Actors and Systems: The Politics of Collective Action.
About: This article is published in Social Forces.The article was published on 1982-09-01. It has received 30 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Collective action.
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, an organisational sociology based approach supported by a comparative field research project identifies three types of social, cultural and cognitive processes that play a decisive role in building and implementing local capabilities required to mobilise a strategic capacity.
Abstract: Are universities able to operate as strategic actors? An organisational sociology based approach supported by a comparative field research project identifies three types of social, cultural and cognitive processes that play a decisive role in building and implementing local capabilities required to mobilise a strategic capacity. The paper identifies how much these processes are present in the four ideal-types of universities defined by crossing their reputation and their metrics-based performance. Such a meso deterministic perspective suggests that universities may position themselves as proactive actors or principals, and not just as agents of national reforms and political demands. Nevertheless, their ability to do it varies according to their type. The paper also explores the implications of such findings for institutional leadership and steering policymakers.
27 citations
Dissertation•
08 Dec 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the question, "What are the consequences of automation for the nature of work?" and present three groups of competing hypotheses that have persisted in the management literature regarding the relationship between automation and work.
Abstract: This dissertation addresses the question, âWhat are the consequences of
automation for the nature of work.â First, I summarize the various approaches within the literature on management and organizations to the matters of technology, work, and social structure. Second, I present three groups of competing hypotheses that have persisted in the management literature regarding the relationship between automation and the nature of work. Third, these competing hypotheses are tested using data gathered as part of the O*NET project, comprising the responses of more than 100,000 individuals across nearly 800 occupations to various aspects of their work. I find that, in general, greater levels of automation alongside work are associated with greater levels of routinization, but lesser levels of education. Furthermore, I find that those occupations with little resource control see a strong and negative link between automation and education while those with high levels of resource control see no such reliable link. Finally, I summarize the implications of these findings for management research and practice, highlighting a challenge I describe as the automatorʼs dilemma, and outline new directions for research at the intersection of organizations, work, and automation.
19 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employed the Popper's paradigm of openness and closure in order to investigate organisational culture in German corporations with respect to three issues: (1) whether organizational culture tends to correspond to or contradict the pattern of peer-group, or concertive, control that has recently been identified in organisations; (2) to what extent organisational cultures in Germany match German national culture; and (3) how German corporations react to the dilemma of being constrained by the extremes of open and closure.
Abstract: In this thesis, Karl Popper's paradigm of openness and closure is employed in order to investigate organisational culture in German corporations with respect to three issues: (1) whether organisational culture tends to correspond to or contradict the pattern of peer-group, or concertive, control that has recently been identified in organisations; (2) to what extent organisational cultures in Germany match German national culture; and (3) how German corporations react to the dilemma of being constrained by the extremes of openness and closure In doing so, the position of German corporations are identified in relation to the concepts of openness and closure With regard to the first issue, the current discourse on concertive control in critical organisation studies is outlined, and fourteen German manufacturing companies are investigated employing a questionnaire Two broad clusters of organisational cultures are identified and it is concluded that one cluster matches the pattern of concertive control, whereas the other does not With regard to the second issue, German national culture is outlined on the basis of secondary sources Drawing on the organisational cultures identified, it turns out that they considerably correspond to national culture With respect to the third issue, two kinds of company-internal differentiation, interfunctional and interdimensional, are investigated as possible mechanisms of reacting to the dilemma Interdimensional differentiation is ascertained to be the preferred strategy The question of whether German corporations tend towards openness or closure is answered by referring to the two identified clusters of organisational culture One cluster has considerable traits of closure, whereas the other is more open
15 citations
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this article, a method for organizational diagnosis is presented, which allows the diagnosis of any job position, of any organizational unit: a work team, a marketing department, a project group, etc., and of any type of organization which resembles a firm.
