Engineering Reasonableness: Authority in Hybrid Organizations

• In Event: 3263 - Legitimacy and Divisiveness

Abstract

Hierarchical and non-hierarchical modes of coordination co-exist in nearly every organization, yet much theorizing about authority tends to focus on one or the other. This paper answers calls to bridge this divide by building theory up from interactions in the organization. I draw on a uniquely rich mix of data from a rapidly-growing organization---participant observation, archival HR data, detailed software interaction data, and interviews conducted with a novel interview protocol---to theorize the resources that individuals use to negotiate authority and the rituals the organization uses to align these negotiations with organizational goals. I find three familiar bases of authority---official hierarchies, relative prestige, and routines---and identify a fourth, ownership, which serves as a basis for justification in many situations where the other three cannot. I argue that these different bases are mobilized by organization members as resources in local negotiations in the shadow of the official hierarchy but without directly invoking it. Finally, I discuss a subset of rituals and techniques that allow leadership to engineer reasonableness: keeping negotiations aligned with shared organizational goals without the direct exercise of hierarchical control.

Author

• Clark Bernier, Princeton University