Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony
Abstract
Many formal organizational structures arise as reflections of rationalized institutional rules. The elaboration of such rules in modern states and societies accounts in part for the expansion and increased complexity of formal organizational structures. Institutional rules function as myths which organizations incorporate, gaining legitimacy, resources, stability, and enhanced survival prospects. Organizations whose structures become isomorphic with the myths of the institutional environment-in contrast with those primarily structured by the demands of technical production and exchange-decrease internal coordination and control in order to maintain legitimacy. Structures are decoupled from each other and from ongoing activities. In place of coordination, inspection, and evaluation, a logic of confidence and good faith is employed.
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The ceremonial value of certifications occurs only when they become taken for granted as legitimate, apart from evaluations of their impact on work outcomes.
“The ceremonial value of certifications occurs only when they become ''. . .taken for granted as legitimate, apart from evaluations of their impact on work outcomes''”
From Strategic Silence: Withholding Certification Status as a Hypocrisy Avoidance Tactic (2018) · cites this paper as Meyer and Rowan, 1977
Once institutionalized, the prevalence of a practice in leading organizations is taken to be proof that it must be effective.
“Once institutionalized, the prevalence of a practice in leading organizations is taken to be proof that it must be effective (Meyer and Rowan, 1977).”
From Are Diversity Programs Merely Ceremonial? Evidence-Free Institutionalization (2017) · cites this paper as Meyer and Rowan, 1977
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“Conversely, extant literature in neo institutional theory suggests that organisations can be subject to their larger institutional environment to be inscribed in certain organisational categories (Anteby 2010; Jourdan, Durand, and Thornton 2017; Meyer and Rowan 1977).”
- Authors
- Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B.
- ORCID
- Meyer, John W.
- Venue
- American Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1977-09
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 340-363
- ISSN
- 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5390
- OpenAlex
- W1965278510
- Cited by
- 28,308
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1998 · 2025: 1387 · 2024: 1338 · 2023: 1300 · 2022: 1317 · 2021: 1325 · 2020: 1311 · 2019: 1305 · 2018: 1256 · 2017: 1201 · 2016: 1176 · 2015: 1216 · 2014: 1202 · 2013: 1142 · 2012: 1120
- FWCI
- 24.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Theory and Institutions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
- Keywords
- formal structure, institutional rules, organizational myths, organizational legitimacy, isomorphism, organizational survival, internal coordination, organizational control, good faith, rationalization
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