Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Multirationality and Pluralistic Organisations

  • Chapter
Multirational Management

  • 91 Accesses

Abstract

Multirationality means for management that, in one single organisation, several rationalities simultaneously make a permanent impact on a decision-making situation that should be brought to fruition for the organisation. Multiple rationalities derive from a pluralist environment which simultaneously imposes different rational expectations on the organisation. The complexity of the environment is implanted in the organisation by actors representing the different rationalities, which also increases the complexity of the organisation itself.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Barnard, C. (1938). The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bendel, K. (1993). Funktionale Differenzierung und gesellschaftliche Realität: Zu Niklas Luhmanns Konzeption des Verhältnisses von Selbstreferenz und Koordination in modernen Gesellschaften. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 22(4): 261–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boland, R. J., A. K. Sharma and P. S. Afonso (2008). Designing management control in hybrid organizations: The role of path creation and morphogenesis. Accounting, Organizations and Society 33: 899–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borys, B. and D. B. Jemison (1989). Hybrid arrangements as strategic alliances: Theoretical issues in organizational combinations. The Academy of Management Review 14(2): 234–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brunsson, N. (1985). The Irrational Organization. Chichester, Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunsson, N. (1989). The Organization of Hypocrisy. Chichester, Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunsson, N. (2006). Mechanisms of Hope: Maintaining the Dream of the Rational Organization. Copenhagen, CBS Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloutier, C. and A. Langley (2007). Competing rationalities in organizations: A theoretical and methodological overview. Cahiers de recherche du GéPS 1(3): 1–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M. D., J. G. March and J. P. Olsen (1972). A garbage can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly 17(1): 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooney, K. (2006). The institutional and technical structuring of nonprofit ventures: Case study of a U.S. hybrid organization caught between two fields. Voluntas (17): 143–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denis, J.-L., A. Langley and L. Rouleau (2007). Strategizing in pluralistic contexts: Rethinking theoretical frames. Human Relations 60(1): 179–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diesing, P. (1962). Reason in Society: Five Types of Decisions and Their Social Conditions. Urbana, University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J. and W. W. Powell (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review 48: 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fligstein, N. (2008). Fields, power, and social skill: A critical analysis of the New Institutionalisms. International Public Management Review 9(1): 227–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedland, R. and R. R. Alford. (1991). Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices, and institutional contradictions. In Powell, W. W. and P. J. DiMaggio (eds) The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago, University of Chicago Press: 232–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., M. Raynard, F. Kodeih, E. R. Micelotta and M. Lounsbury (2011). Institutional complexity and organizational responses. The Academy of Management Annals 5(1): 317–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, A. J. (1999). Institutional evolution and change: Environmentalism and the U.S. chemical industry. Academy of Management Journal 42: 351–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, R. S. and D. P. Norton (1992). The balanced scorecard — measures that drive performance. Harvard Business Review (January–February): 71–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon, J. W. (2003). Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. New York, Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraatz, M. S. and E. S. Block (2008). Organizational implications of institutional pluralism. In Greenwood, E., C. Oliver, R. Suddaby and K. Sahlin (eds) Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. London, Sage: 243–275.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Laesser, C., S. Grubenmann, S. Reinhold and E. Reuter (2011). Multiple rationalitäten in tourismus und verkehr. IMPacts (1): 19–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lan, Z. and H. G. Rainey (1992). Goals, rules, and effectiveness in public, private, and hybrid organizations: More evidence on frequent assertions about differences. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 2(1): 5–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lounsbury, M. (2008). Institutional rationality and practice variation: New directions in the institutional analysis of practice. Accounting, Organizations and Society 33(4–5): 349–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1982). The Differentiation of Society. New York, Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1984). Soziale Systeme: Grundriss einer allgemeinen Theorie. Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (2006). System as difference. Organization (13): 37–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in learning. Organization Science 2(1): 71–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W. and B. Rowan (1977). Institutionalized organization: Formal structures as myth and ceremony. The American Journal of Sociology 83(2): 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, C. (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review 16: 145–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pache, A.-C. and F. Santos (2010). When worlds collide: The internal dynamics of organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. Academy of Management Review 35(3): 455–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, W. W. (1987). Hybrid organizational arrangements: New form or transitional development? California Management Review 30(1): 67–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prahalad, C. K. (2004). The blinders of dominant logic. Long Range Planning 37(2): 171–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, M. G. and P. O. Foreman (2000). Classifying managerial responses to multiple organizational identities. Academy of Management Review 25(1): 18–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reay, T. and C. R. B. Hinings (2009). Managing the rivalry of competing institutional logics. Organization Studies 30(6): 629–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, C. and F. Séguin (2000). The institutionalization of efficiency-oriented approaches for public service improvement. Public Productivity & Management Review 23(4): 449–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schedler, K. and I. Proeller (2006). New Public Management (3. Aufl.). Berne, Stuttgart, Vienna, Paul Haupt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidl, D. and K. H. Becker (2006). Organisations as distinction generating and processing systems. Niklas Luhmann’s contribution to Organisation Studies. Organization 13(1): 9–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. P. (2008). Probleme und Defizite bei der Reform der US Bundesverwaltung: eine Meta-Analyse zur begrenzten Rationalität administrativen Wandels. Berne, Stuttgart, Vienna, Paul Haupt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1997). Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-making in Administrative Organizations. New York, Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, P. H. and W. Ocasio (1999). Institutional logics and the historical contingency of power in organizations: Executive succession in the higher education publishing industry. American Journal of Sociology 105(3): 801–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thurmaier, K. M. and K. G. Willoughby (2001). Policy and Politics in State Budgeting. Armonk, M. E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walgenbach, P. and R. Meyer (2008). Neoinstitutionalistische Organisationstheorie. Stuttgart, Kohlhammer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1922). Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Tübingen, Mohr (Siebeck).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing. New York, McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (1973). Market and hierarchies: Some elementary considerations. The American Economic Review 2(63): 316–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willke, H. (1996). Systemtheorie I: Grundlagen. Stuttgart, Lucius und Lucius.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, R. (2012). Die neuere Systemtheorie und ihre Implikationen für das Verständnis von Organisation, Führung und Management. In Rüegg-Stürm, J. and T. Bieger (eds) Unternehmerisches Management. Herausforderungen und Perspektiven. Berne, Stuttgart, Vienna, Paul Haupt: 7–65.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Kuno Schedler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Johannes Rüegg-Stürm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Kuno Schedler  & Johannes Rüegg-Stürm  & 

Copyright information

© 2014 Kuno Schedler and Johannes Rüegg-Stürm

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schedler, K., Rüegg-Stürm, J. (2014). Multirationality and Pluralistic Organisations. In: Schedler, K., Rüegg-Stürm, J. (eds) Multirational Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137444424_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation