Dagens Nyheters tryckeri
En jämförande tvåfallsstudie av företaget och makten
Institutional economicsInstitutionalismIndustrial relationsLabor relationsFirmPowerEmpowermentSocial movement
This study is an institutional analysis of the firm both as it is theoretically conceptualized and how it takes shape and changes. The role of power relations between manage¬ment and employees is especially examined with the aim of evaluating pos¬sible connections between the firm as an institution and power relations within it. Based on a comparison of two cases (two selected periods of the same organization) it asks ?How closely does each case match the conceptual characteristics of the firm??; ?What are the power relations between management and employees in each case??; and finally ?What factors account for the resulting differences??. It is found that there is a negative correlation between employee power and proximity to the firm as a concept. The movement as an institution, typically characterized by opposition to hierarchy and a champion of institutional change, is found to be an effective means for employees to tilt power relations, thereby effecting an institutional drift away from the firm as a concept. In that process employees break the self-reinforcing institutional dynamic internal to the firm.