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48 Cards in this Set
- Front
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Theories in sociological foundation |
Contingency: Galbraith 1973, Pfeffer 1982
Resource dependence: Pfeffer & Salancik 1978
Organizational ecology: Stinchcombe 1965,
Hannan & Freeman 1977 Neo-institutional:
Meyer & Rowan 1977, DiMaggio & Powell 1983
Network: Granovetter 1985
Social movement: David, Morrill, Rao and Soule 2008 (Review)
Organizational identity: Dutton, Dukerich & Harguail 1994
Categories and classification |
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Organizatinal sociology history (Scott 2004) ARS
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Early 20th century: engineering orientation (Taylor 1911, Fayol 1919/1949) 20s: Historical view (Weber 1924/1968) 30s: Social scientists focusing on unofficial, informal patterns of cooperation, shared norms and conflicts 40s: Shift in unit of analysis to organization (Barnard 1938, Selznick 1948), the paradox of manipulation and embeddedness 50s: Carnegie-Mellon School-bounded rationality (Simon), Columbia School-unintended consequences of purposive action (Merton) 70s: Between the two poles (perfect rationality vs. irrationality) 80s-: higher level of anlaysis (org population, fields, and networks) |
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Contingency theory
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Everything depends on their environment (Woodward 1958, Lawrence & Lorsch 1967) There is no best way to organize and any way of organizing is not eqaully effective (Galbraith 1973) Organizations whose structures were best adapted to the environment were expected to perform best (Pfeffer 1982) |
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Resource dependence theory
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Organizations must exchange with other organizations for resources to survive, but the interdependence leads to power differences. Managers act to reduce such dependence while increasing its own power in relation to others. (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978) The theory has been tested in several corporate activities (Merger/vertical integration, JV and other interorganizational relationship, board of directors, political action, executive succession): Hillman, Withers & Collins (2009) JOM |
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Organizatinal ecology
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Fundamental change involves the replacement of one type of organization with another. Why are there so many different forms? (Hannan & Freeman 1977) |
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Organizational ecology key concepts
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Variation, selection, retention, competition model (Darwinian vs. Lamarckian) Liability of newness (Stinchcombe 1965) Structural inertia (internal and external) (Meyer & Rowan 1977) Generalist vs. specialist (Meyer & Rowan 1977) Variability (degree of change) and grain (speed of change) Resource partitioning Niche overlap and localized competition Isomorphism to the context |
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Stinchcombe 1965 |
Ecology Why do we have so much of diversity? Organizational capacity of populations: social conditions affect the motivation to organize and the likelihood of success Social structure and the founding of organizations: economic and technical conditions and structure of labor markets determine the appropriate organizational form |
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Hannan & Freeman 1977 |
Ecology Adaptation perspective (action of selection process) The diversity of organizational forms is isomorphic to the diversity of environments The optimization process responsible for isomorphism can result selection and adaptive learning (Competition theory) Generalism in unstable environments vs. optimal levels of structural specialism (Niche theory) |
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Baum & Shipilov 2006 |
Ecology Demographic processes: organizational founding, age and size dependence, structural inertia theory, organizational momentum, organizational learning Ecological processes: Niche width dynamics (Generalist vs. specialists), Variability and grain, Population dynamics (the number of prior foundings and failures in a population), Density dependence (The number of organization in a population), Population-level learning (organization's operating and competitive experience, population operating and competitive experience) |
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Hsu 2006 |
Ecology Niche width theory and resource partitioning theory (organizations residing in high-resource positions often come to enjoy scale-based advantages) Generalist vs. Specialist Films targeting more genres attract larger audiences but are less appealing to those audience members. Audiences’ perceptions of a film’s fit with targeted genres drive this trade-off, as multi-genre films are difficult for audiences to make sense of, leading to poor fit with tastes and lowered appeal. |
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Neo-institutional theory
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Theory emphasizes the importance of the cultural features of environments. Organization must consider technical environment as well as institutional environment (regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive features that define social fitness). Symbolic elements-schemas, typifications and scripts- can also shape organization structure and behavior (Meyer & Rowan 1977) Neoinstitutionalism emphasizes inertia, persistence and conformity (DiMaggio & Powell 1991) Old institutionalism emphasizes adaptation, change and uniqueness (Selznick 1948) |
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Neoinstitutional theory key concepts |
Limitation to rational model (functionalist approach to structure) Why do organizations structure seemingly irrelevant activities? Why organizations are so similar? Conforming to the environment for legitimacy Symbolic properties of structure (Meyer and Rowan 1977) Decoupling (Meyer & Rowan 1977) Isomorphism and mimicry among organizations (DiMaggio and Powell 1983) Bandwagon, cascade, fad Exogenous vs. endogenous institutional change |
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Meyer and Rowan 1977 |
