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Institutional Pressures and Symbolic Displays in a GAO Context

Smeal College of Business Administration and The Social Thought Program, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA

Timothy J. Fogarty

Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA

Parveen Gupta

College of Business and Economics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA

Two key organizational properties have long been studied: (1) the manner in which instrumental work processes are performed, and (2) the symbolic display of rational practice in response to institutional pressures. However, the relationship between these properties has proven to be contentious. For example, at different times, the sociology of professions, institutional theory and loose coupling perspectives have proposed that they should be decoupled and then loosely coupled with one another. Extending beyond these contending propositions, it has also been reasoned that a duality inheres in many elements of organizational structure such that they may be simultaneously instrumental and symbolic in character.

To evaluate the relationship among institutional pressures, instrumental work processes and coordination practices, we administered a questionnaire to audit teams in the US General Accounting Office (GAO). Statistical results, augmented with field interviews, suggest that instrumental work processes are loosely coupled with, rather than decoupled from, institutional pressures and their attendant symbolic displays of rational practice. Extending beyond the loose coupling concept, we also found that institutional pressures incite the symbolic facets of instrumental tasks and coordination practices, while GAO professional activities both embody and incite the instrumental facets of institutional pressures. Implications for future research in alternative organizational contexts are explored.

Key Words: institutionalization • coordination • technical work • symbolic displays • loose coupling • professionalization

Organization Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3, 515-537 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0170840600213002


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