In a world where the actions of firms have profound consequences, and in which existing corporate norms frequently have controversial impacts on the broader society, the issue of transforming corporate institutions is of increasing importance. What mechanisms allow reforms to be proposed, understood, accepted and eventually adopted throughout an organizational field? How do practices which diverge markedly from prior norms become both acceptable and widely imitated? There is an accelerating use of social movement theory and organization theory to understand and explain campaigns for social change and corporate responses. In this study, I explore the influence of governance activists on the norms of corporate governance in Canada. In the years immediately after the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States, Canadian governance activists began to advocate a new model of the role of corporate boards. They wished to strengthen the independence of board from management, and their model quickly became normative. Institutions changed swiftly and unmistakably. This setting provides an opportunity to investigate the means by which institutional entrepreneurs introduce new practices to an organizational field, how the practices they advocate acquire value, and the conditions under which new practices are integrated into the decision-making processes of organizations. I first conduct a multi-practice study that examines the importance of rankings as an algorithm or calculative device that is congruent with corporate logics. I then examine the diffusion of these practices using a heterogeneous diffusion model. The logic of activists, the structure of organizational fields and the rational decision making of individual firms each play an essential part in the process of institutionalizing new and divergent practices.

In a world where the actions of firms have profound consequences, and in which existing corporate norms frequently have controversial impacts on the broader society, the issue of transforming corporate institutions is of increasing importance. What mechanisms allow reforms to be proposed, understood, accepted and eventually adopted throughout an organizational field? How do practices which diverge markedly from prior norms become both acceptable and widely imitated? There is an accelerating use of social movement theory and organization theory to understand and explain campaigns for social change and corporate responses. In this study, I explore the influence of governance activists on the norms of corporate governance in Canada. In the years immediately after the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States, Canadian governance activists began to advocate a new model of the role of corporate boards. They wished to strengthen the independence of board from management, and their model quickly became normative. Institutions changed swiftly and unmistakably. This setting provides an opportunity to investigate the means by which institutional entrepreneurs introduce new practices to an organizational field, how the practices they advocate acquire value, and the conditions under which new practices are integrated into the decision-making processes of organizations. I first conduct a multi-practice study that examines the importance of rankings as an algorithm or calculative device that is congruent with corporate logics. I then examine the diffusion of these practices using a heterogeneous diffusion model. The logic of activists, the structure of organizational fields and the rational decision making of individual firms each play an essential part in the process of institutionalizing new and divergent practices.

The purpose of this thesis is to theoretically and empirically investigate the effects of institutional inefficiencies on markets and on non-elite groups, and to better understand the factors that prevent efficient institutions from evolving through the process of institutional change. It commences by reviewing the literature relating to institutions and institutional change and presenting a theoretical framework. It then presents three empirical chapters that aim to address the key questions and hypotheses relating to how inefficient institutions affect markets and why inefficient institutions persist. The first two empirical case studies of are of institutionally driven market failures that currently exist in Tanzania’s coffee and maize markets (coffee grading and maize farm gate buying). These chapters demonstrate how these failures contribute to market inefficiency and how they lower the incomes of some of the poorest groups participating in these market chains. The findings demonstrate that there is no automatic welfare maximising process in the functioning or the evolutionary path of institutions because even though these institutions are inefficient, they remain constant and largely unchallenged in the market. In other words, inefficient market institutions do not spontaneously disappear even though they disadvantage large groups. The findings also raise questions about how these inefficient institutions evolved and why they persist. The third case study of Tanzania’s agricultural market liberalisation reforms addresses these questions. It describes shifting alliances and local level resistance and shows how competition between groups around the reform period has changed their respective abilities to influence institutional change over time. Initially, elite power was characterised by the capture of local and village governments by big agricultural cooperatives during the liberalisation reform period. Subsequent to the reforms, private sector traders and processors have become powerful and influential even though they were the market underdogs for many years. This is because they have invested in reducing their influence costs by establishing strong business associations and by building strong relationships with local and village government authorities. It is argued that groups with low influence costs are more powerful and can build the links that are necessary for influencing institutional change more easily. The analysis of Tanzania’s agricultural market reforms also shows that these relative positions of power and influence evolved through a long process of distributional conflict at the micro level. The complexities, contradictions, delays and reversals of Tanzania’s agricultural market liberalisation reforms were largely determined at the most disaggregated level. Massive institutional change was taking place, but its path was steered by a drawn-out process of distributional conflict in rural villages that is still ongoing today. The findings of the coffee and maize chapters are directly linked to this above described process of distributional conflict, relative power and institutional change since the inefficient institutions analysed in the coffee and maize markets emerged as outcomes of the liberalisation reforms. What this thesis shows is that institutional change depends, to a large extent, on the preferences and responses of the most influential interest groups. The historical perspective is also important in that it acts as a clarifying lens for what may otherwise seem to be an opaque set of groups, structures and incentives. This is what this thesis has sought to achieve. By combining quantitative institutional impact investigations with interest group-based political economy and historical analyses, this research has been able to reveal the thread that links current economic outcomes with long-standing group conflict dynamics.

