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The Capability of being a Chameleon : Forms of Institutional Complexity in Court Management and Professionals' Respective Coping Strategies
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2015-08-26
Author(s)
Abstract
As previous research has demonstrated, courts have a rather adverse attitude towards externally imposed management endeavors, which among other factors appears to threaten their independence and a strongly related aspiration of maximizing their self-administration capacities. In this context the co-existence of multiple logics regarding both their organization and administration represents an additional management challenge, since these logics are assumed to provide different decision prescriptions. Using Besharov and Smith's (2014) framework to classify distinct logic multiplicity types, this paper contributes to current research about the organizational effects and implications of institutional complexity, thereby enhancing knowledge about the factors that affect actors' respective coping strategies. Based on an embedded case study and by employing an interpretive grounded theory approach the paper thoroughly elaborates on the different forms of institutional complexity in court management to analyze how institutional complexity is dealt with by court professionals. As our findings suggest, the form of institutional complexity not only implies different stress levels for courts and their members but also different strategy choices. Intra-organizational complexity primarily seems to be managed by adhering primacy to the judicial logic, internal boundary spanning practices, and forms of political lobbying. Inter-organizational complexity though is addressed by maintaining and increasing their autonomy through external boundary spanning and the use of different logics as "toolkits". Even though intuitively, one would expect a management logic to prevail in organizational and administrative matters, in many circumstances the judicial logic is still given priority. Contrary to intra-organizational matters, however, judicial professionals seem to be able to strategically adapt their lines of argumentation just like a chameleon to the external expectations and demands by making use of logics as "toolkits". To put it more precisely, it seems that by referring to the respective logics of their external stakeholders and thus by adjusting their communication accordingly, courts are able to exploit distinct logics in their favor. A state of logic multiplicity, therefore, does not necessarily negatively affect an organization and its members by causing stress in form of institutional complexity but might even represent an essential success factor, through enhancing its agency and adaptive capability.
Language
English
Keywords
institutional logics
logics as toolkits
logic multiplicity
institutional complexity
professionals
boundary spanning
district courts
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Start page
21
Event Title
EGPA
Event Location
Toulouse
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
245323