Institutional Formal structure as myth and ceremony for legitimacy and survival The formal structure of many organizations in postindustrial society dramatically reflect the myths of their institutional environments instead of the demands of their work activities To maintain ceremonial conformity to the myths , organizations tend to buffer their formal structure by becoming loosely coupled building gaps between their formal structures and actual work activities |
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DiMaggio & Powell 1983 |
Institutional What makes organizations so similar? Iron cage (bureaucratization by rationalist order, Weber 1952) However, now bureaucratization and other forms of homogenization emerge from structuration (institutional isomorphism, the process of homogenization) Three mechanisms of institutional isomorphism change (1) Coercive isomorphism: stems from political influence and the problem of legitimacy, (2) Mimetic process: Standard responses to uncertainty, (3) Normative pressure: professionalization (education and professional network) |
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Tolbert and Zucker 1996 |
Institutional When rationality is likely to be more or less bounded? Institutionalization process: (1) habituation: the development of patterned problem-solving behaviors and the association of such behaviors with particular stimuli, affected by innovation (2) objectification: the development of general, shared meanings attached to these behaviors, the stage of semi-institutionalization, (3) sedimentation: complete spread of structure across the group of actors theorized as appropriate adopters and by the perpetuation of structure over a lengthy period of time The processes are often played out between and within organizations |
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Kraatz and Zajac 1996 |
Institutional Boundary conditions of neo-institutional theory In some highly institutionalized organizational fields (in this study, higher education-liberal arts college) do not necessarily follow neo-institutional arguments (organizational inertia, isomorphism, legitimacy imperative) but confirm the adaptation-based traditional institutional theory that suggest organizatinos adapts to the technical environment (consumers' preferences, local economy, demographic differences) |
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Rao, Greve and Davis 2001 |
Institutional Adoption and abandonment of securities analyst coverage (the process of institutionalization) Recent adoption and recent adoptions by high status actors of a focal firm (Social proof) > subsequent rate of coverage initiation by new analysts (Information cascade) / overestimation / increase rate of abandonment of coverage (post-decision regret) Heuristic of social proof reduce search costs but also produces errors |
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Zorn 2004 |
Institutional The rise of CFO CFO came to be in response to the finance conception of control and funding crisis however new legal environment changed the original reason for CFO diffusion Three stages in diffusion (1) CFO function originated in response to funding crisis in 1970s, inflation (2) Ambiguous regulatory changes in accounting rules and financial reports in 1979 (3) Corporate leaders reconstructed CFO model as a solution to accounting regulations change, popularized template among all sorts of firms An exogenous shock triggers the recasting of an existing, relatively recent practice as a solution to a new problem |
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Greenwood and Suddaby 2006 |
Institutional Case analysis of endogenous changes (cross selling and multidisciplinary practice) in the big five accounting firms (highly institutionalized contexts) Institutional entrepreneurship is a function of network location (boundary bridging, boundary misalignment, center/periphery), contradictions (institutional incompatibilities, nonadaptability, resource asymmetry, misaligned interests, efficiency vs. conformity), embeddedness (awareness of alternative logics, openness to alternative logics, motivation to adopt alternative logics), power and adverse performance |
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Weber, David and Lounsbury 2009 |
Institutional Different mechanisms to adoption of stock exchanges and the consequences in global setting Coercion by powerful ousiders, mimetic for competition and learning, normative by emulation Institutional process at the global level play an important role in diffusing stock markets to countries at the periphery of the capitalist world society. IMF and World bank aid was a conduit for the creation of stock market and was associated with these market being less vibrant. |
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Crilly, Zollo and Hansen 2012 |
Institutional Faking it (evasive decoupling) or muddling through (emergent decoupling) Decoupling interplays between external environment and internal organization Four types of actions from institutional pressures about CSR (1) Evasive decoupling: Classic explanation of decoupling, in which information asymmetries lead managers to coordinate and disguise deviations from espoused policy (2) Emergent decoupling: Absence of asymmetries can still lead to decoupling as long as managers disagree about the importance of CSR, this is a result of uncoordinated, exploratory attempts to respond to diverse and conflicting demands in a generally well intended muddling through" (3) Strategic implementation: in the face of asymmetries, companies interests dictate pursuit of legitimate CSR as a from of trust building (4) Routine implementation: Managerial agreement on CSR drives integration Decoupling does not necessarily involve intent on the part of managers. Rather, decoupling can be the outcome of organizational learning efforts that are fraught with complexity under conditions of inconsistent, and rapidly changing stakeholder pressures " |
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Network theory
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Interpersonal relations, networks of organizations, location in a network of relations as well as the structure of the network affect organizational behavior and outcomes (White, Boorman & Breiger 1976) The activities of individual actors (or companies depending on the level of analysis) are inseparable from the context of relationships that they are embedded within (Granovetter, 1985) |
