Organization Theory Seminar

Course Description

This is a graduate seminar that provides an overview of organization theory (OT) and introduces
students to fundamental questions and approaches to the study of organizations. Organization
theory is a set of approaches for understanding the imperatives/challenges that organizations
face: formation, survival, and growth; interactions with others; gaining and managing resources;
and dealing with problems both internal and external. As one of the most vibrant areas in the
social sciences, it is characterized by growing eclecticism. Some find the theoretical pluralism
exhilarating whereas others find it frustrating. The field itself is divided between those who call
for the establishment of an overall paradigm to guide research and those who champion a free –
and somewhat eclectic – field of ideas. The course is broad but not comprehensive and is
meant to familiarize you with some major theoretical and empirical traditions in organization
theory. Each theoretical perspective/orientation should be examined with the following questions
in mind: what is/are the overarching question(s) with which the theory is concerned? What are
the key concepts? What are the assumptions about causal forces? How far is the empirical
evidence convincing? A sub-theme that you should consider is why some papers are more
successful than others. That is, pay attention to the crafting and composition of papers. Another
primary aim of the course is to provide an opportunity for students to formulate and refine their
research questions and perspectives.

Contents

What is Theory

*Alexander, J.C. 1987. Twenty Lectures: Sociological Theory Since World War II. Lecture One:
What is Theory?

*Turner, J.H. 1986. The Structure of Sociological Theory. Chapter 1.

*Stinchcombe, A. 1986. Should sociologists forget their mothers and fathers? Chapter 19 in
Stratification and Organization: Selected Papers.

*Sutton, R.I., & Staw, B.M. 1995. What theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40:
371-384.

*Weick, K.E. 1995. What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40:
385-390. *

DiMaggio, P.J. 1995. Comments on ‗What theory is not.‘ Administrative Science Quarterly, 40:
391-397.
Bergh, D. 2003. From the Editors: Thinking strategically about contribution. Academy of
Management Journal, 46(2): 135-136

Rynes, S. 2002. Editor Comments: Some reflections on contribution. Academy of Management

Journal, 45(2): 311- 313.

Whetten, D. A. 1989. What constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of Management

Review, 14: 490-49

History of Organization and Management

Spender, John-Christopher. "Modern management: Origins and development." International Encyclopedia

of the Social & Behavioral Sciences 15 (2015): 675-681.

Hatch, M. J. (2018). Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives. Oxford
University Press. Chapter No. 2 “ A Brief History of Organization Theory”, Pages to read: 23 to 66

Thompson, E. P. (1967). Time, work discipline, and industrial capitalism. Past and Present, pp. 56-97.

Chandler, A. D. (1984). The emergence of managerial capitalism. Business History Review, 58(4),
473-503

Classic Management Theory

Taylor, Frederick Winslow. (1916). The Principles of Scientific Management. Bendix, R. (1947).

Bureaucracy: The problem and its setting. American Sociological Review, 12(5), 493-507.

Scott, W. Richard and Gerald F. Davis. 2007. Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural,
and Open Systems Perspectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson PrenticeHall. Chapters 1-2.
(eBook)

*Weber, Max. 1946/1958. "Bureaucracy." In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology edited and
translated by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 8,
Sections 1, 2, 6, 9, 10.

*Gouldner, Alvin W. 1954/1964. Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. New York: Free Press.
Chapter 9.

*Merton, Robert K. 1957. “Bureaucratic Structure and Personality.” Social Theory and Social
Structure. Glencoe, IL: Free Press. Chapter 8.

*Perrow, Charles. 1972/1986. “Why Bureaucracy?” Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay.

New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Barnard, C.I. 1938. The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pp. 82-123, 139- 184.

*Roethlisberger, F.H., & Dickson, W.J. 1946. Management and the Worker. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press. Chapter 8, 17-25.

*Stinchcombe, A. 1965. Social Structure and Organizations. Pp. 142-164 in James G. March
(ed.), Handbook of Organizations. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally. Selznick, P. 1948. Foundations of
the Theory of Organization. American Sociological Review, 13: 25-35

Population Ecology

Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1977). The population ecology of organizations. American
Journal of Sociology, 82(5), 929-964.

Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J. 1977. The population ecology of organizations. American Journal
of Sociology, 82: 929-964.

*Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J. 1984. Structural inertia and organizational change. American
Sociological Review, 49: 149-164.

*Carroll. G. and Swaminathan, A. 2000. Why the Microbrewery Movement? Organizational

Dynamics of Resource Partitioning in the US Brewing Industry. American Journal of Sociology,
106:715-762. 7

*Dobrev, S.D. & Kim, T.Y. 2006. Positioning among Organizations in a Population: Moves
between Market Segments and the Evolution of Industry Structure. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 51(2): 230-261.

*Hsu, G. 2006. Jacks of all trades and masters of none: Audiences‘ reactions to spanning
genres in feature film production. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51: 420-450.

Hsu, G. and Hannan, M.T. 2005. Identities, genres, and organizational forms. Organization
Science 16: 474-90.

Power in Organizations

Scott, W. Richard and Gerald F. Davis. 2007. Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural,
and Open Systems Perspectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson PrenticeHall. Chapters 8.
(eBook)

Foucault, Michel. 1977. Discipline and Punish. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Part 1, Chapter 1;
Part 3, Chapters 1, 3. (eBook)
*McKinlay, Alan and Ken Starkey (eds). 1998. Foucault, Management and Organization Theory.
London: Sage Publications. Chapters 1 and 9.

Hassan, Danial, and Sadia Nadeem. "Agential explanations: how employee participation is
enhanced in normatively controlled organizations?." Management Research Review 46.11
(2023): 1511-1541.

Transaction Cost and Resource Dependence View

Williamson, O. E. (1975). Markets and hierarchies. New York. Chapters 1 & 2 (pp.1-40)

Williamson, O. E. (1991). Comparative economic organization: The analysis of discrete

structural alternatives. Administrative Science Quarterly, 269-296.

Barney, J. B. (1986). Strategic factor markets: Expectations, luck, and business strategy.
Management Science, 32(10), 1231-1241.

Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of

Management, 17(1), 99-120

Pfeffer, J. and G. Salancik. (1978 [2003]). External Control of Organizations: A Resource

Dependence Perspective. Stanford University Press. Chapters 2 & 3 (skim chapters 5, 6, & 7).

Casciaro, T. and M. Jan Piskorski. (2005). “Power Imbalance, Mutual Dependence, and
Constraint Absorption: A Closer Look at Resource Dependence Theory.” Administrative Science
Quarterly, 50:167-199.

Institutional Theory I

*Selznick, P. 1957. Leadership in Administration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. –

Chapters 1 and 5

*DiMaggio, P.J. & Powell, W.W., 1991. Introduction. Pp. 1-38 in The New Institutionalism in
Organizational Analysis, edited by Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.

*DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W.W. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and
collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48: 147-160.

*Friedland, R. & Alford, R.R. 1991. Bringing Society Back in: Symbols, Practices, and
Institutional Contradictions. Pp. 232-266 in The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis,
edited by Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
*Meyer and Rowan, 1977. Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and
Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83: 340-63. 8
*Tolbert, P.S., Zucker, L. 1983. Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of
organizations: The diffusion of civil service reform, 1880-1935. Administrative Science Quarterly,
30: 22-39.

Zucker, L.G. 1987. Institutional theories of organizations. Annual Review of Sociology, 13:
443-464.

Institutional Theory II

*Heimer, C.A. 1999. Competing Institutions: Law, Medicine, and Family in Neonatal Intensive
Care. Law & Society Review, 33: 17-66.

*Thornton, P. H., and Ocasio, W. 2008. Institutional Logics. Pp. 99-129 in the Sage Handbook of
Organizational Institutionalism, edited by R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, R. Suddaby, and K. Sahlin.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

* Westphal, J. D., Gulati, R., & Shortell, S. M. 1997. Customization or conformity? An

institutional and network perspective on the content and consequences of TQM adoption.
Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 366- 394.

*Kennedy, M.T., & Fiss, P.C. 2009. Institutionalization, Framing, and Diffusion: The Logic of TQM
Adoption and Implementation Decisions among U.S. Hospitals. Academy of Management
Journal, 52: 897-918.

