Organization as Theatre

1
Reframing Organizations
Organization as Theatre )
Muhammad Riaz EDE9817 Dr.
Manley Sept, 2013
2
Organization as Theater

• Institutional Theory
• Organizational Structure as Theater
• Organizational Process as Theater

3
Organizational Theater

• Theater plays to both internal and external
  audiences
• A convincing dramaturgical performance reassures
  external constituents, builds confidence, keeps
  critics at bay

4
Institutional Theory

• Institutionalized organizations focus more on
  appearance than performance
• When goals are ambiguous and performance hard to
  measure (as in universities and many government
  agencies), organizations maintain stakeholder
  support by staging the right play, conforming to
  audience expectations of how the organization
  should operate

5
DiMaggio and Powell, The Iron Cage Revisited

• Isomorphism process of becoming similar to
  other organizations in the same organizational
  field
• Coercive isomorphism organizations become alike
  because law, regulation or stakeholders pressure
  them to do so
• Mimetic isomorphism organizations become more
  alike by copying one another
• Normative isomorphism organizations employing
  the same professionals become similar because the
  professionals have similar values and ideas

6
Organizational Structure as Theater

• Structure as Stage design an arrangements of
  lights, props and costumes
• Makes drama vivid and credible
• Reflects and expresses current values and myths
• Public schools reassure stakeholders if
• The building and grounds look like a school
• Teachers are certified
• Curriculum mirrors societys expectations
• Colleges judged by
• Age, endowment, beauty of campus
• Faculty student ratio
• Faculty with degrees from elite institutions

7
Organizational Process as Theater

• Activities (meetings, planning, performance
  appraisal, etc.) often fail to produce intended
  outcomes, yet persist because they help sustain
  organizational drama
• Scripts and stage markings cue actors what to do
  and how to behave
• Opportunities for self-expression and forums for
  airing grievances
• Reassure audiences that organization is
  well-managed and important problems are being
  addressed

8
Organizational Process as Theater II

• Meetings as Garbage cans
• Attract an unpredictable mix of problems looking
  for solutions, solutions looking for problems,
  and participants seeking opportunities for
  self-expression
• Planning
• Plans are symbols
• Plans become games
• Plans become excuses for interaction
• Plans become advertisements

9
Organizational Process as Theater (II)

• Evaluations
• Often fail in intended goals of improving
  performance and identifying strengths and
  weaknesses
• Ceremony signals the organization is well-managed
  and cares about performance improvement
• Collective Bargaining
• Public face intense, dramatic contest
• Private face back-stage negotiation, collusion
• Power
• Exists in eye of beholder you are powerful if
  others think you are
• May be attributed based on outcomes

10
Conclusion

• Organizations judged by appearance
• The right drama
• Provides a ceremonial stage
• Reassures stakeholders
• Maintains confidence and faith
• Drama serves powerful symbolic functions
• Engages actors in their performances
• Builds excitement, hope, sense of momentum