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Network theory key concepts and terminology
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Nodal concepts (aspects of the unit of analysis)
Centrality: overall measurement of node importance in the network Distance: number of hops" between a node and a specified other Dyadic concepts (aspects of the relationship between two units tie strength: ties can be valued week ties: indirect connections between nodes that are brokered by a third node Structural concepts (aspects of the relationship between unites across the network Centralization: the extent to which ties are consolidated to a few key nodes Subgroups/communities: the existence of identifiable subclusters within the larger network Structural holes: gaps in the network structure that are bridged by a single factor Structural equivalence: idea that structurally similar positions well create similar outcomes Density: percentage of potential ties that actually exist"
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Granovetter 1985 |
Network Undersocialized (economic model: no individual actor in a market noticeably changes the market itself) vs. oversocialized (sociology model: a conception of people as overwhelmingly sensitive to the opinions of others) Suggesting Embeddedness: Actors do not behave or decide as atoms outside a social context, nor do they adhere slavishly to a script written for them by the particular intersection of social categories that they happen to occupy, Instead, they are embedded in concrete, ongoing systems of social relations The details of social structure, the embeddedness approach by analyzing concrete patterns of social relations, will determine the problem of trust and order in economic life |
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Uzzi 1997 |
Network Using garment worker union, he shows that actors do not selfishly pursue immediate gains but concentrate on cultivating long-term cooperative relationships that have both individual and collective level benefits for learning, risk-sharing, investment and speeding products to market The network acts as a social boundary of demarcation around opportunities that are assembled from the embedded ties that define membership and enrich the network Embeddedness yields positive return only up to a threshold point Integrating embedded and arm's-length offers the best result |
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Davis and Greve 1997 |
Network Corporate elite network and governance change (poison pill and golden parachutes) Poison pill spread rapidly through a board-to-board diffusion process, similar levels of centrality were influential Golden parachutes spread slowly and there was little evidence of board-to-board diffusion but geographic proximity Different diffusion speed: complex innovation spread slower than simple ones, practices that are observable spread faster, innovations that are compatible with the norms of social system spread faster than those that are not, Normative and nognitive bases of legitimacy for parachutes Individual firms do not simply imitate the practices of other firms blindly but are quite discriminating in their choices of referent according to the type of legitimation required |
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Scott and Davis 2007 |
Network Network is a system of relationships (ties) among parts (nodes) Premise: ties are more influential than specific attributes of nodes (in affecting behavior etc) Direct and indirect ties matter Analytic levels: ego networks, overall network, network position Measures: Geodesic distance (Six degree or small world), Centrality (in-degree, out-degree, closeness, betweeness, eigenvector), Clustering and structural holes (tertius gaudens, brokerage, influence and power), Equivalence (share the same pattern of relationships), Density, Centralization (level of hierarchy) Content of ties: ties as pipes (flows of information and resources) vs. prisms (status, legitimacy) (Podolny 2001) Areas that have been examined: Interorganizational Network, Network forms of organization, Network structure of economy, Business networks and political power |
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Borgatti et al 2009 |
Network Strength of weak ties (SWT) theory developed by Granovetter (1973): Strong ties tend to be clumpy in the sense that one's close contracts tend to know each other, Developed into a general theory of social capital, Idea that whom a person is connected to, and how these contacts are connected to each other, enable people to access resources that ultimately lead them to such things as better jobs and faster promotions (Burt 1992) Structure hole Unlike physical science, social science focus more on nodal outcomes |
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Powell, Kogut and Smith-Doerr 1996 |
Network The locus of innovation is found in networks of learning Examining biotech industry the study found that the greater the number of R&D alliances, diversity of ties, and experience at managing R&D collaborations, the more centrality connected the firm subsquently becomee, the greater a firm's centrality and experience at managing ties, the more rapid its subsequent growth, the greater a firm's centrality, the greater its number of subsequent R&D collaborations Networks of collaboration provide entry into a field where knowledge is not easily produced inside the boundaries of a firm |
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Ahuja 2000 |
Network Structural hole as resource sharing and access to novel information By studying US patent of leading chemical firms from several countries, the study found that direct ties serve as sources of resources and information, indirect ties serve primarily as sources of information, structural holes increases diversity of information and, at the same time malfeasance, firms with many direct ties may be unable to profit from their indirect ties as firms with fewer direct ties |
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Borgatti and Halgin 2011 |
