Constructing Organizations: The Example of Public Sector Reform

TLDR

Organizations are socially constructed, and research seeks to understand how and why people build them instead of other social forms. The paper argues that recent public‑sector reforms are attempts to construct organizations. Public‑sector entities formerly seen as agents or arenas have become more complete organizations through the installation or reinforcement of local identity, hierarchy, and rationality, a view that clarifies key aspects of the reform process.

Abstract

Organizations are socially constructed phenomena. A crucial task for organizational research is to analyze how and why people construct organizations rather than other social forms. In this paper, it is argued that recent public-sector reforms can be interpreted as attempts at constructing organizations. Public-sector entities that could formerly be described as agents or arenas have been transformed into `more complete' organizations by installing or reinforcing local identity, hierarchy and rationality. This interpretation helps to explain important aspects of the reform process.