Thesis advisor: Ted Youn / This study is about access for low-income students at an elite boarding school. As "feeder schools" to elite colleges and universities, elite boarding schools play a significant role in determining which students will be in the upper class in America; however, little is known about the history of low-income students at these schools. The purpose of this study is to examine the history of access at one elite boarding school through the frameworks of organizational saga and institutional theory to enhance understanding of how the concepts of access and opportunity at elite institutions have developed over time. Employing a historical, organizational case study approach, this study uses archival research, document review, and interviews with school leaders to construct a developmental history of Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts. Findings from data collection and analysis revealed a profound organizational saga oriented towards access that has guided Phillips Academy through its development. Phillips Academy's powerful organizational saga of access is embraced by senior leaders, faculty, and alumni, and has deepened their commitment to the historical traditions of the institution. This organizational saga allowed the school to survive and thrive, despite major changes in its organizational field over the last century. By fostering deep commitment among multiple actors throughout the institution's history, Phillips Academy's organizational saga has become a dominant influence in its organizational decision-making. This research extends Burton Clark's (1970) concept of organizational saga to the concept of organizational fields, and explores the interaction of a strong organizational saga with an institution's organizational field. It contributes to the literature on elite boarding schools, and enriches that of elite colleges and universities by better understanding their historic "feeder schools." It also contributes to our understanding of social production, reproduction, and mobility in the United States. Implications for theory and elite boarding schools, colleges, and universities are discussed, along with calls for further research. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

Crowdfunding is an online fundraising technique, where individuals or groups ask for contributions from a large number of people, i.e. “the crowd”. Crowdfunding first appeared in 2003 and has doubled its financial scope every year since 2011. Yet, very little is known about it, especially from a societal perspective. In this thesis I have attempted to understand how the organizations surrounding crowdfunding have structured themselves into an organizational filed, and also how “the crowd” might have granted this field special characteristics. This since “the crowd” is an element not earlier taken into consideration when studying field emergence. I have conducted a content analysis with data from 170 crowdfunding platforms and 190 media articles. I found that several events coincided in 2009 and opened up for the emergence of the crowdfunding field, and also that the understanding of crowdfunding’s purpose has shifted since 2003, from culture projects to start-ups. Regarding the special characteristic of the field it seems like the online nature enabled a fierce structuration pace, and also that “the crowd” constitutes an entity that cannot be captured by our traditional understanding of fields. The results suggest that when “the crowd” takes on functions in a field, the functions become invisible, and this has implications for future research regarding organizational fields.

O ambiente de gerenciamento de projetos com o envolvimento de múltiplos atores, no âmbito da administração pública, mostra-se muitas vezes confuso, com sobreposição de papéis, transformando-se num espaço de disputa de múltiplos interesses. Este trabalho analisa o ambiente de projetos da Codevasf sob a ótica da teoria institucional e do conceito de campo organizacional como arena funcionalmente específica, e relaciona a configuração do campo com alterações estruturais da organização. Para tanto, foi selecionado como recorte o projeto de revitalização da bacia hidrográfica do rio São Francisco, onde foi feito o mapeamento do campo organizacional, considerando os atores envolvidos direta e indiretamente no projeto. Em seguida, foi analisada a influência do campo organizacional desse projeto específico na estrutura organizacional da Codevasf. Foi realizada uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, com uso da estratégia do estudo de caso, utilizando-se de pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e de campo, onde a coleta de dados se deu por meio dos instrumentos de análise documental, observação e entrevistas. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam vetores de conflito, cooperação e dependência dentro do campo organizacional, cujo desenho impacta a estrutura formal e informal da Codevasf / The project management environment where many participants coexist within the public administration, is often confused, with overlapping roles, becoming a space of dispute of multiples interests. This work analyzes Codevasf\'s project environment from the perspective of institutional theory and the concept of organizational field as a functionally specific arena, and relates the configuration of the field with structure changes of the organization. In order to develop the analysis, the project to revitalize the São Francisco river basin was selected as a cut-off, where the organizational field was drawn, considering the actors involved directly and indirectly in the project. Next, the influence of the organizational field of this specific project on the organizational structure of Codevasf was analyzed. The nature of research was qualitative, using the case study strategy, using bibliographical, documentary and field research, where data collection was done through documental analysis tools, observation and interviews. The results of the research indicate vectors of conflict, cooperation and dependence within the organizational field, whose design impacts the formal and informal structure of Codevasf

