report for Evidence Ltd on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England)

Social Theory and Political Practice

This article first sets out the principles of neoclassical microeconomic analysis and examines the advances in our understanding of individual giving to charitable organizations achieved within this framework of analysis. It then turns to sociology and considers alternative conceptions of sociological analysis, especially rational-action theories and the qualitative tradition. The contribution of these to our understanding of charitable giving is explored. The article concludes that rational-choice sociology can complement economic analyses in two ways but that qualitative sociology is contradictory to the economic approach.

Economic and Sociological Theories of Individual Charitable Giving: Complementary or Contradictory?

After two decades of growing expectations that the UK voluntary (or ‘third’) sector will expand its social policy role, the spotlight is now focusing on specific types of voluntary organisations including community groups, black and minority ethnic associations and ‘faith-based organisations’. This article notes the growing cross-party interest in the UK in religious organisations and then presents findings from two recent empirical studies of the UK Jewish voluntary sector; one on financial resources and the other on governance. We discuss the implications of our findings for a possible expanded social policy role for faith-based organisations in the UK.

Peter Halfpenny

Papers

The analysis of qualitative data

A Comparative Study of the Purchase, Management and Use of Large-scale Research Equipment in the UK and US Universities (report for Evidence Ltd on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England)

Social Theory and Political Practice

Economic and Sociological Theories of Individual Charitable Giving: Complementary or Contradictory?

A Social Policy Role for Faith-Based Organisations? Lessons from the UK Jewish Voluntary Sector