Bureaucratic Structure and Personality.

Merton, Robert Κ.

doi:10.1037/11302-024

Cited by 163 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

180

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Simply, organizations over time tend to develop their own internal dynamics which resist attempts to modify the organizations' purposes and procedures; this is the phenomenon of "goal displacement." The original statement of the problem is due to Merton (1940), and similar positions are to be found in Selznick (1949, pp. 259-264), Gouldner (1954), and Francis and Stone (1956); the following description of goal displacement comes from Sills (1957, p. 62):…”

Section: Conclusion and Implications (1) A Refutation Of The Lindblomentioning

confidence: 83%

Policymaking rationality: A reformulation

Gershuny

1978

Policy Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper proposes a reformulation of the concept of rationality in public policymaking. Following Lindblom's critique, it accepts that "comprehensive rationality" is unfeasible as a practical policymaking strategy, but suggests that a slightly recast concept could provide a suitable "ideal criterion" for the assessment of policymaking strategies. Adopting this "limited rationality" criterion, a variant of the "mixed scanning strategy" emerges as a basic prescription for the conduct of public policymaking, the paper provides a pair of case studies (in the field of transportation) to illustrate the need for mixed scanning.

show abstract

Section: Conclusion and Implications (1) A Refutation Of The Lindblomentioning

confidence: 83%

Policymaking rationality: A reformulation

Gershuny

1978

Policy Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Because they are seen as transparent, consistent, and stripped of emotion, rule-based systems of control are desirable (March et al 2000). Yet they are also limited in what they can do (Haveman 2009;Merton 1940). Bureaucracy can distance an organization's members from the people who are directly impacted by its work.…”

Section: Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…First, members of organizations who are evaluated according to their ability to follow rules can become captured by the rules in such a way that they lose sight of the organization's ultimate purposes (Merton 1940). This happens when individuals treat rules as the ends rather than the means.…”

Section: Relational Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstreaming and its Discontents: Fair Trade, Socially Responsible Investing, and Industry Trajectories

Child

2014

J Bus Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Over time, according to popular and academic accounts, alternative trade initiatives [such as fair trade, organics, forest certification, and socially responsible investing (SRI)] almost invariably lose their oppositional stance and go mainstream. That is, they lose their alternative, usually peripheral, and often contrarian character. In this paper, I argue that this is not always the case and that the path to going mainstream is not always an unproblematic one. I observe that while scholars have documented various aspects of specific alternative trade initiatives, little comparative work has been done to theorize their different trajectories. To advance the scholarship, I compare two alternative trade movements, fair trade and SRI, and develop three hypotheses-the relation motivations hypothesis, the material interests hypothesis, and the organization of credibility hypothesis-that explain why going mainstream has been so hotly contested in the fair trade movement but not the SRI movement. I articulate these hypotheses and evaluate their merits.

show abstract

“…An often used analytical model for how CSOs change over time has been the goal displacement model (Merton 1940;Perrow 1961;Zald and Ash 1966;Tolbert and Hiatt 2009). Based on Michels' ([1911] 1962) work on early twentieth century German political parties, this model states that when a membership-based CSO acquires a social and economic base in society and the original charismatic leadership is replaced, a bureaucratic structure arises.…”

Section: Oligarchy and Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Revitalization of a Popular Movement: Case Study Research from Sweden

Einarsson

2011

Voluntas

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article tries to enhance knowledge about organizational characteristics and processes that are important for mitigating oligarchic tendencies in the governance of CSOs, and to discuss the factors that condition the operation of these characteristics and processes. Civil society is frequently seen as an important part of societal governance and discussed as the intermediary link between the individual and society. This connection is often made through the aggregate function of civil society organizations (CSOs). Currently there are discussions regarding the decline of traditional cross-class federative CSOs and the possible effect of this on democracy in society. This article presents a longitudinal case study of the governance within a large, membership-based federative CSO and illustrates the revitalization of a CSO and its mission through the influx of a new group of members from the surrounding environment. The author argues that this revitalization process was possible partly because the proposed changes were in keeping with the organization's original ideological core and partly because of the organization's open democratic governance system. This permeability is found at two levels: first, the borders are open for individuals to enter the organization as members, and second, the borders of the internal governance system are open for members to take part in the decision-making process. This enabled ideas to percolate up from the members through the democratic decision-making system to the top of the organization, and some ideas are translated into statutes and policies, which then trickle down to the members again through the executive structure. The conclusion is that a functioning democratic governance system, which is able to stay true to the organization's ideological core at the same time as it is able to modify it in light of societal change, seems imperative for this kind of organization. By doing this, the organization is not just staying true to its original mission but also actively contributing to democracy in society by including new groups into the decision-making process.Résumé Cet article a vocation à accroître les connaissances relatives aux caractéristiques et processus organisationnels qui sont importants pour atténuer et éviter les tendances oligarchiques dans la gouvernance des OSC (Organisations de la Société civile). Il traite également des facteurs conditionnant le fonctionnement de ces caractéristiques et processus. La société civile est souvent considérée comme une partie importante de la gouvernance sociétale et envisagée comme l'intermédiaire entre l'individu et la société. Cette connexion est souvent faite par le biais de la fonction globale des organisations de la société civile (OSC). Des discussions sont actuellement en cours concernant le déclin des OSC fédératives inter-classes traditionnelles et son effet possible sur la démocratie dans la société. Cet article présente une étude de cas longitudinale de la gouvernance au sein d'une OSC fédérative importante, basée sur l'...

show abstract

Bureaucratic Structure and Personality.

Cited by 163 publications

References 0 publications

Policymaking rationality: A reformulation

Policymaking rationality: A reformulation

Mainstreaming and its Discontents: Fair Trade, Socially Responsible Investing, and Industry Trajectories

The Revitalization of a Popular Movement: Case Study Research from Sweden

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About