The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)
01 Jan 2008-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them, and describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative.
Abstract: 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.
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: This dissertation research attempted to examine the first 10 years of policy implementation for Health Information Technology (HIT) in three patient safety systems (Barcode Medication Administration), Computerized Prescriber Order Entry (CPOE), and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) since the landmark IOM report, To Err Is Human.
Abstract: AGATHA LOUISE NOLEN. Barriers to Reforming the U.S. Health Care System for Patient Safety: A Study of Ten Years of Policy Implementation for Three Health Information Technology (HIT) Strategies (under the direction of Dr. RODNEY STANLEY). Purpose: This dissertation research attempted to examine the first 10 years of policy implementation for Health Information Technology (HIT) in three patient safety systems (Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA), Computerized Prescriber Order Entry (CPOE), and Electronic Health Records (EHRs). since the landmark IOM report, To Err Is Human showed that 98,000 deaths occur in hospitals each year due to preventable medical errors. After ten years, there are still relatively few hospitals that have implemented these strategies. Research Questions: What implementation barriers exist, which policies have impacted HIT implementation, and what potential policies would impact HIT implementation. Data and Methodology: A mixed methods design incorporated a quantitative model: an electronic survey administered to key executives in 164 Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) hospitals to determine barriers and perceptions of policy impacts and a qualitative model with telephone interviews to key executives at six facilities in Florida, Tennessee and Texas to determine why barriers exist, why policies have impacted implementation and to determine recommendations for future policies. Quantitative data was analyzed
6 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the Dutch government introduced a VAT-compensation fund in order to create a level-playing field for local governments with respect to Value Added Tax (VAT).
Abstract: In 2003, the Dutch government introduced a VAT-compensation fund in order to create a level-playing field for local governments with respect to Value Added Tax (VAT). By introducing this fund the tax difference between governments that supply services themselves and governments that contract out to the private sector was eliminated. This paper shows, however, that according to most of the municipalities differences in VAT treatment did not hinder the contracting out of public services. Therefore, the fund lacks a great deal of its legitimacy. More important, the fund is not effective, as the number of contracted public services has hardly increased since the introduction. In general, municipalities have a negative opinion about this fund. They state that more than the budgetary effects, other arguments are relevant in the decision-making on the outsourcing of activities such as the quality of services and the employment in the own municipality. As the budgetary position for a number of municipalities will decline in the near future, the fund still may stimulate the outsourcing of public services in future.
6 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jun 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine whether there was an evolving partnership approach emerging in England in the management of highway works, which are works carried out in the highway by companies providing utility services such as gas, water, electricity, and telecommunications, and by local authorities undertaking the repair and maintenance of their highway networks.
Abstract: This study sets out to examine whether there was an evolving partnership approach emerging in England in the management of ‗highway works‘, which are works carried out in the highway by companies providing utility services such as gas, water, electricity, and telecommunications, and by local authorities undertaking the repair and maintenance of their highway networks. Local government in England has been extensively covered in academic literature, but the management of ‗highway works‘ is an area that has not been widely covered. It is an area that is currently receiving more widespread attention generally as local authorities implement ‗permit schemes‘, which were introduced by the Government in response to concerns about the disruption and delay caused by ‗highway works‘ and the associated cost to the national economy. There are currently a small number of ‗permit schemes‘ in operation in England, including schemes in London (2010), Kent (2010), Northamptonshire (2011), and St Helens (2012). Six Yorkshire authorities have applied to operate a permit scheme, and these come into effect in June 2012.
The study takes a case study approach to examine the way in which two highway authorities in England apply the same national legislation, with research also being carried out in two additional highway authorities in order to triangulate the findings. Research was carried out between February 2010 and December 2011 using in-depth, semi-structured interviews including a councillor, local authority officers and representatives of utility companies operating in the local authority areas. The interview findings were also triangulated by an examination of relevant documents, including policies, procedures and plans. A review of the literature on public policy and policy implementation and inter-organisational collaborations was carried out, together with a review of local government in England, and the legislation relating to the management of ‗highway works‘.
The research identified similarities in how local authorities approach their role in managing ‗highway works‘ by having a ―street works team‖ with responsibilities for the co-ordination of works. However, differences were identified with regard to the emphasis and focus that authorities placed upon different aspects of the national legislation. The research identified factors that influence utility companies in complying with the legislation, and that affect their relationships with individual authorities. The findings add reputational considerations to factors that are present in inter-organisational collaborations.
The research draws three main conclusions: (1) that the complex, and at times ambiguous, nature of the legal framework surrounding the management of ‗highway works‘ means that utility companies need to work with authorities; (2) authorities need to work with utility companies in order to discharge their legal network management duty; and (3) utility companies and authorities need to work jointly in order to avoid the need for further legislation in an industry sector, already regarded as being heavily regulated, to address Government concerns about the disruptive effects of all ‗highway works‘.
6 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of employers' networks on the dissemination of managerial practices through the example of skill management in French companies is evaluated through the use of a quantitative methodology that shows the correlation between the diffusion of skills management techniques and the number of chief executives belonging to Employers' networks in a given company.
