Abstract
This chapter discusses institutional change in a highly institutionalized organization. Based on an historical ethnography, it shows how the construction and hybridization of institutional logics result from institutional work carried out by change actors. In turn, institutional work is significantly fostered by materiality. Based on the emergence and evolution of management education in Oxford as a historical case study, this chapter is an attempt to articulate the institutional logics perspective and the “historic turn” in management and organization studies. Through the examination of three key episodes—that illustrate a material and discursive assemblage—we show the need to consider both the material and spatial dimensions of an institutionalization process.
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Notes
- 1.
The idea of establishing a Diploma in Management Studies also arose, but the committee stated that “because the background of the students would be very miscellaneous; the studies in which such people could usually engage in common, at anything more than a very elementary level, are not easy to find… A general Diploma would, inevitably, be a low-grade Diploma; and we see no advantage in the provision of that sort of training in Oxford” (Graves 2001: 15).
- 2.
Further details about the initial content of the B.Phil. in Management Studies could be found in Arena (2011a: 275–280).
- 3.
Among several positions he took, at that time, Barclay became a governor of the London School of Economics, treasurer of Coleg Harlech in Wales, which fostered adult education for working people, and he contributed to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Raeburn 1995: 3).
- 4.
Further details on this could be found in the article: “Cash for Colleges”, Times Higher Education, October 25, 1996.
- 5.
Interview conducted on 23rd July 2009 at Egrove Park, Oxford.
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Arena, L., Douai, A. (2019). From a “Family Affair” to a “Ziggurat”: Institutional Logics, Materiality and History. In: de Vaujany, FX., Adrot, A., Boxenbaum, E., Leca, B. (eds) Materiality in Institutions. Technology, Work and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97472-9_5
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