Organization as Theatre - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Organization as Theatre

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Title: Organization as Theatre


1
Reframing Organizations
Organization as Theatre )
Muhammad Riaz EDE9817 Dr.
Manley Sept, 2013
2
Organization as Theater
  • Institutional Theory
  • Organizational Structure as Theater
  • Organizational Process as Theater

3
Organizational Theater
  • Theater plays to both internal and external
    audiences
  • A convincing dramaturgical performance reassures
    external constituents, builds confidence, keeps
    critics at bay

4
Institutional Theory
  • Institutionalized organizations focus more on
    appearance than performance
  • When goals are ambiguous and performance hard to
    measure (as in universities and many government
    agencies), organizations maintain stakeholder
    support by staging the right play, conforming to
    audience expectations of how the organization
    should operate

5
DiMaggio and Powell, The Iron Cage Revisited
  • Isomorphism process of becoming similar to
    other organizations in the same organizational
    field
  • Coercive isomorphism organizations become alike
    because law, regulation or stakeholders pressure
    them to do so
  • Mimetic isomorphism organizations become more
    alike by copying one another
  • Normative isomorphism organizations employing
    the same professionals become similar because the
    professionals have similar values and ideas

6
Organizational Structure as Theater
  • Structure as Stage design an arrangements of
    lights, props and costumes
  • Makes drama vivid and credible
  • Reflects and expresses current values and myths
  • Public schools reassure stakeholders if
  • The building and grounds look like a school
  • Teachers are certified
  • Curriculum mirrors societys expectations
  • Colleges judged by
  • Age, endowment, beauty of campus
  • Faculty student ratio
  • Faculty with degrees from elite institutions

7
Organizational Process as Theater
  • Activities (meetings, planning, performance
    appraisal, etc.) often fail to produce intended
    outcomes, yet persist because they help sustain
    organizational drama
  • Scripts and stage markings cue actors what to do
    and how to behave
  • Opportunities for self-expression and forums for
    airing grievances
  • Reassure audiences that organization is
    well-managed and important problems are being
    addressed

8
Organizational Process as Theater II
  • Meetings as Garbage cans
  • Attract an unpredictable mix of problems looking
    for solutions, solutions looking for problems,
    and participants seeking opportunities for
    self-expression
  • Planning
  • Plans are symbols
  • Plans become games
  • Plans become excuses for interaction
  • Plans become advertisements

9
Organizational Process as Theater (II)
  • Evaluations
  • Often fail in intended goals of improving
    performance and identifying strengths and
    weaknesses
  • Ceremony signals the organization is well-managed
    and cares about performance improvement
  • Collective Bargaining
  • Public face intense, dramatic contest
  • Private face back-stage negotiation, collusion
  • Power
  • Exists in eye of beholder you are powerful if
    others think you are
  • May be attributed based on outcomes

10
Conclusion
  • Organizations judged by appearance
  • The right drama
  • Provides a ceremonial stage
  • Reassures stakeholders
  • Maintains confidence and faith
  • Drama serves powerful symbolic functions
  • Engages actors in their performances
  • Builds excitement, hope, sense of momentum
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