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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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the perceptions of autonomy among internal and external stakeholders in the public higher education environment, examine similarities and differences, and explore the role of these perceptions on public higher- education discussions.
Abstract: Tension between a university's autonomy and its responsibility to the public is a recurring theme in public higher education. While academic freedom has been widely defined, institutional autonomy, whether in substantive matters of program and mission or administrative matters of budget and personnel, has been less clearly understood. Notions of institutional autonomy, however, create a setting within which public policy discussions and decisions occur. In today's changing environment, as public resources have decreased, higher education has been linked to entrepreneurial activities and states' economic development. Demands for accountability have grown and increasingly stakeholders from outside the campus have become involved in higher education policy. Although the literature has addressed these conditions, less is known about how stakeholders in this environment shape institutional autonomy and mold the state-public university relationship. In order to identify factors, this study focuses on the perceptions of autonomy among internal and external stakeholders in the public higher education environment, examines similarities and differences, and explores the role of these perceptions on public higher education discussions. This single-state case study of Hawai'i utilizes data from twenty interviews conducted with those who work within the public university system and outside, mostly in state government. Resource dependence and institutional theories provide useful conceptual frameworks for the study. Findings show that both those within the university and the state perceive that autonomy refers to administrative, particularly budget, matters and
6 citations
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the antecedents of the adoption process in Italy, asking whether it is determined by the rational search for economic benefits, or is it driven by the fear of lost legitimacy or strategic advantage under institutional or competitive bandwagon pressures.
Abstract: The diffusion process of e‐learning has been, in recent years, at the centre of several studies. These researches focused mainly on the USA case, where there has been an exponential adoption both in the public and private sectors. From this perspective the paper would give a contribution to understand the diffusion process of e‐learning in a specific country and it deals with the following questions: are there relevant consistencies in the rate and the model of adoption of e‐learning solutions in Italian companies? What are the causes of this process? Building on bandwagon theories and institutional literature, the paper analyses the antecedents of the adoption process in Italy, asking whether it is determined by the rational search for economic benefits, or is it driven by the fear of lost legitimacy or strategic advantage under institutional or competitive bandwagon pressures. The paper also looks into the solutions adopted by the Italian firms, studying their e‐learning strategies. To answer the research questions and to test the related propositions, an empirical study has been developed based on a survey, on interviews and document analysis. Since the e‐learning diffusion process in Italy is at an early stage, the research has been undertaken in two sectors, pharmaceutical and banking, where e‐learning has been adopted to a greater extent than in other sectors.
6 citations
31 Oct 2018
TL;DR: Insight is provided into how hospital managers manage patient safety, why they choose a specific safety management approach, and how different management approaches affect healthcare professionals’ safety-related attitudes and behaviour as well as patient safety performance.
Abstract: markdownSeveral studies have shown that it is not self-evident that hospitalised patients are safeguarded from (preventable) adverse events that cause temporary or permanent harm to them. As a result, growing attention has been devoted to patient safety. Notwithstanding the widely agreed necessity to improve the safety in care delivery, no clear consensus exists on how to effectively manage patient safety. Therefore, this dissertation aims to provide insight into how hospital managers manage patient safety, why they choose a specific safety management approach, and how different management approaches affect healthcare professionals’ safety-related attitudes and behaviour as well as patient safety performance.
To answer the research questions, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers working at different hierarchical levels within the hospitals. The interviews resulted in a conceptualisation of control- and commitment-based safety management approaches. This conceptualisation formed the basis for developing and testing a questionnaire to measure nurses’ perceptions of the management approaches used by their direct supervisor: the ConCom Safety Management Scale. Subsequently, a cross-sectional survey study was conducted among nurses and nurse managers working in the clinical hospital wards of 17 Dutch hospitals to gain insight into the effects of both management approaches on nurses’ safety-related attitudes, behaviours and patient safety performance.