Abstract: This chapter contains a method for organizational diagnosis. The method allows the diagnosis (1) of any job position;(2) of any organizational unit: a work team, a marketing department, a project-group, etc.; (3) of any type of organization which resembles a firm :
small and large organizations, industrial or service firms, low-tech and high-tech firms, etc.; (4) of the relation between two organization units, between the Production and Sales
departments for example; (5) of any decision process: strategic decision, managerial
decision, investment decision, innovation process, etc.; (5) of the coordination between the organization and outside people or organizations: with clients, sub-contractors, partners,
etc.
The text begins with a definition of the notion of organization, and then shows how one may analyze the quality, quantity and relevance of the coordination between activities.
This analysis of coordination is the first part of the diagnosis. Next, the twelve types of organization most commonly met in practice are described, each having its specific functioning characteristics, advantages and drawbacks. The second part of the diagnosis consists in comparing the organization studied with each of these types. This often allows the identification of organizational problems several months in advance. It also gives a set of solutions to help the organization evolve. The manager who performs the diagnosis (or
who has it done by a specialist), may then choose among these possibilities those which are closest to his or her objectives, those easiest to implement, and/or most economical. The
main part of the text ends with a brief presentation of eleven coordination systems, which must be taken into account in more detailed studies. We thus have in around 40 pages a
compact presentation of a practical diagnosis method which can be applied to a wealth of different organizations.
The document includes five annexes. The first two give details on points only mentioned in the main text (divisionalized and hybrid structures). The next two compare the twelve types of organization we presented with other models mentioned by researchers and consultants. A final annex presents the ways with which jobs may be grouped into
organizational units, and smaller units into larger ones.
14 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pointed out that territorial fragmentation and widening social inequalities between different towns are a real threat to the complete success of the Aix-Marseille Provence MA©tropole project.
Abstract: After a long and heated debate, and outright opposition from many mayors of Bouches-du-RhA´ne towns, the creation of Aix-Marseille Provence MA©tropole was passed in 2013. In January 2016, the Marseille metropolitan area expanded to include surrounding areas, where nearly two million people live. It will equal, or exceed in size, other French metropolitan areas, and it will lead to coordinated policies in terms of urban planning, transportation and economic development. Finally, a more cohesive territory between the metropolis (Marseille) and its periphery is expected to carry out joint projects more efficiently. By adopting a socio-political understanding of the Marseille metropolitan area, the article points out that territorial fragmentation and widening social inequalities between different towns are a real threat to the complete success of the project. Since World War II, the Marseille city has not built strong ties with its close neighbors, trying to find the sources of its future development in a European hinterland, the port of Fos-sur-Mer being the entry point. Facing the imperialism of the metropolis, the periphery has developed its own strategy of expansion, leading tothe appearance of powerful entropic forces. How could Aix-Marseille Provence MA©tropole overcome its internal contradictions and promote the emergence of an integrated urban area?JEL classification numbers: H11, R10, R58Keywords: Marseille metropolitan area, Hinterland, Political geography, Regional development.
13 citations
References
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TL;DR: It is argued in this chapter that on the whole, scholarly research on the functioning of the MNC has suffered both from desire among some scholars to persist with existing paradigms and from other scholars’ ignorance of what existing theories could bring them.
Abstract: The increasing intensity of global competition (Porter 1986), the development of MNCs (Stopford, Dunning and Haberich 1980; Dunning and Pearce 1985), and the attendant academic and managerial interest in the role of the diversified MNC (Ghoshal 1987; Prahalad and Doz 1987; Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989) is too well documented to merit repetition. Although there has been a lot of debate on the nature of global competition and of the diversified multinational corporation (hereafter referred to as the DMNC), very little attention has been paid to the conceptual and theoretical frameworks used to analyze DMNCs and their management. Many attempts have been make to analyze aspects of the MNC starting from an established theoretical base: for example, Buckley and Casson (1986) and Hennart (1982) have attempted to seek a rationale for the MNC using a transaction cost perspective. Others (e.g., Dunning 1980 a and b, 1981b) have emphasized the need for an ‘eclectic’ theory explaining the DMNCs. We shall argue in this chapter that on the whole, scholarly research on the functioning of the MNC has suffered both from desire among some scholars to persist with existing paradigms and from other scholars’ ignorance of what existing theories could bring them. Since existing paradigms, by the very nature of their underlying simplifying assumptions, are not fully able to capture the complexity and richness of the DMNC, and since discipline-based researchers have seldom taken the DMNC as an object of research, this discrepancy is not surprising.
