This paper presents an inductive account of how two divisions of the same corporation sought to standardize their engineering work. Although both groups achieved ISO 9000 certification, each was guided by historical antecedents and internal processes that left different legacies: a culture of cynicism and chaotic work practices in one division vis-a-vis a system of standardized work practices that are voluntarily (and often enthusiastically) followed in the other. The contrasting cases shed light on what happens when an external standard is adopted by an organization, converted into a formal directive, and then confronted by the norms and practices of an existing occupational community. More generally, the paper articulates how three common modes of social regulation—standards, directives, and norms—are interconnected in the process of implementing a standard in an organization, and the conditions under which institutional exigencies are either decoupled from or tightly coupled to technical work.
AbbottAndrew (1988). The system of professions: An essay on the division of expert labor. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
2.
AbernethyMargaret A.Stoelwinder JohannesU. (1995). The role of professional control in the management of complex organizations. Accounting, Organizations, and Society, 20(1), 1–17.
AlvessonMats (2001). Knowledge work: Ambiguity, image and identity. Human Relations, 54, 863–886.
5.
BailynLotte (1985). Autonomy in the R&D Lab. Human Resource Management, 24, 129–146.
6.
BarleyStephen R. (1986). Technology as an occasion for structuring: evidence from observations of CT scanners and the social order of radiology departments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31, 78–108.
7.
BarleyStephen R.KundaGideon (2001). Bringing work back in. Organization Science, 12, 76–95.
8.
BeckNikolausWalgenbachPeter (2005). Technical efficiency or adaptation to institutionalized expectations? The adoption of ISO 9000 standards in the German mechanical engineering industry. Organization Studies, 26, 841–866.
9.
BehnamMichaelMacLeanTammy L. (2011). Where is the accountability in international accountability standards? A decoupling perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21, 45–72.
10.
BoiralOlivier (2003). ISO 9000: Outside the iron cage. Organization Science, 14, 720–737.
11.
BoiralOlivier (2007). Corporate greening through ISO 14001: A rational myth?Organization Science, 18, 127–146.
12.
BoxenbaumEvaJonssonStefan (2008). Isomorphism, diffusion and decoupling. In GreenwoodRoystonOliverChristineSahlin-AnderssonKerstinSuddabyRoy (Eds), The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
BromleyPatriciaHwangHokyuPowellWalter W. (2011). Institutional junctures: Key points of divergence in the process of institutionalization. Stanford University working paper.
14.
BrunssonNils (2000). Standardization and fashion trends. In BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (Eds), A world of standards (pp. 151–168). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
15.
BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (2000a). The contemporary expansion of standardization. In BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (Eds), A world of standards (pp. 1–17). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16.
BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (2000b). Following standards. In BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (Eds), A world of standards (pp. 127–137). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
17.
BrunssonNilsOlsenJohan P. (1993). The reforming organization. New York: Routledge.
18.
BrunssonNilsSahlin-AnderssonKerstin (2000). Constructing organizations: The example of public sector reform. Organization Studies, 21, 721–746.
19.
CancianFrancesca M. (1975). What are norms? A study of beliefs and action in a Maya community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20.
CzarniawksaBarbaraSevónGuje (Eds) (1996). Translating organizational change. Berlin: de Gruyter.
21.
DjelicMarie-LaureQuackSigrid (2008). Institutions and transnationalization. In GreenwoodRoystonOliverChristineSahlin–AnderssonKerstinSuddabyRoy (Eds), The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 299–323). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
22.
DjelicMarie-LaureSahlin-AnderssonKerstin (2006). Transnational governance: Institutional dynamics of regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
EisenhardtKathleen M (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 488–511.
24.
EisenhardtKathleen M.GraebnerMelissa E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 25–32.
25.
EspelandWendy N. (1998). The struggle for water. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
26.
FeldmanMartha S.PentlandBrian T. (2003). Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 94–118.
27.
FissPeer C.ZajacEdward (2006). The symbolic management of strategic change: Sensegiving via framing and decoupling. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 1173–1193.
28.
FurustenStaffan (2000). The knowledge base of standards. In BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (Eds), A world of standards (pp. 71–84). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
29.
HallettTimothy (2010). The myth incarnate: Recoupling processes, turmoil, and inhabited institutions in an urban elementary school. American Sociological Review, 75, 1–6.
30.
HallettTimothyVentrescaMarc J. (2006). Inhabited institutions: Social interactions and organizational forms in Gouldner’s Patterns of industrial bureaucracy. Theory and Society, 35, 213–236.
