| 1. |
- Alvehus, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Institutional Logics and Functionalist Differentiation Theory: Challenges and pathways forward
- 2022
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - : SAGE Publications. - 2631-7877. ; 3:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a theoretical framework in organization studies, institutional logics is immensely popular. It has been used in a large amount of highly contributory and enlightening empirical studies, and developed far beyond its original formulation in a classical paper by Friedland and Alford (1991). In our paper, we identify three key theoretical problems that have emerged in the development and use of institutional logics theory in the past three decades: the lack of uniformity and coherence in the definitions and empirical identifications of logics; the tendency of institutional logics theorists to attempt to build grand theory to connect micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis; and the difficulties to explain how institutional logics are reproduced and how institutional logics interrelate and evolve over time. To address these issues, we highlight the similarities between institutional logics theory and classical functionalist differentiation theory, drawing its legacy from Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton, and propose its use as a resource in further theoretical development. The aim of the paper is not to reject institutional logics theory, or merely to point out its weaknesses, but to demonstrate how a revival of some classics in sociological theory can be used to sharpen institutional logics as an analytical tool and thus assist in efforts to further improve the usefulness of institutional logics as a theoretical framework in organization studies.
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| 2. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Where Does Competition Come From? : The role of organization
- 2020
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - : Sage Publications. - 2631-7877. ; 1:1, s. 1-24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although an ever-increasing number and types of organizations are expected to compete, the origins of competition have been a neglected topic. By assuming that competition simply emerges, organization theory currently lacks an understanding of when and why organizations compete. In this article we critically review and extend existing literatures on competition to offer an organizational theorization of the origins of competition. We argue that competition is the social construction of its four constitutive elements: actors, relationships, scarcity and desire. Furthermore, we show that three types of actors – those who compete, those who adjudicate the competition, and those who have an interest in creating competition – can construct competition independently or in concert. We also discuss different types of organized competition; the role of rankers, prize givers and other actors interested in creating competition; and competition as an unintended consequence of organization. Finally, we outline future research on competition and organization that follows from our conceptualization, along with some normative implications.
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| 3. |
- Brunsson, Nils, 1946-, et al.
(författare)
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‘Un-responsible’ Organization : How More Organization Produces Less Responsibility
- 2022
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - : SAGE Publications. - 2631-7877. ; 3:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the world becomes more and more organized, it seems ever more difficult to find anyone responsible. Why is that? We argue that the extensive external organization of organizations in contemporary society provides the key. Formal organizations are collective orders with great potential for concentrating responsibility on top managers and the organization. But when they are organized by other organizations, this potential is undermined, and responsibility becomes diluted rather than concentrated. We explain this outcome by analysing the communication of decisions as a main producer of responsibility and by defining organization as a decided order. Our analysis draws upon and contributes to research about partial organization, but it also contributes to literatures on global governance and organizational institutionalism.
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| 4. |
- Edman, Jesper, et al.
(författare)
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Slander, Shouts, and Silence : Incumbent Resistance to Disruptive Logics
- 2022
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - : Sage Publications. - 2631-7877. ; 3:2, s. 1-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper develops a typology of incumbent resistance to disruptive new logics. Although scholars of institutional change have studied public forms of resistance, a comprehensive understanding of how incumbents oppose disruptive new logics also necessitates attention to the quiet forms of resistance. Conceptualizing resistance as a form of institutional work, we draw on insights from the literatures on institutional change and social movements to develop a typology of public, hidden, and implicit resistance to disruptive logics. Broadening the understanding of resistance work to include its quiet forms enables institutional scholars to understand how field incumbents resist disruption and why such efforts may be successful. A broadened analysis of incumbent resistance is vital for theorizing the past and future resilience of some of the most central institutions of modern society, such as the carbon-based economy and democracy.
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| 5. |
- Flyverbom, Mikkel, et al.
(författare)
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Anticipation and Organization : Seeing, knowing and governing futures
- 2021
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - London : Sage Publications. - 2631-7877. ; 2:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anticipation is part of organizational attempts to manage their future affairs and shape their surroundings. Still, the ways in which organizations engage in anticipation have not been sufficiently conceptualized in the field of organization and management studies. This article conceptualizes organizational ways of shaping and orchestrating futures by engaging insights from Foucauldian scholarship that highlight the intersection between what we can see, know and govern. We highlight the importance of processes of knowledge production in governance efforts, and articulate how anticipatory governance is crafted through intricate combinations of resources such as narratives, numbers and digital traces. The main contribution is a conceptual typology outlining four different templates for anticipatory governance in organizational settings that we term ‘indicative snapshots’, ‘prognostic correlations’, ‘projected transformations’ and ‘phantasmagoric fictions’. We posit anticipatory governance as a knowledge-based, performative phenomenon that addresses potential and desirable futures in and between organizations. Such anticipatory activities gauge and guide organizational processes and modes of thinking and acting along different temporal orientations, and have governance effects that makes anticipation performative by its very nature. This understanding of anticipatory governance, we suggest, offers both conceptual contributions and empirical avenues for research in organization and management studies.
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| 6. |
- Weiser, Ann-Kristin, et al.
(författare)
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Extending the Dynamic Equilibrium Model of Paradox : Unveiling the dissipative dynamics in organizations
- 2022
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - : SAGE Publications Ltd. - 2631-7877 .- 2631-7877. ; 3:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dynamic equilibrium model of organizing has become an influential theoretical framework in paradox research. The model describes paradox management as tightrope-walking, as actors cope with paradoxical tensions through continuous microshifts. The underlying assumption is that once actors accept the paradox and support opposing poles in a consistently inconsistent manner, they can effectively manage organizational tensions. We argue that paradoxical tensions cannot be subsumed under managerial control in this way due to the emergent and unpredictable nature of paradoxes in organizations. Hence, in addition to needing to balance on a tightrope, the tightrope walker may find the rope suddenly pulled in an unexpected direction by a strong gust of wind. To advance theory development, we put forward the concept of dissipative equilibrium to better capture the temporary nature of balance and the continuous vigilance and interventions needed from management to (re)balance an organization in the presence of unexpected developments that are beyond management’s control.
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| 7. |
- Wright, April L., et al.
(författare)
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Theorizing as mode of engagement in and through extreme contexts research
- 2023
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Ingår i: Organization Theory. - 2631-7877. ; 4:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We explore how management and organization scholars theorize when undertaking research on extreme contexts, which are organizational settings where potential adverse events arise from risks, emergencies and disruptions. We propose that different ‘modes of engagement’ arise as researchers connect different aspects of the self to the extreme context; namely, personal self, professional self, moral self and vulnerable self. Each self-context connection plays out in different modes of engagement in the conduct of empirical research and enables different theorizing practices. We present these self-context connections as four ideal-typical modes of engagement. Adventuresome inquiry connects a personal self to the extreme context and theorizes by phenomenon-driven problematization. Instrumental scholarship expresses a professional self in the extreme context and theorizes by theory elaboration. Ideological improvement galvanizes a moral self in the extreme context and theorizes by change-driven abstraction. Reflexive labor exposes a vulnerable self and theorizes by dialectical interrogation. Our comprehensive framework of theorizing as mode of engagement contributes to extreme context research by elucidating how theorizing in and through such contexts is accomplished by researchers with multiple selves and by offering some guidance on how the four modes can be used dynamically to ensure generative theorizing. We also contribute to the broader literature on theorizing in management and organization studies by highlighting the need to consider the interplay between the researcher and the academic contributions they produce and by proposing a reflexive and dynamic framework of theorizing as modes of engagement.
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