The results show that patient safety management is a multidimensional construct, consisting of two separate but closely related approaches towards workforce management. In a control-based safety management approach, managers stress the importance of following safety rules, monitor compliance and provide employees with feedback. In a commitment-based safety management approach, managers clearly prioritise patient safety by exhibiting role modelling behaviour, they show determination to ensuring safe care delivery, encourage employees to participate in safety improvement initiatives and create awareness on safety issues. How managers combine control- and commitment-based safety management is influenced by specific contextual features, characteristics of the safety issues at hand and personal preferences of the manager. Both management approaches in their own way contribute to nurses’ safety-related attitudes and behavior. Hence, it is important that managers combine control- and commitment-based management practices with regard to patient safety management and that they adjust their safety management approach to the specific situation they are facing.
6 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative process case study approach was used to examine change in the absence of an executive-led initiative, from which an initial conceptual framework was developed and tested in two further case studies, combining inductive and deductive methods to retain the richness of a case study, and the theoretical robustness of multiple case studies.
Abstract: The study of organisational culture is again on the rise and retains significance for executives, yet its literature is fragmented. Whilst it is valuable to understand how the environment affects culture and how culture is maintained, these aspects have been afforded little research. In addition, how executives may alter culture is contested. This study looks at how organisational culture changes over time and the impact of a firm’s history, its immediate environment and agents’ actions. A qualitative process case study approach was used. The initial case study was a rare opportunity to examine change in the absence of an executive-led initiative, from which an initial conceptual framework was developed. This was then tested in two further case studies, combining inductive and deductive methods to retain the richness of a case study, and the theoretical robustness of multiple case studies. The framework provided an important mid-level theory contribution and demonstrated that the environment influences culture through the challenges it poses. These are channelled through boundary sub-cultures and are answered by a combination of the managers’ normal attentiveness to their daily tasks and by new toolkits from beyond the firm’s boundary, provided by new challenger cohorts of managers who draw on other industries’ registers. The change mechanisms (subcultures; cohorts) interact with a culture’s maintenance mechanisms (routines; employment practices; boundary management; and mutual symbiosis) through a continual, low-level, long-term contest, creating a new culture. This research contributes to the literature in four areas: the mechanisms that perpetuate culture; boundary sub-cultures; the role of cohorts; and its combined use of the cultural toolkit and values perspectives. The processes identified occur in the absence of executives; therefore the study concludes culture is not solely generated by them. However, they may guide adaptation through thoughtful, long-term resourcing of change that is sympathetic to the underlying process.
6 citations
19 Jun 2020
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the British elite sports agency, UK Sport, offering a detailed look at governance elements and their evolution, and compared some practices from the British agency are compared to actions from the Brazilian public entity SNEAR.
Abstract: Objective: This study analysed the British elite sports agency, UK Sport, offering a detailed look at governance elements and their evolution. Furthermore, some practices from the British agency are compared to actions from the Brazilian public entity SNEAR. Method: A descriptive and exploratory design was used through a case study. The data collection procedure is characterized as documental research. Relevance: There is a continuous necessity to better understand elite sports systems. From a different angle, organizations frequently shape their structure, approach, and strategies based on “competitors”. In the last 50 years, the recent sporting success of UK Sport can be understood as the most relevant regarding elite-sports. Moreover, studies involving benchmarking are still incipient in Brazil. Results: Influenced by the Olympic Games of 2012, UK Sport has rapidly evolved into a more professional organization. Its professional evolution was guided by complementary governance aspects, that is, more and better-qualified staff members, a “business-like” Board composition, a new organizational structure, transparent recruitment processes, more financial resources available, and investments being made through clear strategic goals and criteria. Additionally, the lasting administrations leading UK Sport have provided the necessary stability to implement the changes over the years. Contributions: The study presented some insights that may help SNEAR to improve its governance practices. Especially, it would be a relevant first step to publish its strategic planning, using as an example UK Sport WCP strategical focus, with no non-Olympic/Paralympic athletes and sports and fewer Olympic/Paralympic athletes and sports being financially supported.
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
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of stakeholder identification and saliency based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes (power, legitimacy, and urgency) is proposed, and a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their saliency to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
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.
7,595 citations
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