Sociology of Organizations Institutional Processes & Organizational Fields: Understanding Culture

Organizational Fields What do we mean by “field”? *The term is designed to clarify or to make “visible” what could be referred to as the “environment” of an organization

The Organizational Field The concept of the Organizational field is used to make sense of how an organization is a part of a larger group of actors/participants who operate within a system of rules of competition or cooperation that produce ongoing social relationships

The “field” Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1971, 1984) used the concept of field to refer to : “both the totality of actors and organizations involved in an arena of social or cultural production and the dynamic relationships among them”(DiMaggio, 1979: 1463) Bourdieu also suggests that “to think in terms of field is to think relationally *for Bourdieu fields are arenas of conflict in which all players seek to advance their interests; some are able, for longer or shorter periods to impose their conception of the “rules of the game” on others

The Organizational Field Paul DiMaggio and Walter Powell were among the first (1983) to use the term “organizational field” to refer to : “organizations that in the aggregate, constitute a recognized area of institutional life: key suppliers, resource and product consumers, regulatory agencies and other organizations that produce similar services or products” (1983:148)

Organizations and Culture: What is Culture?? Culture is Dynamic Culture is variable Culture exhibits regularities that permit its analysis by the methods of science

Defining Culture Culture is the instrument whereby the individual adjusts to his total setting, and gains the means for creative expression

Defining Culture Extrasomatic and somatic means of adaptation passed on primarily (though not exclusively) through symbolic learning