Network A network consists of a set of actors or nodes along with a set of ties of a specified type (such as friendship) that link them Network theory: Consequence of network variables Theory of network: Antecedents of network properties Network theorizing: e.g. strength of weak ties (Granovetter 1985) structural holes (Burt 1992), goal is to examine outcomes that network models want to explain - choice (homogeneity), success (social capital) - 2*2 network functions (social capital, homogeneity and pipes(flow), bonds(coordination)): capitalization, contagion, cooperation, convergence Model based theorizing: network theory of network There is endogeneity issue for network theory and theory of network |
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Rider 2012 |
Network Firms seek to improve their positions in the interorganizational network via information gained from interpersonal networks and often by hiring people with advantageous interpersonal network and affiliations. This process of maneuvering within the interorganizational networks by hiring the right people leads to a cliquish tendencies that constrain network change. Consequently, organizations' remedies for alleviating information asymmetry in hiring probably stabilize networks in ways that reinforce the positions of advantaged organizations and thwart the attempts of disadvantaged organizations to improve their positions. Observing venture capital and private equity industry, the study found that people with similar prior educational and employment affiliation are likely to be in the same firms and form relationship. Prior relationship between organizations will negatively moderate the above findings. Network evolution and how network positions are formed (prior affiliations cause inertia) |
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Social movement
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Organizations are target of, actors in, sites for, and manifestations of social movements. Market can also viewed as outcomes of social movements (Davis et al. 2008) |
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McAdam and Scott 2005 |
Social Movement As an attempt to combine organizational studies and social movement research, they suggest taking an organizational-field approach instead of a single organization- or movement-centric view, as well as a process approach instead of a static one for dynamic examination of phenomena. They applied the integrative approach to their study of the changes in health care delivery and financing during the period of 1945-95. And the case of civil rights movements during the period of 1946-70. |
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Haveman, Rao and Paruchuri 2007 |
Social Movement Values espoused by social movements become entrenched in political culture and spawn many new kinds of institutions, which in turn shape organizations far from movements' original targets Social movement research has focused on direct effects on inteded targets. However, there are indirect effects on intended target (by impacting intermediaries (theorists and analogies) around the intended target) and direct and indirect effects on unintended targets (diffusion of social-movement values to unintended targets. Also the diffusion of social-movements values is often selective Examines early California thrift industry. |
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Lounsbury 2001 |
Social Movement Insights from social movements can help us to understand variation in organizational responses to institutional responses. This studies recycling program staffing practices in universities based on his field-work, proposed field-level organization as one of the possible mechanism by which variation in the content of organizational practices emerges. In particular, he focuses on the role of nation-wide student organization (SEAC) for environmental issues as one of the main factors that drive the different organizational practices. |
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Briscoe and Safford 2008 |
Social Movement Nixon-in-China effect: the effect of activism-resistant firms' adoption on other firms is likely to be stronger compared to activism-prone firms. surprise inferences about logic of action and contentiousness resolved The study examines activism orientation on benefit adoption for LGBT domestic partners. Activism-resistant prior adopters have significantly greater influence on the focal firm's hazard of adoption, benchmarking network is strongly and significantly related to adoption |
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Organizational identity |
Identity: the members' collective, shared sense of who they are as an organization, collectively understood by an organization's members to be central, distinctive and enduring, collective-level, emergent and aspect of firm Identification: the degree to which a member defines him or herself by the same attributes that he or she believes define the organization, the images that members hold of their work organizations are unique to each member, a person's beliefs there may or may not match a collective organizational identity that represents the members' shared beliefs about what is distinctive, central, and enduring about their organization, individual-level, perceptual, cognitive and affective process of self-definition in relation to the firm Both are distinctive, enduring, central Both internal perception and perceptions of external opinions Formed through a process of ambiguity (or sensebreaking") and sensemaking" |
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Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail 1994 |
Org Identity They provided a model to explain how images of one’s work organization shape one’s organizational identy. They focus on two key organizational images. The first is perceived organizational image – what a member believes is distinctive, central and enduring about the organization and another is construed external images – a member’s believes that outsiders have about the organization. Organizational members assess the attractiveness of the organizational images by how they help to preserve their self-concept, to provide distinctiveness and to enhance self-esteem. |
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Elsbach and Kramer 1996 |
Org Identity They examined how organizational members respond to identity-threatening events. In their analysis of eight elite schools’ response to business week business school rankings, they propose that in the face of uncomfortable identity-threatening events, organizational members use cognitive tactics that help them to maintain both personal and external perceptions of what their organizations is or stands for. Specifically, they do so by emphasizing and focusing on their schools’ membership in selective organizational categories that highlighted favorable identity dimensions and inteorganizational comparison not recognized in the ranking. The use of such selective categorization was found to depend on the extent to which they experience identity dissonance. |