*Suddaby, R. & Greenwood, R. 2005. Rhetorical Strategies of Legitimacy. Administrative

Science Quarterly, 50: 35-67.

*Green, S.E., Li, Y. & Nohria, N. 2009. Suspended in Self-Spun Webs of Significance: A
Rhetorical Model of Institutionalization and Institutionally Embedded Agency. Academy of
Management Journal, 52: 11-36.

Heugens, P.P.M.A.R. & Lander, M.W. 2009. Structure! Agency! (and other quarrels): A
meta-analysis of institutional theories of organization. Academy of Management Journal, 52:
61-85

Hirsch, P.M. 1997. Sociology without social structure: Neoinstitutional theory meets brave new
world. American Journal of Sociology, 102: 1702-23.
Social Capital and Networkds

Granovetter, M.S. 1973. “The strength of weak ties.” American Journal of Sociology, 78: 1360-
1380. 27.

Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness.
American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481–510. 28.

Burt, Ronald (2004). “Structural Holes and Good Ideas, “American Journal of Sociology 110:
349-399. 29.

Mizruchi, “What do interlocks do? An analysis, critique and assessment of research on

interlocking directorates,” Annual Review of Sociology, 1996: 271-298. 30.

Uzzi, Brian and Jarrett Spiro (2005). “Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem.”
“American Journal of Sociology 111: 447-504

Organizational Economics

*Coase, R.H. 1937. The nature of the firm. Economica. 4: 386-405.

*Chandler, A.D. 1977. Introduction: The Visible Hand. The Visible Hand: The Managerial
Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

*Williamson, O. 1981. The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach.

American Journal of Sociology, 87: 548-577.

*Fama. E.F. and Jensen, M.L. 1983. Separation of Ownership from Control. Journal of Law and
Economics, 26: 301-325.
*Eisenhardt, K. 1989. Agency Theory: An Assessment and Review. Academy of Management
Review, 14: 57-74.

Arthurs, J.D., & Hoskisson, R.E., Busenitz, L.W. & Johnson, R.A. 2008. Managerial agents
watching other agents: Multiple agency conflicts regarding the underpricing of IPO firms.
Academy of Management Journal, 51: 277-294.

Alchian, A.A., & Demsetz, H. 192. Production, information cost, and economic organization.
American Economic Review, 62: 777-795.

Critical Perspectives in Organization Theory

Petriglieri, Gianpiero. "F** k science!? An invitation to humanize organization theory." Organization Theory
1.1 (2020): 2631787719897663.
Khan, F., Munir, K. and Willmott, H. 2007. A dark side of institutional entrepreneurship: soccer balls, child
labour and postcolonial impoverishment. Organization Studies, 28(7): 1055- 1077

Amis, John M., Johanna Mair and Kamal A. Munir. 2020. The organizational reproduction of inequality.
Academy of Management Annals 14,1: 195-230

Wright, Christopher, and Daniel Nyberg. 2017. An inconvenient truth: How organizations translate climate
change into business as usual. Academy of Management Journal, 60,5: 1633-1661

Alvesson, M. (1984). Questioning rationality and ideology: On critical organization theory. International
studies of management & organization, 14(1), 61-79.

Kincheloe, J. L., & McLaren, P. (2011). Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In Key works in
critical pedagogy (pp. 285-326). Brill.

Future of Organization Theory

Csaszar, Felipe A., and Tom Steinberger. "Organizations as artificial intelligences: The use of artificial
intelligence analogies in organization theory." Academy of Management Annals 16.1 (2022): 1-37.

Baum, J. A., & Haveman, H. A. (2020). Editors’ comments: The future of organizational theory. Academy
of Management Review, 45(2), 268-272.

Krijger, J. (2022). Enter the metrics: critical theory and organizational operationalization of AI ethics. Ai &
society, 37(4), 1427-1437.

Leavitt, K., Schabram, K., Hariharan, P., & Barnes, C. M. (2021). Ghost in the machine: On organizational
theory in the age of machine learning. Academy of Management Review, 46(4), 750-777.

Assessments

Class Participation 30%

Theories in Selected Fields 5%
Critique of a Paper 5%
Mid Term 10%
Main Assignment and Final 30 % + 20 %