Abstract: Written from a neo-institutionalist standpoint, this paper focuses on the influence of employers’ networks on the dissemination of managerial practices through the example of skill management in French companies. Previous studies suggest that employers’ organizations can be perceived as social networks that affect Human Resources policies. Studying the development of skill management confirms the idea that this type of management becomes institutionalized under the influence of such networks. We evaluate this influence through the use of a quantitative methodology that shows the correlation between the dissemination of skill management techniques and the number of chief executives belonging to employers’ networks in a given company. We use data that were collected from 3,000 companies by the French Ministry of Labour for the Reponse survey. Our approach led us to formulate a brief — but new — account of employers’ networks in France. But mostly, it allowed us to measure the impact that belonging to these networks has on the implementation of skill management. Though almost three quarters of all 3,000 companies belong or are related to employers’ networks, the reality behind this fact is complex and concerns a limited number of the companies considered. We then show that a connection with an employers’ network — especially with clubs of heads of human resources or with entrepreneurs’ organizations — is Le role des reseaux patronaux dans la diffusion de la gestion des competences en France 397 one of the reasons why a skill management-oriented human resources policy is adopted. The most influential employers’ networks are therefore those that rely on voluntary subscription, the research of legitimacy and the exchange of tools and ideas.
6 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the importance of aplinkosauginė in the context of the Lietuvoje project, and propose a plan to use it to improve the performance of the project.
Abstract: Sis darbas analizuoja savireguliacijos, kaip naujos valdymo formos, paplitimo reiskinį Lietuvoje. Tyrimas
remiasi vienu ryskiausių savireguliacijos pavyzdžių aplinkosaugoje – nevyriausybiniu sertifikavimu.
Siuo tyrimu buvo siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, kodėl įmonės renkasi savireguliaciją ir standartų diegimą
bei koks yra jų poveikis. Žinios apie veiksnius, skatinancius standartų diegimą, taip pat supratimas apie
tai, koks yra sertifikavimo programų poveikis, leidžia geriau suprasti sios savireguliacijos priemonės galimybes
ir perspektyvas. Teorinis tyrimo pagrindas remiasi keturiomis organizacinėmis teorijomis ir tyrimui
pritaikyta analitine struktūra, leidžiancia tirti sertifikavimo pasirinkimą ir sukeliamą poveikį. Empirinio
tyrimo metu buvo atskleista, kad aplinkosauginė savireguliacija per nevyriausybinį sertifikavimą Lietuvoje
yra naujas reiskinys. Pagrindiniai veiksniai, skatinantys standartų diegimą ir įmonių sertifikavimą, yra
patiriamas spaudimas is suinteresuotų asmenų arba pacių įmonių noras informuoti apie savo aplinkosauginius
įsipareigojimus. Tyrimas taip pat atskleidė, kad sertifikavimas gali turėti ir netiesioginių pasekmių,
t. y. ne tik standartus diegiancioms įmonėms. Pastarosios gali būti tiek teigiamos, tiek neigiamos neplanuotos
pasekmės. Sertifikavimo veiksmingumas ir nenumatytos jo pasekmės yra svarbios sritys ateities tyrimams,
analizuojantiems savireguliaciją ir privatų aplinkosaugos valdymą.
6 citations
References
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TL;DR: This article synthesize the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches, and identify three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based upon normative approval; and cognitive, according to comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness.
Abstract: This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.
13,229 citations
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Abstract: Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
10,630 citations
TL;DR: The authors applied the convergent insights of institutional and resource dependence perspectives to the prediction of strategic responses to institutional processes, and proposed a typology of strategies that vary in active organizational resistance from passive conformity to proactive manipulation.
Abstract: This article applies the convergent insights of institutional and resource dependence perspectives to the prediction of strategic responses to institutional processes. The article offers a typology of strategic responses that vary in active organizational resistance from passive conformity to proactive manipulation. Ten institutional factors are hypothesized to predict the occurrence of the alternative proposed strategies and the degree of organizational conformity or resistance to institutional pressures.
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TL;DR: This article conducted a meta-analysis of 52 studies and found that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association.
Abstract: Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based ...
6,493 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider structural inertia in organizational populations as an outcome of an ecological-evolutionary process and define structural inertia as a correspondence between a class of organizations and their environments.
Abstract: Considers structural inertia in organizational populations as an outcome of an ecological-evolutionary process. Structural inertia is considered to be a consequence of selection as opposed to a precondition. The focus of this analysis is on the timing of organizational change. Structural inertia is defined to be a correspondence between a class of organizations and their environments. Reliably producing collective action and accounting rationally for their activities are identified as important organizational competencies. This reliability and accountability are achieved when the organization has the capacity to reproduce structure with high fidelity. Organizations are composed of various hierarchical layers that vary in their ability to respond and change. Organizational goals, forms of authority, core technology, and marketing strategy are the four organizational properties used to classify organizations in the proposed theory. Older organizations are found to have more inertia than younger ones. The effect of size on inertia is more difficult to determine. The variance in inertia with respect to the complexity of organizational arrangements is also explored. (SRD)
6,425 citations