SUSPENDED IN SELF-SPUN WEBS OF SIGNIFICANCE: A RHETORICAL MODEL OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND INSTITUTIONALLY EMBEDDED AGENCY

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Green, Sandy Edward, Jr.; Li, Yuan; Nohria, Nitin
• 署名单位: University of Southern California; Harvard University
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/AMJ.2009.36461725
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 11-36
• 关键词: total quality management; industry; ORGANIZATIONS; legitimacy; conformity; discourse; KNOWLEDGE; BALDRIGE; ARGUMENT; ecology

摘要

This article employs rhetorical theory to reconceptualize institutionalization as change in argument structure. As a state, institutionalization is embodied in the structure of argument used to justify a practice at a given point in time. As a process, institutionalization is modeled as changes in the structure of arguments used to justify a practice over time. We use rhetoric surrounding the institutionalization of total quality management (TQM) practices within the American business community as a case study to illustrate how conceptualizing institutionalization as changes in argument structure can help show how institutions simultaneously constrain and enable social action.