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The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis

Long a fruitful area of scrutiny for students of organizations, the study of institutions is undergoing a renaissance in contemporary social science. This volume offers, for the first time, both often-cited foundation works and the latest writings of scholars associated with the "institutional" approach to organization analysis.

In their introduction, the editors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory. Several chapters consolidate the theoretical advances of the past decade, identify and clarify the paradigm’s key ambiguities, and push the theoretical agenda in novel ways by developing sophisticated arguments about the linkage between institutional patterns and forms of social structure. The empirical studies that follow—involving such diverse topics as mental health clinics, art museums, large corporations, civil-service systems, and national polities—illustrate the explanatory power of institutional theory in the analysis of organizational change.

Required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of organizations, the volume should appeal to scholars concerned with culture, political institutions, and social change.

486 pages | 11 line drawings, 35 tables | 6 x 9 | © 1991

Economics and Business: Business--Business Economics and Management Studies

Sociology: Formal and Complex Organizations

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell
Part One: The Initial Formulations
2. Institutional Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony
John W. Meyer and Brian Rowan
3. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organization Fields
Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell
4. The Role of Institutionalism in Cultural Persistence
Lynne G. Zucker
5. The Organization of Societal Sectors: Propositions and Early Evidence
W. Richard Scott and John W. Meyer
Part Two: Refining Institutional Theory
6. Institutions, Institutional Effects, and Institutionalism
Ronald L. Jepperson
7. Unpacking Institutional Arguments
W. Richard Scott
8. Expanding the Scope of Institutional Analysis
Walter W. Powell
9. The Public Order and the Construction of Formal Organizations
Ronald L. Jepperson and John W. Meyer
10. Bringing Society Back In: Symbols, Practices, and Institutional Contradictions
Roger Friedland and Robert R. Alford
Part Three: Empirical Investigations
A. Constructing Organizational Fields
11. Constructing an Organizational Field as a Professional Project: U.S. Art Museums, 1920-1940
Paul J. DiMaggio
12. Making Corporate Actors Accountable: Institution-Building in Minneapolis-St. Paul
Joseph Galaskiewicz
B. Institutional Change
13. The Structural Transformation of American Industry: An Institutional Account of the Causes of Diversification in the Largest Firms, 1919-1979
Neil Fligstein
14. Institutional Origins and Transformations: The Case of American Community Colleges
Steven Brint and Jerome Karabel
C. Institutional and Competitive Forces
15. Organizational Isomorphism in East Asia
Marco Orrù, Nicole Woolsey Biggart, and Gary G. Hamilton
16. Institutional Change and Ecological Dynamics
Jitendra V. Singh, David J. Tucker, and Agnes G. Meinhard
References
Contributors
Index

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