Organizations and their effectiveness-2016/Mechanisms

Periodic table of processes within organized activities

Choosing Formal Architecture

• Weber — formalization
  • Michels —fluid democratic process becomes formal oligarchy?
• Simon — decomposing the problem
• Coase — choosing market vs firm
  • Williamson — choosing regulation vs auction, choosing U-form vs M-form, ...
  • Hart — allocating control
• analog of Coase for design of government?
  • McNollgast — designing contestation procedures
  • Mashaw — delegation
• Holmstrom — incentive contract
• White — agency vs. control

Other Determinants of Formal Architecture

• Tilly — wars make states
  • Skocopol — state capacity
• Stinchcombe — imprinting
  • Freeman & Hannan — inertia
• Meyer & Rowan — symbolic adoption
• DiMaggio & Powell — normative influence (e.g., from professions)
• Tolbert & Zucker — mimetic diffusion
  • Edelman — law & symbolic structure
  • Kalev — bias and formalization
• Soule — incorporating critics

Managing Informal Architecture

• Kaufman — selection, socialization
• March — managing coalition
• Ostrom — building collaboration
• Schein — leading culture and narrative
• Gibbons & Henderson — managing relational contracting
• Kellogg — negotiating institutional change

Networks

• Granovetter — reciprocation + trust
• Powell — know-how & hybrids
• Burt, Uzzi — resource access

Power and Politics

• March, Cyert & March
  • Pfeffer & Salancik — resource dependence
• Blau, Emerson, Cook — exchange, dependence
• Schelling — strategy of conflict
• Merton — accumulative advantage
  • Podolny — status dynamics
• Hirschman — exit, voice, loyalty
  • Roy, Burawoy — informal resistance
• Carpenter — capture

Knowledge and Learning

• Simon, March & Simon
• Nelson & Winter — routines
  • Feldman — dynamics of routines
• Cohen & Levinthal — absorptive capacity
• Orlikowski — knowing in practice
• Padgett & Powell — innovation & invention

beyond this domain

• unmanaged processes between organizations
  • competition (& selection)
  • Zuckerman — categorization
• individual-level processes
  • Simon — satisficing
  • Goffman — impression management

x

More verbs

• Differentiate
• Incentivize
• March, Cohen, Levinthal — search
• Work (or provide effort)
• Vote

Periodic table of elements

(Generic dimensions/elements of organizations that we might also find a way to include:)

• Boundaries
• Participation/joining costs/benefits
• Networks
• Incentives
• Relational contracts
• Turnover
• Hierarchy
• resources
• reputation
• constituencies/audiences
• credibility
• goldbricking / shirking
• Coalitions
• Elections
• Identity
• Ideology
• culture