Organization Studies
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Climate Change and the Emergence of New Organizational Landscapes There is general agreement across the world that human-made climate change is a serious global problem, although there are still some sceptics who challenge this view. Research in organization studies on the topic is relatively new. Much of this research, however, is instrumental and managerialist in its focus on ‘win-win’ opportunities for business or its treatment of climate change as just another corporate social responsibility (CSR) exercise. In this paper, we suggest that climate change is not just an environmental problem requiring technical and managerial solutions; it is a political issue where a variety of organizations – state agencies, firms, industry associations, NGOs and multilateral organizations – engage in contestation as well as collaboration over the issue. We discuss the strategic, institutional and political economy dimensions of climate change and develop a socioeconomic regimes approach as a synthesis of these different theoretical perspectives. Given the urgency of the problem and the need for a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy, there is a pressing need for organization scholars to develop a better understanding of apathy and inertia in the face of the current crisis and to identify paths toward transformative change. The seven papers in this special issue address these areas of research and examine strategies, discourses, identities and practices in relation to climate change at multiple levels.
Organization Studies - Tập 33 Số 11 - Trang 1431-1450 - 2012
Globalization, Athletic Footwear Commodity Chains and Employment Relations in China Globalization has hastened the growth of buyer-driven commodity chains that connect advanced country marketing or retail companies with contractors manufaturing in low-cost, developing countries. Allegations of labour exploitation have been levelled at the global firms for turning a blind eye to their contractors' labour practices. In response, some firms have implemented codes of practice. This paper focuses on the operation of these codes in two leading athletic shoe buyer-driven chains and their contractor plants in Southern China. The codes are administered differently by the two firms, encouraging a less authoritarian, more human-resource-oriented approach at the two plants associated with the larger and more successful global firm. Nevertheless, employment conditions at all four plants meet the requirements of the corporate codes of practice. The one major exception relates to worker representation and collective bargaining. While the current international context is conducive to upholding labour standards and improving employment relations, Chinese national and local institutional contexts limit this tendency. Consequently, workers remain in a vulnerable position. The paper concludes by arguing that although present structural tendencies favour increases in worker stability and power, institutional supports are needed to continuously improve employment relations and labour standards.
Organization Studies - Tập 22 Số 4 - Trang 531-562 - 2001
Academic Institutions in Search of Quality: Local Orders and Global Standards Quality judgements in terms of academic standards of excellence required by external stakeholders such as labour markets and steering hierarchies obviously exert strong pressure on universities. Do they generate an ‘iron cage’ effect, imposing a passive and uniform conformity on global standards? The paper examines the organization of higher education and research set-ups with a strong lens. What does academic quality actually mean when observed in the field? How do universities and their subunits – professional schools, colleges, etc. – actually achieve what they call quality? A methodological and analytical framework is tested. Three sociological concepts – diversity, recognition and local order – make it possible to build four ideal types applicable to comparative inquiry. Such a typology identifies the interdependencies existing between how they position themselves with respect to quality dimensions and internal organizational measures. The paper contributes to a broader organizational study agenda: how do local orders face and deal with market and hierarchy dynamics in a global world of apparently increasing standardization under pressure from soft power. It questions the effect of the ‘iron cage’ hypothesis. It lists a series of changing patterns or dynamics between types of universities in terms of quality sensitivity, fabrication and content. Diversity and standardization in fact coexist.
Organization Studies - Tập 34 Số 2 - Trang 189-218 - 2013
The Antecedents of Deinstitutionalization Deinstitutionalization refers here to the erosion or discontinuity of an institution alized organizational activity or practice. This paper identifies a set of organiza tional and environmental factors that are hypothesized to determine the likelihood that institutionalized organizational behaviours will be vulnerable to erosion or rejection over time. Contrary to the emphasis in institutional theory on the cultural persistence and endurance of institutionalized organizational behaviours, it is suggested that, under a variety of conditions, these behaviours will be highly susceptible to dissipation, rejection or replacement.
Organization Studies - Tập 13 Số 4 - Trang 563-588 - 1992
Institutional Work as Logics Shift: The Case of Intel’s Transformation to Platform Leader In this article, we explore some of the forms of institutional work that organizations perform as they participate externally in the processes that drive change in the institutional logic that characterizes their field, and as they respond internally to the shift as it occurs. More specifically, we present the results of an in-depth case study of Intel Corporation, a firm that was implicated in a fundamental shift in the institutional logic of its field in the late 1980s and 1990s as the field moved from a traditional supply chain logic dominated by computer assemblers to a new platform logic following very different organizing principles. Through the qualitative analysis of 72 interviews with Intel employees, complemented by extensive archival data from 1980 to 2000, we identify two forms of institutional work that Intel performed externally – external practice work and legitimacy work – and two forms of work that they carried out internally – internal practice work and identity work – as the organization worked to simultaneously influence the shift in logic that was occurring and to deal with the ramifications of the shift.
