Institutional Environments and Organizations: Structural Complexity and Individualism

by W. Richard Scott, John W. Meyer

Overview

The institutional theory of organizations developed by Scott, Meyer and their colleagues over the past two decades has had an enormous impact on organizational theory and research. In this book, the editors review the major theoretical advances of the past decade and the empirical testing they have done on these theories. Their work has highlighted two key themes: the interrelationship between organizational complexity and the institutional environment; and the place of the individual within the organization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803956674
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	04/08/1994
Series:	Springer Series in Synergetics; 63
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

W. Richard (Dick) Scott received his Ph D from the University of Chicago and is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology with courtesy appointments in the Graduate School of Business, Graduate School of Education, and School of Medicine at Stanford University. He has spent his entire professional career at Stanford, serving as chair of the Sociology Department (1972–1975), as director of the Training Program on Organizations and Mental Health (1972–1989), and as director of the Stanford Center for Organizations Research (1988–1996).

Scott is an organizational sociologist who has concentrated his work on the study of professional organizations, including educa­tional, engineering, medical, research, social welfare, and nonprofit advocacy organizations. During the past three decades, he has concen­trated his writing and research on the relation between organizations and their institutional environments. He is the author or editor of about a dozen books and more than 200 articles and book chapters.

He was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine (1975), served as editor of the Annual Review of Sociology (1987–1991), and as president of the Sociological Research Association (2006–2007). Scott was the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Management and Organization Theory Division of the Academy of Management in 1988, the Distinguished Educator Award from the same Division in 2013, and of the Richard D. Irwin Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Management from the Academy of Management in 1996. In 2000, the Section on Organization, Occupations and Work of the American Sociological Association created the W. Richard Scott Award to annually recognize an outstanding article-length contribution to the field. He has received honorary doctorates from the Copenhagen School of Business (2000), the Helsinki School of Economics and Business (2001), and Aarhus University in Denmark (2010).

Table of Contents

PART ONE: DEVELOPMENTS IN INSTITUTIONAL THEORY
Ontology and Rationalization in the Western Cultural Account - John W Meyer, John Boli and George M Thomas
Rationalized Environments - John W Meyer
Institutions and Organizations - W Richard Scott
Toward a Theoretical Synthesis
Institutional Analysis - W Richard Scott
Variance and Process Theory Approaches
Institutional Conditions for Diffusion - David Strang and John W Meyer
PART TWO: INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMPLEXITY
Social Environments and Organizational Accounting - John W Meyer
Environmental Linkages and Organizational Complexity - W Richard Scott and John W Meyer
Public and Private Schools
Centralization, Fragmentation, and School District Complexity - John W Meyer, W Richard Scott and David Strang
Bureaucratization Without Centralization - John W Meyer et al
Changes in the Organizational System of US Public Education, 1940 - 1980
PART THREE: INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS AND THE EXPANSION OF INDIVIDUALITY WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS
Institutional and Organizational Rationalization in the Mental Health System - John W Meyer
The Rise of Training Programs in Firms and Agencies - W Richard Scott and John W Meyer
An Institutional Perspective
Employee Training - Susanne C Monahan, John W Meyer and Richard W Scott
The Expansion of Organizational Citizenship
Equal Opportunity Law and the Construction of Internal Labor Markets - Frank R Dobbin et al