Perspective---Finding the Organization in Organizational Theory: A Meta-Theory of the Organization as a Social Actor

  • Authors:

  • Brayden G. King;Teppo Felin;David A. Whetten

  • Affiliations:

  • Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 60208;Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602;Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602

  • Venue:
  • Organization Science
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

Organization theory is a theory without a protagonist. Organizations are typically portrayed in organizational scholarship as aggregations of individuals, as instantiations of the environment, as nodes in a social network, as members of a population, or as a bundle of organizing processes. This paper hopes to highlight the need for understanding, explicating, and researching the enduring, noun-like qualities of the organization. We situate the organization in a broader social landscape by examining what is unique about the organization as a social actor. We propose two assumptions that underlie our conceptualization of organizations as social actors: external attribution and intentionality. We then highlight important questions and implications forming the core of a distinctively organizational analytical perspective.