Organizations, institutions and semantics

systems theory meets institutionalism

Anders la Cour

Holger Højlund

pp. 185-202

in: Anders la Cour, Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos (eds), Luhmann observed, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

Why do organization structures appear like they do? Where do organizations import their building blocks from? How do they develop? And why is it that in some areas organizations look so much alike, when in others they differ? These apparently innocent questions evoke complex discussions concerning the interplay between historically developed institutions, cultural semantics and social structures, which have been a well discussed topic in both sociological and organizational theory over the years (Stäheli, 1997; Powell and Dimaggio, 1991). Both systems theory and sociological institutionalism have been engaged in questions concerning the relationship between modern society and its organizations and have on the face of it developed very different answers to them (Kneer, 2001; Pedersen et al., 2010). Despite this, or precisely because of this, we find it worthwhile to examine how the two theoretical frameworks can enrich each other. Instead of seeing them as two closed and oppositional universes, we will in the following try to open them up in order to let them be engaged in the same discussions.