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HOW IDEOLOGIES SUPPLANT FORMAL STRUCTURES AND SHAPE RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTS
Author(s) -
Meyer Alan D.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of management studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.398
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1467-6486
pISSN - 0022-2380
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1982.tb00059.x
Subject(s) - ideology , social psychology , sociology , organizational structure , epistemology , simple (philosophy) , psychology , aesthetics , political science , law , philosophy , politics
Observations of nineteen hospitals show how organizational ideologies are manifested and sustained by beliefs, stories, languages, and ceremonial acts. The data indicate that harmonious ideologies accompany simple structures, but that discordant ones accompany elaborate structures. Through their effects on people and structures, ideologies guide organizations’responses to external threats.