Bringing institutional change inside the organization: Staff professionals as key enablers

Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Publication Date

8-2011

Abstract

This paper examines which structural conditions enable staff professionals within organizations to conduct institutional work through an inductive case study of occupational health and safety professionals selected from a sample of 231 subsidiaries of a large construction company. Professionals within organizations act as institutional workers transferring the institutional forces of their professions to organizational institutional setups and thus play an important role in institutional change and diffusion in general. We construct a framework of how staff professionals within organizations act as institutional workers, consisting of three activities: getting institutional support, manufacturing consent, and mobilizing allies to share the load of the institutionalization process. We then analyze the structural conditions necessary for functional workers to become institutional workers. We propose structural nomadism of employed professionals as a key enabler of these work processes.

Keywords

Institutional work, Intraorganizational, Profession

Discipline

Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Academy of Management Proceedings: 71st AOM 2011, San Antonio, TX, August 12-16

First Page

1

Last Page

6

Identifier

10.5465/AMBPP.2011.65869687

Publisher

Academy of Management

City or Country

Briarcliff Manor, NY

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2011.65869687

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS