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 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore Nietzsche's concerns about compassion and its contribution to the weakening of society, and compare and contrast Nietzsche's idea with Foucault's theorizing on the humanization of society as a mode of control in the context of business organizations' use of compassion as a technology of power.
Abstract: In this paper we explore Nietzsche’s concerns about compassion and its’ contribution to the weakening of society, and compare and contrast Nietzsche’s idea with Foucault’s theorizing on the humanization of society as a mode of control in the context of business organizations’ use of compassion as a technology of power. Using a genealogical method we trace the history of concern with compassion in organizational theory and practice as a mode of employee discipline, motivation, and productivity. The paper is structured on a model articulated by Foucault, rooted in Nietzsche’s work, involving the three axes of knowledge, power and subject. This structure serves both as a framework for our investigation into the works of Nietzsche and Foucault as well as for our investigation into compassion in organizations.
16 citations
01 Jan 2017
Abstract: Title of Dissertation: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PHOTOJOURNALISM EDUCATION: BRINGING THE BLUE-APRON GHETTO TO AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF JOURNALISM Stanton M. Paddock, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Ira Chinoy Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland As journalism educators wrestle to keep programs up-to-date in an evolving news landscape, there is value in understanding how education in an early form of multimedia journalism — photography — came to be. Little attention has been paid to the intersection of journalism education and photojournalism. This subject furnishes a unique perspective on photojournalism’s professionalization. This dissertation examines the history of university-level photojournalism education in the early and mid 20th century by asking what influenced the creation, diffusion, and adoption of photojournalism pedagogy in American higher education and what the consequences were. Neo-institutional theory’s focus on legitimacy supports exploration of evolving organizational norms in photojournalism education. Contemporary writings on higher education, journalism education, and photojournalism reveal important environmental conditions. Shifting educational principles are tracked via records of journalism education groups. Analysis of textbooks elucidates evolving practices and opinions. Archival case studies of journalism programs at the University of Maryland and the University of Georgia provide detailed examples of evolving approaches to photojournalism education. Illuminated are deep-seated issues: the struggle for legitimacy, tension between practical skills and critical thinking, and the relationship between textual and visual journalism. Efforts to establish photojournalism education occurred well after the establishment of textual journalism education. Both faced similar challenges, including concerns about skill-based learning in higher education. But photojournalism education’s acceptance was initially hindered because it clashed with journalism education’s hard-won image as suitable in liberal arts institutions. Later, rapid expansion of interest in providing photojournalism courses promoted homogenization. The changing environment featured constant uncertainty. This perpetuated isomorphism in which the initial range of approaches narrowed and photojournalism offerings became more alike. This dissertation concludes that choices at both the local and national levels in photojournalism education were made to project outward legitimacy. The resulting curricula were not necessarily the best, most useful, efficient, or practical. Local factors — staffing, accreditation, location, mission, school type, and receptivity to innovation — were influential. Wider environmental factors also played a role as journalism education was institutionalized. Today, in facing the challenge of incorporating new reporting methods, journalism educators must recognize the wide variety of factors and influences that may be involved. THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PHOTOJOURNALISM EDUCATION: BRINGING THE BLUE-APRON GHETTO TO AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF JOURNALISM
16 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of the maintenance division of a major Greek petrochemical refinery is used to investigate the knowledge creation process within service organizations, specifically in relation to the maintenance function.
Abstract: This thesis is concerned with knowledge creation processes within service organizations, specifically in relation to the maintenance function While bearing in mind the particular context of the study, the thesis argues that maintenance service work, when seen from such a knowledge creation perspective, affords important insights into the dynamic interrelations, links and social interactions within the knowledge creation processes themselves To date, the knowledge management and organization studies literature tends not to treat these practical topics and theoretical issues in an integrated, holistic manner The thesis addresses this lack using an in- depth, situated case study of the maintenance division of a major Greek petrochemical refinery The research adopts an interpretative perspective and makes sense of knowledge creation processes through the theoretical lens of the Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation (Nonaka et al 2001), combined with the knowledge activism framework (Von Krogh et al 1997) Nonaka's framework, which guides data collection and analysis, suggests an approach to the investigation using the so-called SECI process This process explains how knowledge creation unfolds, utilising the Japanese concept of Ba (which represents the process context), and the concept of knowledge assets (which corresponds to the process content) The explanation of important individual and group roles within knowledge creation processes using Von Krogh's framework integrates these concepts This use of a process view of knowledge creation helps explain a wide variety of complex and situated interrelations that demonstrate the existence of different modes of knowledge creation Thus, the approach to process inquiry along with the research design fertilize methodological discussions about research on knowledge creation processes The core theoretical contribution of the research concerns the provision of a process view of knowledge creation Other theoretical implications of the research findings relate to insights on the complex nature of the knowledge creation process within a work environment, extensions to the research framework, and recommendations for further conceptual developments The research also contributes practical implications and insights into, and specific conclusions about, knowledge creation processes and how they might be effectively managed in service organizations more generally
16 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2013
16 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