Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T16:00:05.318Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Organizing for Independence

from Part 2 - Organization in and around Markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2019

Göran Ahrne
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Nils Brunsson
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Get access

Summary

In this chapter we investigate how certification and accreditation organizations put much effort in constructing an image of independence for the outside world to see and endorse. It is difficult for an organization to proclaim its own independence; rather, a fundamental way of convincing others of its independence is through entering dependency relationships with other formal organizations that grant the organization independence, like the dubbing of knights. We analyse the character of organizational dependencies with respect to rules, sanctions, hierarchy, monitoring, and membership and conclude that the search for independence result in the addition of elements to elements, driving more and more organization. We discuss how the adding of elements form a complex system of interdependent organizations, which resembles a rational, authoritative Weberian bureaucracy. Although this bureaucratic system may be understood as organization – a decided and systematized order – it is not a discernible entity. It is partial and as such it lacks a central authority to govern and to which an overall responsibility could be ascribed. Paradoxically, the efforts aiming at ensuring independence resulted in the organizations becoming dependent not only on each other, but also on the decided order surrounding them.

Type
Chapter
Information
Organization outside Organizations
The Abundance of Partial Organization in Social Life
, pp. 155 - 176
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahrne, G. & Brunsson, N. (2008) Meta-Organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahrne, G. & Brunsson, N. (2011) Organization outside Organizations: The Significance of Partial Organization. Organization 18(1): 83104.Google Scholar
Bartley, T. (2007) Institutional Emergence in an Era of Globalization: The Rise of Transnational Private Regulation of Labor and Environmental Conditions. American Journal of Sociology 113 (2): 297351.Google Scholar
Bartley, T. (2011) Certification as a Mode of Social Regulation. In Levi-Faur, D. (ed.), Handbook on the Politics of Regulation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 441–52.Google Scholar
Bernstein, S. & Cashore, B. (2007) Can Non-State Global Governance Be Legitimate? An Analytical Framework. Regulation and Governance 1(4): 125.Google Scholar
Boiral, O. (2012) ISO Certificates as Organizational Degrees? Beyond the Rational Myths of the Certification Process. Organization Studies 33(5–6): 633–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boiral, O. & Gendron, Y. (2011) Sustainable Development and Certification Practices: Lessons Learned and Prospects. Business Strategy and the Environment 20(5): 331–47.Google Scholar
Bromley, P. & Meyer, J. W. (2015) Hyper-Organization: Global Organizational Expansion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brunsson, N. (1990) Deciding for Responsibility and Legitimation. Alternative Interpretations of Organizational Decision Making. Accounting, Organization and Society 15(1–2): 4759.Google Scholar
Brunsson, N. & Jacobsson, B. (2000) A World of Standards. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brunsson, N., Gustafsson, I., & Tamm Hallström, K. (2018) Markets, Trust and the Construction of Macro-Organizations. In Brunsson, N. & Jutterström, M. (eds.), Organizing and Re-Organizing Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 136–52.Google Scholar
Brunsson, N. & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (2000) Constructing Organizations: The Example of Public Sector Reform. Organization studies 21(4): 721–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunsson, N., Rasche, A., & Seidl, D. (2012) The Dynamics of Standardization: Three Perspectives on Standards in Organization Studies. Organization Studies 33(5–6): 613–32.Google Scholar
Council Resolution 85/C/136/01 of 7 May 1985 on a new approach to technical harmonization and standards.Google Scholar
COM 89 final – SYN 208, Resolution 90/C 10/01 A global approach to certification and testing.Google Scholar
Chapman, C. & Peecher, M. E. (2011) Worlds of Assurance. Accounting, Organizations and Society 36(4): 267–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EC and EG Directive 94/38 on information regarding technical standards and directives.Google Scholar
EG 2008/765 om krav på ackreditering och marknadskontroll i samband med saluföring av produkter och upphävande av förordning EE nr 339/93.Google Scholar
