Carmelo Mazza - Böcker

The issue of organizational legitimacy is increasingly gaining the attention of researchers and managers. While legitimacy can be described in a number of ways, defined by the harder social sciences it has usually been considered a static, one-dimensional characteristic. As a result, previous studies have often failed to explore organization's operational strategies for gaining wide social legitimacy. The goal of Claim, Intent, and Persuasion: Organizational Legitimacy and the Rhetoric of Corporate Mission Statements is to explore how organizations enact strategies to gain legitimacy. The book employs a pluralistic definition of legitimacy that draw its concepts from the fields of organizational theory, sociology, political science and law. The dynamics of the legitimation process are explored through a study of corporate mission statements analyzed from a semiotic perspective. The book argues that various interpretations of the legitimation process can coexist through differing narrative strategies that offer corporations alternate ways to present themselves internally and externally.By setting up a multi-facted theory of organizational legitimacy, supported by an empirical study of corporation mission statements, this book offers a new, more integrated interpretation of the legitimation process that seeks to advance the dialogue regarding the political and instition views of organizations.

One of the most notorious differences between the academic production on management carried out in Europe, compared to that in the United States, is the attention that European scholars give to the managerial discourse and rhetorics, especially in their textual or written embodiments. In fact, it is one of the few topics where the usual dominance of American scholarship (Engwall, 1998) does not hold. Discourses in management address basically two issues, most often of analytical intertwined in practice, differentiated here only because requirements. One, is the legitimization, both ideological and political, of management, basically geared at the justification of the differentials of power present in the coordination of collective action aimed at the consecution of economic objectives. As Bendix points out in Work and Authority in Industry, the most pressing challenge for this ideological work stems from the fact that in capitalism the logic of efficiency is hegemonic, and this is not easily conducive to the justification of status differentials. This is why managerial discourses are never open, straightforward, and why they are, in sum, clearly ideological.

Institutional theory has become one of the dominant organizational approaches in recent decades. Its roots can be traced to Europe and an important intellectual objective of this book is to examine North American theory strands and to reconnect them with European research traditions in order to explore new perspectives. For that purpose, this book focuses on how organizations and individuals handle heterogeneous and challenging social conditions which are subsequently reflected in various forms of change. In particular, the book: sheds light on neo-institutionalism from a European perspectiveexamines neo-institutionalism in North American sociological and organizational theories and (re-)connects them with European research traditions explores novel and innovative methodologies to analyse institutions analyzes institutional and organizational change links micro- and macro-approaches to institutionsreconnects organizational institutionalism with sociological theories. Finally, the book includes an afterword by John Meyer which is intended to stimulate further discussion. New Themes in Institutional Analysis will appeal to students and academics in organization, management and institutionalism.Contributors include: J.L. Alvarez, N. Arnold, C. Berg Johansen, S. Boch Waldorff, S. Bohn, M. Bottura, R. Corrado, G. Delmestri, G.S. Drori, B. Forgues, R.O. Friedland, M.A. Höllerer, T. Klatetzki, K. Kloos, V.P. Korff, G. Krücken, M. Lounsbury, C. Mazza, J.W. Meyer, R.E. Meyer, A. Mica, A. Oberg, V. Odorici, C.R. Oelberger, M. Pawlak, W.W. Powell, B. Soppe, J. Strandgaard Pedersen, S. Svejenova, P. Walgenbach, E. Weik, A. Westenholz

This timely and important book provides a critical analysis of the changes and challenges that currently affect European universities. Using both theoretical contributions and applied case studies, leading experts argue that universities as institutions are in need of change - although the routes that the process may take are heterogeneous. The authors debate whether the reform of universities suffers from the undue influence of generalisations that do not stand up to scrutiny. It is simply too narrow to focus on strategies such as imitating a 'university model', hoping that best practices will solve the inefficiencies of the organisation as a whole, or relying on the presence of few external individuals on the universities' board to save the difficult relationships between the university and the surrounding economy and society. These ideas ignore the diversity of universities geographically and historically. Above all, they underestimate the power that such diversity holds in making universities survive across centuries. Researchers with an interest in university reform will appreciate this important contribution to the debate, whilst policymakers and university administrators will find this book invaluable in understanding the changes and problems facing European universities and gaining insights on possible solutions.