Cultural and Institutional Approaches to Organizational Phenomena

Abstract

Earlier sociological approaches to organizations focused on internal structure per se. In contrast, recent organizational studies pay much attention to phenomena such as cultures or institutions which function as foundations of organizational structure. However, the “theory of organizational culture” and the “new institutionalist theory of organizations” have hitherto been developed in isolation from one another. This paper therefore attempts to construct an integrated framework which might serve to bridge the gap between recent cultural approach and institutional approach to organizational phenomena.