Fouilleux, E. & Loconto, A. (2016) Voluntary Standards, Certification, and Accreditation in the Global Organic Agriculture Field: A Tripartite Model of Techno-Politics. Agriculture and Human Values 34 (1): 114.Google Scholar
Galland, J.-P. (2017) Big Third-Party Certifiers and the Construction of Transnational Regulation. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 670(March): 263–79.Google Scholar
Grothe Hammer, M. (2017) Organization without Actorhood. Exploring the First Degree of Organizationality. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, I. (2016) Organisering av standarder, certifiering och ackreditering som en global styrregim. Doctoral dissertation, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, I. & Tamm Hallström, K. (2013) The Certification Paradox: Monitoring as a Solution and a Problem. In Reuter, M., Wijkström, F., & Kristensson Uggla, B. (eds.), Trust and Organizations. Confidence Across Borders. New York: Palgrave. 91109.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, I. & Tamm Hallström, K. (2018) Hyper-Organized Eco-Labels: An Organization Theory Perspective on the Implications of Tripartite Standards Regimes. Food Policy 75: 124–33.Google Scholar
Hatanaka, M. (2014) Standardized Food Governance? Reflections on the Potential and Limitations of Chemical-Free Shrimp. Food Policy 45: 138–45.Google Scholar
Hatanaka, M. & Busch, L. (2008) Third-Party Certification in the Global Agrifood System: An Objective or Socially Mediated Governance Mechanism? Sociologica Ruralis 48(1): 7391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatanaka, M., Konefal, J., & Constance, D. H. (2012) A Tripartite Standards Regime Analysis of the Contested Development of a Sustainable Agriculture Standard. Agriculture and Human Values 29(1): 6578.Google Scholar
Humphrey, C. & Moizer, P. (1990) From Techniques to Ideologies: An Alternative Perspective on the Audit Function. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 1(3): 217–38.Google Scholar
Jamal, K. & Sunder, S. (2011) Is Mandated Independence Necessary for Audit Quality? Accounting, Organizations and Society 36: 284–92.Google Scholar
Johansson, V. & Lindgren, L. (2013) Uppdrag offentlig granskning. Lund: Studentlitteratur.Google Scholar
Kouakou, D., Boiral, O., & Gendron, Y. (2013) ISO Auditing and the Construction of Trust in Auditor Independence. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 26(8): 1279–305.Google Scholar
Loconto, A. & Busch, L. (2010) Standards, Techno-Economic Networks and Playing Fields: Performing the Global Market Economy. Review of International Political Economy, 17(3): 507–36.Google Scholar
Marx, A. (2008) Limits to Non-State Market Regulation: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the International Sport Footwear Industry and the Fair Labor Association. Regulation and Governance 2(2): 253–73.Google Scholar
Marx, A. (2011) Global Governance and the Certification Revolution: Types, Trends and Challenges. In Levi-Faur, D. (ed.), Handbook on the Politics of Regulation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 590603.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. W. (2010) World Society, Institutional Theories, and the Actor. Annual Review of Sociology 36: 120.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. W. & Jepperson, R. L. (2000) The ‘Actors’ of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social Agency. Sociological Theory 18(1): 100–20.Google Scholar
Power, M. (1997) The Audit Society: Rituals of verification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Power, M. (2003) Auditing and the Production of Legitimacy. Accounting, Organizations and Society 28(4): 379–94.Google Scholar
Power, M. (2011) Assurance Worlds: Consumers, Experts and Independence. Accounting, Organizations and Society 36: 324–6.Google Scholar
Renard, M. C. & Loconto, A. (2013) Competing Logics in the Further Standardization of Fair Trade: ISEAL and the Símbolo de Pequeños Productores. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture & Food 20(1): 5168.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. P. (1987) The Social Control of Impersonal Trust. The American Journal of Sociology 93(3): 623–58.Google Scholar
Sikka, P. & Willmott, H. (1995) Accounting, Organization and Society 20(6): 547–81.Google Scholar
SOU 2006:113 Öppna system för provning och kontroll – en utvärdering.Google Scholar
Tamm Hallström, K. & Gustafsson, I. (2014) Value-Neutralizing in Verification Markets: Organizing for Independence through Accreditation. In Alexius, S. & Tamm Hallström, K. (eds.), Configuring Value Conflicts in Markets. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 8299.Google Scholar
Walgenbach, P. (2001) The Production of Distrust by Means of Producing Trust. Organization Studies 22(4): 693714.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×