Lecture Notes Organisations and Society (SOBA204A)
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Course
Organisation and Society (SOBA204A)
Institution
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)
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Organisations and Society Lectures – Overview of all notes
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LECTURE 1
Key words: organization elements, micro-macro model, general mechanisms and outcomes
Articles: -
How do organizations influence our lives
4 societal outcomes in which organizations play a role
o Inequality
o Persistence
o Change
o Embeddedness
Common core elements that all organizations show / key elements
o Purposeful collective of people
o Formal rules and structures
o Perceived boundary
The micro-macro model of sociological explanation
o Basic explanation of how it works
You can look at organizations in 2 ways
o As sites/contexts
o As drivers/actors
Examples of organizational action that have important societal outcomes
Mechanism approach: identifying entities, activities and relations
o Overview of mechanisms and outcomes
LECTURE 2
Key words: Inequality, discrimination, claims-making process, organizations as actors and contexts,
(symbolic, biased) formalization, (paradox of) meritocracy, accountability, transparency, gender
inequality, human capital
Articles: Kalev, Castilla & Bernard, Rivera, Philips
Metaphor of the pie in explaining inequality
o 2 types of inequality: inequality as the size of the slice and inequality as the size of
the pie
o Claim-making process
Explanations (for inequality in claims) – human capital and efficiency wage framework
o Market mechanisms; supply-demand factors
o Non-market mechanisms: efficiency wages
Threat of job loss reduces shirking
To attract the most productive workers
Reduced costs associated with turnover
Limitations of the economic model
1
, o Economists: very limited information on skill supply and productivity, and limited
resources for extensive search for information
o Sociology: productivity is not a universal and not the only criterion to evaluate
employees
o Social psychology: social identity, inter- and intra-group status processes and
stereotypes.
Inequality-generating mechanisms in organizations: discrimination
o 2 definitions of discrimination
o Examples of reasons for organizational actors to discriminate against a minority
Discrimination mechanisms
o Taste-based (and implicit) discrimination
o Statistical discrimination
o Structural discrimination
Where do tastes come from? The role of culture
o Homophily
Discriminating and gender inequality – reconstructing the mechanism
o Self-fulfilling prophecy
Short summary of first part of the lecture:
o Discrimination in hiring
o Discrimination in promotion
o Discouraged to claim organizational resources
Organizations as actors driving inequality
o Policies that are discriminatory
o Organizational processes and structures that promote equality
Formalization (gender bias)
Meritocratic selection (paradox)
Theory of bureaucracy
o Weber’s characteristics of rational bureaucracies
1) Why formalization promotes equality of opportunity
o Standardized and objective criteria
o Hold decision-making actors accountable
2) Why formalization would NOT promote equality of opportunity
o Neo-institutional theory: organizational structures symbolic so they legitimize
organizational action
o Organizational structures symbolic so decisions could still discriminate
3) Why formalization would promote even more gender bias
o Biased formalization
o Biased formalization as a moral issue
The paradox of meritocracy
o Explaining the paradox of meritocracy
Moral credentials
Self-perceived objectivity
Which organizational policies do work
o Accountability
2
, o Transparency
o Affirmative action
Short summary of second part of the lecture
Why do social systems persist: rational choice perspectives
Rational choice perspective
o Societal systems persist because
Actors lack incentive
Collective action problematic to achieve
Institutional theoretical perspective
The concept of institutions
o Institutional theory
Institutional theory: major inspirations 1
o Durkheim social facts
o Rules and norms that regulate behaviour
o Definition of institutions (Durkheim)
Institutional theory: major inspirations 2
o Phenomenology
o Berger and Luckmann: 3 phases of reproduction of meaning
Externalization
Objectification
Internalization
o Reconstructing the phenomenological argument
o Meaning and morals: illustrating the difference
Vb. Zwarte piet
Institutional theory: major inspirations 3
o Bourdieu: social facts
o Social arena’s
o Habitus
o Power struggles
Institutional theory: major inspriations 4
o Max Weber: legitimacy
o Rational choice approaches
o Institutional perspective
Cognitive validity
Moral dignity
What explains stability: 3 main pillars of institutions
o Regulative pillar (coercion & sanctioning)
3
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