Organization Studies - Tập 34 Số 8 - Trang 1035-1071 - 2013
Women and Wages Worldwide: How the National Proportion of Working Women Brings Underpayment into the Organization Many employees are underpaid relative to their country’s level of wealth. In agreement with social identity theory principles extended to the national level, our 59-nation study uncovered that this form of wealth-referenced underpayment is associated with the proportion of working women. In countries with a relatively small or relatively large proportion of female workers, all workers are underpaid to the extent that merit pay and strikes are relatively rare. Payroll taxes, labour supply, unemployment rate, collective bargaining power, and the national wage gap could not disconfirm the results. We discuss how these country-level findings may innovate theory building on the impact of female worker proportion, merit pay, and strikes on payment in occupations, departments, and organizations.
Organization Studies - Tập 25 Số 6 - Trang 969-986 - 2004
(Dis)embodied Job Search Communication Training: Comparative critical ethnographic analysis of materiality and discourse during the unequal search for work Unemployment can be extremely challenging to manage. Depending on an individual’s social status, unemployment experiences can differ greatly. The longer people grapple with unemployment the more likely they are to seek help from unemployment support organizations. This study takes a comparative, critical ethnographic approach to the study of job search communication training at two separate unemployment support organizations considering intersections of social class and race. The analysis uses a communication lens in order to unpack communication expectations and assumptions embedded into the culture of unemployment support organizations that are tailored to different social class and racial groups. The findings reveal that the job search communication trainings are communicatively biased and divergent. Inequality molds and shapes the process of job search communication training and the progress of job searches. Working-class job seekers are required to communicatively assimilate during training while they manage material reality to survive. Upper-middle-class job seekers refine existing communication skill sets in order to search for work and rarely struggle to manage material needs. The findings point to important implications and areas for future research in workforce studies.
Organization Studies - Tập 39 Số 9 - Trang 1251-1275 - 2018
Organizational Learning: A Review of Some Literatures Organizational learning is currently the focus of considerable attention, and it is addressed by a broad range of literatures. Organization theory, industrial econ omics, economic history, and business, management and innovation studies all approach the question of how organizations learn. A number of branches of psychology are also revealing on the issue. This paper assesses these various literatures by examining the insights they allow in three main areas: first, the goals of organizational learning; second, the learning processes in organizations; and third, the ways in which organizational learning may be facilitated and impeded. It contends that while the various literatures are revealing in particular aspects of organizational learning, a more complete understanding of its complexity requires a multi-disciplinary approach. The contributions of the different approaches are analyzed, and some areas are suggested where the transfer of analytical concepts may improve understanding.
Organization Studies - Tập 14 Số 3 - Trang 375-394 - 1993
Culture Gap in Greek Management Since the publication of In Search of Excellence academicians have rushed to empirically verify the existence or absence of corporate cultures in organizations. This paper reports on a survey of Greek organizational cultures. The study utilizes Handy's conceptual framework published in his Gods of Management. Data for the study were gathered via a questionnaire which was a translation of Handy's instrument into Greek. The data from 585 questionnaires administered to Greek managers, confirmed the main hypothesis that while most of their organizations are seen to be Zeus/Apollo (power/role) centred, most managers themselves tend to be Athena/Dionysus (task/people) oriented.
Organization Studies - Tập 11 Số 2 - Trang 261-283 - 1990
Differences Between American and Greek Managers in Giving Up Control This study seeks to explain under what conditions managers tend to give up control in decision-making groups and to what extent the impact of these condi tions differs between U.S. and Greek managers. Contrary to expectations, the results show that Greek managers give up control in decision-making groups less frequently than U.S. managers. The results also suggest that U.S. managers have a somewhat greater tendency to give up control under the following conditions: (1) When they have no personal commitment to the task; (2) When their task mastery expectations are low; (3) When they believe another member of the group has greater expertise; (4) When they believe another member of the group has a stronger argument; and (5) When they feel group pressure to conform. In addition, it was found that lower-level managers perceive themselves as giving up control more frequently than senior-level managers, irrespective of their country of origin.
Organization Studies - Tập 12 Số 1 - Trang 095-108 - 1991
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