31.
HigginsVaughanLarnerWendy (Eds) (2010). Calculating the social: Standards and the reconfiguration of governing. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
32.
HülsseRainerKerwerDieter (2007). Global standards in action: Insights from anti-money laundering regulation. Organization, 14, 625–642.
33.
JacobssonBengt (2000). Standardization and expert knowledge. In BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (Eds), A world of standards (pp. 40–49). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
34.
KundaGideon (1992). Engineering culture: Culture and control in a high-tech organization. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
35.
LamplandMarthaStarSusan Leigh (Eds) (2009). Standards and their stories: How quantifying, classifying, and formalizing practices shape everyday life. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
36.
MacLeanTammy L.BehnamMichael (2010). The dangers of decoupling: The relationship between compliance programs, legitimacy perceptions, and institutionalized misconduct. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 1499–1520.
37.
MattliWalterBütheTim (2003). Setting international standards: Technological rationality or primacy of power?World Politics56(1), 1–42.
38.
MeyerJohn W.RowanBrian (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.
39.
MeyerJohnJohnBoliThomasGeorge M.RamirezFrancisco O. (1997). World society and the nation-state. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 144–181.
40.
MilesMatthew B.HubermanA. Michael (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
41.
OliverChristine (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16, 145–179.
42.
PacheAnne-ClaireSantosFilipe (2010). When worlds collide: The internal dynamics of organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. Academy of Management Review, 35, 455–476.
43.
PetroskiHenry (1992). To engineer is human: The role of failure in successful design. New York: Vintage.
44.
RaoHayagreevaMoninPhilippeDurandRodolphe (2003). Institutional change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle cuisine as an identity movement in French gastronomy. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 795–843.
45.
RombachBjorn (1993). Success at the expense of control. In BrunssonNilsOlsenJohan P. (Eds), The reforming organization (pp. 143–162). New York: Routledge.
46.
ScottW. Richard (2008). Lords of the dance: Professionals as institutional agents. Organization Studies, 29, 219–238.
47.
ScottW. RichardDavisGerald F. (2007). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural, and open systems perspectives. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall.
48.
ScottW. RichardMeyerJohn W. (1991). The organization of societal sectors: Propositions and early evidence. In PowellWalter W.DiMaggioPaul J. (Eds), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 108–140). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
49.
SeidlDavid (2007). Standard setting and following in corporate governance: An observation-theoretical study of the effectiveness of governance codes. Organization, 14, 705–728.
50.
StevensJohn M.SteensmaH. KevinHarrisonDavid A.CochranPhilip L. (2005). Symbolic or substantive document? The influence of ethics codes on financial executives’ decisions. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 181–195.
51.
StorzCornelia (2007). Compliance with international standards: The EDIFACT and ISO 9000 standards in Japan. Social Science Japan Journal, 10, 217–241.
SauderMichaelEspelandWendy N. (2009). The discipline of rankings: Tight coupling and organizational change. American Sociological Review, 74, 63–82.
54.
Tamm HallströmKristina (2000). Organizing the process of standardization. In BrunssonNilsJacobssonBengt (Eds), A world of standards (pp. 85–99). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
55.
Tamm HallströmKristina (2004). Organizing international standardization: ISO and the IASC in quest for authority. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
56.
ThévenotLaurent (2009). Governing life by standards: A view from engagements. Social Studies of Science, 39, 793–813.
57.
TimmermansStefanEpsteinSteven (2010). A world of standards but not a standard world: Toward a sociology of standards and standardization. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 69–89.
58.
VallasSteven P (2003). Why teamwork fails: Obstacles to workplace change in four manufacturing plants. American Sociological Review, 68, 223–250.
59.
WalgenbachPeter (2001). The production of distrust by means of producing trust. Organization Studies, 22, 693–714.
60.
WalgenbachPeter (2007). Façade and means of control: The use of ISO 9000 standards. In TheuvsenL.SpillerA.PeupertM.JahnG. (Eds), Quality management in food chains (pp. 29–43). Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
61.
WestphalJames D.GulatiRanjayShortellStephen M. (1997). Customization or conformity? An institutional and network perspective on the content and consequences of TQM adoption. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 366–394.
62.
WestphalJames D.ZajacEdward J. (2001). Decoupling policy from practice: The case of stock repurchase programs. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 202–228.
63.
ZbarackiMark (1998). The rhetoric and reality of Total Quality Management. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 602–636.