622 citations
01 Jul 2009
TL;DR: The role of individuals and organizations in institutional change is explored in this article, where the authors argue that individuals and organisations tend to comply, at least in appearance, with institutional pressures.
Abstract: Introduction Institutions are social structures that are characterized by a high degree of resilience (Scott, 2001). They have a self-activating nature (Lawrence, Hardy & Phillips, 2002; Jepperson, 1991). Actors tend to reproduce institutions in a given field of activity without requiring either repeated authoritative intervention or collective mobilization (Clemens & Cook, 1999: 445). Early neo-institutional studies emphasized ways that institutions constrained organizational structures and activities, and thereby explained the convergence of organizational practices within institutional environments. They proposed that actors' need to be regarded as legitimate in their institutional environment determined their behavior. This work implicitly assumed that individuals and organizations tend to comply, at least in appearance, with institutional pressures. In fact, actors were often implicitly assumed to have a limited degree of agency. Such a conception of agency was problematic when institutional theorists started tackling the issue of institutional change. While early neo-institutional studies accounted for organizational isomorphism and for the reproduction of institutionalized practices, they did not account well for the possibility of change. Even though institutions are characterized by their self-activating nature, we know that they do change (e.g. Fligstein, 1991). Since the late 1980s, institutional theorists have started addressing the issue of institutional change. They have highlighted the role that organizations and/or individuals play in institutional change. Studies that account for the role of organizations and/or individuals in institutional change, however, face a paradox.
499 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the collective action problem from a policy network perspective, by explaining impasses and breakthroughs in decision-making processes from a cognitive, a social, and an institutional point of view.
Abstract: Policy makers in today's network society are increasingly confronted with complex and wicked policy problems that require collective action. This article analyzes such a collective action problem from a policy network perspective. By explaining impasses and breakthroughs in decision-making processes from a cognitive, a social, and an institutional point of view, the network perspective offers explanations for the presence and absence of collective action.
471 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a causal model that predicts the acceptance of organizational change using a sample of 761 employees from a large public hospital in the state of Victoria, Australia is presented.
Abstract: This study tests a causal model that predicts the acceptance of organizational change using a sample of 761 employees from a large public hospital in the state of Victoria, Australia. The LISREL results indicate that employee acceptance of organizational change is increased by organizational commitment, a harmonious industrial relations (IR) climate, education, job motivation, job satisfaction, job security and positive affectivity, and is decreased by union membership, role conflict, tenure and environmental opportunity. Organizational commitment was found to act as both a determinant and mediator in the change process. Implications for the management of organizational change using human resource (HR) strategies and policies are discussed.
421 citations
Book•
02 Aug 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a broad view of public management with a focus on best practice, performance, accountability, and rule of law, with case study examples from the public management domain.
Abstract: Offering much more than a purely theoretical or retrospective view of public management, this exciting text is an invaluable new addition to the field of public management. Putting the American model in perspective, it establishes the historical, theoretical, analytical, practical and future foundations for the comparative study of public management.
Taking a boldly integrative approach, Laurence E. Lynn Jr. combines topics of best practice, performance, accountability and rule of law to provide a much-needed umbrella view of the topic.
Well-written and illustrated with case study examples, this is one of the most exciting books on public management available today. As such it is an essential read for every student of public management, administration and public policy.
286 citations