Lecture Notes Organisations and Society (SOBA204A)
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Grado
Organisation and Society (SOBA204A)
Institución
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)
This document contains detailed notes on the material that was discussed during the lectures. The exam for the course Organisations and Society is an open-book essay exam. During such an exam, you don't have time to read through all your notes, trying to find the answer.
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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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