This study examined the work practices of a project team that was engaged in the implementation of shared services at three tertiary level educational institutions in Barbados. Using Activity Theory as the underpinning theoretical framework, the researcher employed Development Work Research (DWR) and the Engestromian Change Labs to reveal the tensions and contradictions that occurred in the project team’s work environment. The intent was to reframe their understanding of the work practices from the everyday to the scientific, and develop new work practices to generate organisational change. The study also explored the expansive transformation that took place during the intervention process. The aim of the study was to answer the following question: In what ways, if any, did changes in the work practices of a project team contribute to changes in the planning and implementation of shared services in three Barbadian educational institutions? The research found that there were ruptures and disturbances in the work environment. These were attributed to the historically bureaucratic practices of Government which impacted negatively on the project team by impeding the development of innovative practices. The DWR intervention resulted in the resolution of the contradictions and led to effective change and expansive learning in the staff as well as a change in the approach to the implementation strategies that were being used by the project team. The team was able through dialogue and debate in the Change Labs to create a new form of practice which involved a new communication strategy and model. The new practice was used to overcome the challenge of providing timely and effective communication with the stakeholder institutions with which they were working to implement the shared services.

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China's futures market has undergone a significant structural change. It was a 'vertical silo' and now it is being developed into a 'horizontal' structure with Chinese characteristics. Such a change involves a series of changes in institutional arrangement. If researching the phenomenon when it was settled, the observation and, consequently, the conclusion would likely to see it was the state that had led the change. However, participated and observed through the change, this thesis is going to argue that the grassroots heroes, the practitioners from a marginalized sub-sector, have contributed significantly. The state is powerful and dominant whereas the regional exchanges leveraged their resources to corral the state and shape the institutional field. The focus of organizational and management studies can be roughly categorized as three dimensions: how changes occur within organizations, how the institutional environment shapes organizations and how organizations influence the sociocultural context within which they operate (Parsons, 1956). In the recent decades, organizational studies have made significant progress in the first two but little in the third (Barley, 2010). Research should progress in the third dimension regardless of the untidy and unaesthetic nature of the reality, as organizations have influenced the sociocultural context substantially. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the third dimension by arguing that institutional bricolage characterizes the process by which individuals and organizations change institutions to fulfil their purposes, be it changing the institutions, building a market or protesting the constraints imposed upon them. Institutional bricolage is the strategy, mentality and philosophy for grassroots heroes who have no political power but are still ambitious to have their voices heard and hence influence the change from the lower strata. The ideas in this paper are informed by the experience of China's futures market, where the researcher participated as a strategy manager for about a year. The organization in question is a regional exchange that previously had no place in China's official market structure and became legitimized as the outcome of a regulatory crackdown. This thesis, therefore, uncovers the underexplored part of China's financial market, the regional exchanges, and sheds light on China's institutional change.

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No description available.

This research investigates the institutional implications of co-production as a strategy for development. The study is located within international debates on global development targets beyond 2015 and how cities of the Global South meet the challenges of urbanisation and informality. With forecasts indicating the continuing growth of urban populations, there is an urgent need to consider how governments, working collaboratively with communities, meet the burgeoning demand for housing and basic services and create the institutions necessary for sustainable urban development. Co-production is examined empirically through an embedded case study with the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation, its partner NGO Dialogue on Shelter Trust and the City of Harare Council. The research traces how co-productive relations have evolved between these stakeholders over the period 1997 to 2013. Co-production is considered as a mediating function that supports the creation of spaces for dialogue and problem-solving in complex urban environments. Drawing on sociological institutional theory, the thesis examines the implications of co-productive working on the discursive representation of people in poverty and the institutionalised practices of the state toward low income communities. The research finds that the organisational and deliberative processes associated with co-production are formative: contributing to the efficacy of low income communities and the state to address housing and basic service needs. The thesis reports firstly that community mobilisation has a significant role in bringing together the financial and human resources needed to contribute to co-production. More importantly mobilisation provides the social infrastructure needed to create agential communities. Secondly, where organised communities are involved in the governance of development projects, there is an enhanced capacity to problem solve, which galvanises state support for progressive policies. Thirdly, the research in Harare identified that processes and practices of co-production stimulate adaptation of institutional arrangements. These gain significance over time as they accumulate to affect discourse, epistemic practice and lead to small scale institutional change. The research confirms the potential significance of co-production for sustainable urban development. For communities, co-production serves to shift their subjectivity within existing institutional configurations; creating the potential to act outside of normatively defined roles. For the state, co-production creates an opportunity to establish spaces of deliberation that provide an infusion of resources and can bolster failing legitimacy. However, evidence from Harare also underlines that co-production is contextually defined and adaptive change is fragile in the face of stronger forces of politics and elite interests.

Researchers and k-12 practitioners have been struggling with inequity and diversity issues for the past four decades. These struggles have produced multiple philosophies, theoretical perspectives and educational approaches—each with strengths and limitations. The various approaches to addressing diversity indirectly and implicitly address, but have not managed, the systemic changes necessary for education to be socially just. Ideally, all diversity approaches should result in academic achievement and social change—the goals of social justice education. Past research has mainly focused on crisis intervention strategies or on meeting individually-based needs rather than on systemic practices and strategies at the school or district level. Toward this end, the purpose of this study was to explore how social justice goals are manifested in one school. The specific objectives were as follows: 1. Explore how the different members of the school community describe or define social justice. 2. Examine what current programs the participants believe support social justice-related goals. 3. Investigate current practices the participants believe to be socially just. This qualitative case study used interviews, document review and observations of administrators and teachers at the research site (Middle School). This study was designed to be exploratory in nature. Through the syntheses of the literature, I developed a tri-focal lens framework for social justice education which I use as an analytic tool. From the analysis, I offer a description of Middle School’s efforts to implement social justice goals. The findings of this study indicate that implementing social justice education theory in real contexts is a highly complex and evolutionary process, but not impossible. The purpose of this study never intended to establish a privileged binary of theory over practice, but rather I set out to explore the complexity of the intersections—the convergences and divergences of theory and practice. And, as is usually the case when moving between theory and practice, the study reveals the necessary trade offs and unintended consequences of well-intended decisions.