scholarly journals Zooming in on Institutional Politics: Professional accountability systems as institutional weaponry

2019 ◽  
pp. 017084061986649
Author(s):  
Berber Pas ◽  
Rinske Wolters ◽  
Kristina Lauche
Keyword(s):  
Service Firms ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Institutional Control ◽  
Professional Accountability ◽  
Institutional Politics ◽  
Collective Actors

In this paper we focus on the development of professional accountability systems as a form of systemic power to enhance institutional control, particularly on the associated institutional politics – the interplay between institutional control and institutional work by different (collective) actors. We address the dialectical nature of these institutional politics and identify three types of power tactics underpinning institutional work: attacking, anticipating and defending. Articulating these power tactics revealed the dialectical flux of power tactics between different parties, and how this in turn arose from and affected the development and strength of (new) systemic power. This shows how gaining institutional control over mostly self-employed professionals (veterinarians) through systemic power without legislation is a more sophisticated process than often assumed based on studies of professionals working in large service firms.

States, Power, Legitimacy, and Maintaining Institutional Control: The Battle for Private Sector Telecommunication Services in Zimbabwe

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 489-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry D. Goodstein ◽  
S. Ramakrishna Velamuri
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Institutional Control ◽  
Telecommunication Services ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Start Up ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
State Organization ◽  
State's Rights

Drawing directly on Stinchcombe (1968, 1983) we study the interdependence between power and legitimacy in state—organization contests for maintaining institutional control. We focus on postcolonial sub-Saharan Africa and the dynamics between the Zimbabwean state and Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, a start-up private firm that challenged the state's rights to monopoly control over the telecommunications sector during the period 1993—1998. Our findings show that in contexts such as postcolonial settings, states use their power to dominate institutional sectors and maintain institutional control. We find as well that states can attempt to reinforce the legitimacy of their use of power and coercion through (1) securing critical property rights and embedding these rights in the state bureaucracy, and (2) calling on other `centers of power'. Finally, our study highlights the ways in which states and challenging organizations engage in various strategies of institutional work to maintain and disrupt, respectively, existing structures and practices of institutional control.

The Institutional Work of Own the Podium in Developing High-Performance Sport in Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Dowling ◽  
Jimmy Smith
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Collective Actors ◽  
Additional Funding ◽  
Ongoing Development ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Sport Programs ◽  
Sole Product ◽  
Paralympic Games

This investigation examined how Own the Podium (OTP) has contributed to the ongoing development of highperformance sport in Canada. In adopting an institutional work perspective, we contend that OTP’s continuance has not been the sole product of Canada’s success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games or lobbying efforts to secure additional funding. Rather, OTP’s permanence can also be explained as the by-product of the activities and actions of OTP itself and its supporting stakeholders to embed and institutionalize both the organization specifically and high-performance sport more generally in the Canadian sport landscape. In short, OTP’s continued existence can, in part, be explained by ongoing institutional work. To support our contentions, we draw on and analyze documentation that was either produced by, or significant to the development of, OTP. Our analysis identifies a number of OTP-related practices (e.g., tiering, hiring of high-performance advisors, and the creation and support of new high-performance sport programs) that have further institutionalized OTP and the norms, routines, and practices associated with high-performance sport. More broadly, our investigation draws attention to the importance of individual and collective actors in shaping institutional settings in sport.

Challenging racialized institutions

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-333
Author(s):  
Neil Stott ◽  
Michelle Fava
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Legitimacy ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Housing Associations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Control ◽  
History Of ◽  
Institutional Agency ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Minority Ethnic

Purpose This paper aims to review the history of black and minority ethnic housing associations in England since the arrival of Commonwealth migrants. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the theoretical framework of Lawrence and Buchanan (2017), the authors examine the interplay of institutional control, agency and resistance, in a highly racialized context. Findings The authors identify five phases in the development of grassroots organizers into housing associations, describing the different types of “institutional work” involved in challenging racialized institutions and establishing new institutions. The exercise of episodic power to achieve institutional agency created resistance from powerful actors seeking to maintain systemic power. The growing movement for black and minority ethnic housing fought to establish organizational legitimacy. Achieving this not only enabled them to serve and represent their communities but also entailed compromising more radical political agendas. Originality/value Racialized aspects are largely lacking from institutional theory, as are the actions of racialized individuals and organizations. In looking at a highly racialized context, the authors hope to contribute to understanding the institutional work done by such groups and the challenges they face as their efforts develop and become legitimated.

Institutional Work and Complicit Decoupling across the U.S. Capital Markets: The Work of Rating Agencies

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia E. Clark ◽  
Sue Newell
Keyword(s):  
Capital Market ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Behavioral Ethics ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
New Type ◽  
External Actors ◽  
Promise Keeping

ABSTRACT:We focus on the core institution of the capital market and the institutional work of professional service firms that provide ratings on corporate issuers, initially in a bid to maintain this institution, which suffered when those involved relied solely on information from the issuers themselves. Through our analysis we identify a new type of decoupling—complicit decoupling. Complicit decoupling evolves over time, beginning with the creation of a new practice, here corporate ratings as a form of policing work, which emerges to help to maintain a core institution. This practice is then adopted, implemented and later becomes decoupled. Exposure does not undermine the legitimacy of the practice because external actors collude in the ‘window dressing’ and, because it has become normalized, only partial repairs are enacted. It is by nature field-level institutional work, benefiting the majority of the field and inherently involves a violation of promise keeping. We conclude with implications for managers and behavioral ethics researchers.

Immigration and the tech industry: As a labour shortage remedy, for innovation, or for cost savings?

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Matloff
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
It Service ◽  
Labour Shortage ◽  
Labour Costs ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The U.S

The two main reasons cited by the U.S. tech industry for hiring foreign workers--remedying labour shortages and hiring "the best and the brightest"--are investigated, using data on wages, patents, and R&D work, as well as previous research and industry statements. The analysis shows that the claims of shortage and outstanding talent are not supported by the data, even after excluding the Indian IT service firms. Instead, it is shown that the primary goals of employers in hiring  foreign workers are to reduce labour costs and to obtain "indentured" employees. Current immigration policy is causing an ‘Internal Brain Drain’ in STEM.

Seasonal dynamics of climatic indices as one of the manifestation factors of pyrogenic phenomena on the territory of Lugansk region

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
I. A. Tarakhkalo
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Dynamics ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Climatic Indices ◽  
Specific Influence

The analysis on the effects of pyrogenic Lugansk region for the period from 2001 to 2005 was conducted using the service «FIRMS». Established seasonal dynamics of pyrogenic phenomena and specific influence of climatic factors on the pyrogenic effects in the Luhansk region.

Why Do Chinese Service Firms Come to Korea?

2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (null) ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
Song in hyeok ◽  
Myounggu Kang ◽  
Wang Peng
Keyword(s):  
Service Firms
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document