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Pratt 2000 |
Org Identity He examined how Amway manages organizational identification process with its distributors. His analysis shows that Amway used primarily two types of practices: sensebreaking practices that break down meaning and sensegiving practices to provide meaning to their preferred images. If both of the practices operate successfully, distributors positively identify with Amway; on the other hand, either of the practice doesn’t work, distributors disidentify, deidentify or experience ambivalent identification with the organization. His process model allows multiple outcomes of organizational identification management practices to be studied. |
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Corley and Gioia 2004 |
Org Identity They conducted an inductive case study of organizational identity change in the spinoff of a Fortune 100 company’s top-performing organizational unit into an independent organization. They analyzed the process by which the labels and meanings associated with the organization’s identity underwent changes during and after the spinoff and how the organization responded to these changes. Their findings highlight the change overload that organizational members experience and suggests the presence of a collective state of identity ambiguities,i.e. temporal identity discrepancies before new identity is established. |
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Categories and classifications |
Market categoy: market identity, exchange relation labeled with meaning, market specialization Product categories: often given, sometimes generated Different types of market interaction: buyer-seller, critic seller Market intermediaries: third parties (critics) Legitimation of (new) categories/products Unit of analysis: character of product, organization, target audience, audience as a field |
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Zuckerman 1999 |
Categories Categorical imperative: New roles and types emerge with difficulty as actors face pressure to demonstrate that they and the objects they produce conform to recognized types Two-stage process to form relations with audience members: 1. audience members evaluate the relative worth of the offers of the candidates and offers that do not exhibit certain common characteristics may be difficult to evaluate, 2. audience observe the offers made by legitimate players and choose the one that seems most attractive. Sellers must engage in isomorphism so as to gain membership in a recognized product category and differentiation from other members in that category Boundary conditions: market must be one that has a recognized set of product categories and an influential class of critics who specialize by category, market must be one in which consumers face significant difficulty evaluating products so as to need a third-party mediator Examines stock market and the securities analysts' coverage mismatch on stock price If securities analysts cover the product in the categories they are specialized, it gave legitimacy. If not, the firms that were not covered experienced discount in their stock price |
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Hsu, Hannan and Kocak 2009 |
Categories Tries to answer why products that span multiple categories suffer social and economic disadvantages Broadening a niche comes at expense of fitness position (generalist vs specialist), reduces ability to target category. Examines feature-film industry and eBay and found that generalists in category membership and engagement have lower expected appeal and lower fitness. Audience and producer both contribute to penalties associated with category span |
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Navis and Glynn 2010 |
Categories This paper investigates identity and legitimacy dynamics in the emergence of a new market category using triangulation analysis of satellite radio firms. The legitimation of a new market category shifted the attention of market actors (firm as well as audiences) from the category as a whole (using collective identities and liguistic frames labels and metaphors) to the differentiation of firms within (using affiliations and drawing audience's attention toward individual members) |
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Kim and Jensen 2011 |
Categories Asking what explains the market identity of organizations, they study opera companies. Market identities expressed through ordering allow organizations to influence how they are perceived without necessarily substituting or modifying specific product features that ultimately define the assignment of market identity. Ordering is particularly important when organizations have heterogenous audiences with different product preferences. When audiences have different product preferences, organizations may increase their perceived appeal to some or all audiences by making certain features more or less salient through different ordering without making substantive changes to their products or product portfolios. The empirical analysis shows that the more interspersed the more appealed to the season-ticket holders but negatively appeal to the critics covering. Also interspersion helps shape the perceived appeal of opera companies. However, interspersion did not affect likelihood of receiving a very positive/negative evaluation |
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International applications |
Guler, Guillen and Macpherson (2002) examines international spread of ISO 9000 certificate using institutional theory. Fiss and Zajac (2004) studies the (non)adoption of shareholder value orientation among German firms and suggests that political and sociocultural elements can affect diffusion process (power and interests of potential adopters) Ahmadijian and Robins (2005) investigates a clash of capitalism in Japan. When foreign shareholders pressures Japanese companies to adopt stakeholder view, the influence was reduced when firms have ties to domestic financial institutions. |