Este estudo teve como objeto a pré-institucionalização da Enfermagem profissional na cidade do Recife, Pernambuco, num dado campo organizacional, cujos antecedentes remontam às práticas oriundas das formas de organização hospitalar e das formas de organização escolar, expressas nos discursos dos agentes, tanto no campo da saúde como no da educação. Trata-se de estudo histórico-social, cujo recorte temporal compreende o período de 1922 a 1938, sendo o marco inicial o lançamento da pedra fundamental do Hospital do Centenário, ambiente institucional do estudo. O marco final ocorre com a sua desapropriação. A pesquisa apóia-se principalmente em fontes primárias, consultando-se periódicos e documentos de importantes acervos institucionais: Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Recife, Arquivo Público Jordão Emerenciano, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Arquivo Nacional, Biblioteca Pública de Pernambuco, Biblioteca Nacional, Academia Santa Gertrudes, Memorial de Medicina, Academia de Medicina, Mosteiro de São Bento de Olinda, Faculdade de Enfermagem Nossa Senhora das Graças da Universidade de Pernambuco e Departamento de Enfermagem da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Utilizou-se também depoimentos de informantes chave, como o da ex-aluna da Primeira Turma da Faculdade de Enfermagem Nossa Senhora das Graças. A teoria institucional e o pensamento de Pierre Bourdieu foram os referenciais teóricos do estudo. Os achados apontam para um campo organizacional emergente, visto a partir do Hospital do Centenário, além da chegada ao Recife de enfermeiras alemãs. Contudo, não se dá a criação de uma Escola para Enfermeiras como era esperado, pois os valores e as crenças dos agentes não foram compartilhados durante todo o período estudado, juntamente com as bases cognitivas e normativas necessárias na formação do campo organizacional. O contexto delineado percorre um período entre guerras, compreendendo, a Primeira e Segunda Repúblicas e início do Estado Novo. No campo emergente, nota-se a predominância de um modelo médico sanitário, com ênfase na Educação Sanitária. Na formação do campo organizacional da Enfermagem, foi possível destacar a luta dos agentes no campo da saúde e educação, sendo visível a diversidades de escolas, sobressaindo-se a ênfase nos cursos para visitadoras de saúde pública, o que leva à apreensão das disputas também existentes no campo da Saúde Pública e Hospitalar. Não menos importante foi o foco envolvendo a Igreja e o Estado, os quais irão dominar a luta pelo domínio do capital simbólico, definido pelas relações de forças entre dois agentes, que exercerão nítida influência na criação da futura Escola para Enfermeiras, nos idos de 1945. Nesse ínterim serão as Visitadoras de Saúde Pública e/ou Educadoras Sanitárias ou Educadoras de Higiene, que atuarão criando e dando forma às bases precursoras da Enfermagem na cidade do Recife (Pernambuco) / This study addresses the preinstitutionalization of professional Nursing in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, in a given organizational field. Its antecedents go back to the practice originated in the hospital and school organization forms, expressed in the discourse of agents in the health and education spheres. We carried out a social-historical study of the period from 1922 to 1938. The initial boundary is the cornerstone of the Hospital do Centenário, which constitutes the institutional environment for this study, and the final boundary its expropriation. The research is mainly based on primary sources, consulting journals and documents from important institutional collections: Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Recife, Public Archives Jordão Emerenciano, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, National Archives, Pernambuco Public Library, National Library, Santa Gertrudes Academy, Memorial de Medicina, Academia de Medicina, São Bento de Olinda convent, Nossa Senhora das Graças Faculty of Nursing - University of Pernambuco and Department of Nursing, Federal University of Pernambuco. We also used testimonies by key informants, such as a former student in the first class group of Nossa Senhora das Graças Faculty of Nursing. The theoretical frameworks for the study were institutional theory and Pierre Bourdieu?s thinking. The findings point towards an emerging organizational field, from the perspective of the Hospital do Centenário, besides the arrival of German nurses to Recife. However, against expectations, a School for Nurses is not created, as the agents? values and beliefs were not shared across the entire study period, together with the cognitive and normative bases needed in the formation of the organizational field. The outlined context covers an interwar period, including the First and the Second Republic and the beginning of the Estado Novo. In the emerging field, the predominance of a medical health model is noticeable, with an emphasis on health education. In the formation of Nursing?s organizational field, the fight between health and education agents deserves special attention, which was visible to a wide range of schools. In this respect, the emphasis on courses for public health visitants stands out. This reveals the disputes that also existed in Public Health and in the Hospital sphere. No less important was the focus involving the Church and the State. These will dominate the struggle for the mastery of symbolic capital, defined by the power relations between two agents, which will exert a clear influence on the creation of the future School for Nurses, in 1945. In this interval, it will be the Public Health Visitants and/or Health Educators or Hygiene Educators who will act, creating and molding the bases that preceded Nursing in Recife (Pernambuco)

This study analyzes the process of the diffusion of structures and practices in an organizational setting using the theory of new institutionalism as the theoretical basis. The explanation of the diffusion process has been subject to major variations due to epistemological and ontological reasons. Former theories of organizational reality looked at organizations as their sole units of analyses and accounted for the diffusion process accordingly / however, today, it is widely observed and accepted that organizational behavior is shaped by historical and environmental factors. This investigation aims to provide evidence for how certain structures and practices diffuse through organizational settings while others do not. Consequently, a qualitative design was conducted to explore the diffusion process in the case of the Council of Higher Education, a high-level bureaucratic organization in Turkey. Fifteen key informants, present or former university rectors and members of the Council, were interviewed and the accumulated data were analyzed qualitatively. Also, the findings were matched and supported with relevant documents analyzed additionally. The findings drawn from the investigation indicate that the emergence of the Council implicates a pattern visible throughout the history of Turkish higher education. The Council is spotted as an important agent in redefining Turkish higher education and thus creating a new organizational field for it. Yet, highly dynamic and interactive face of today&rsquo / s higher education calls for reconsideration of the Council and its functions. A major conclusion that can be reached in this context is that the issue of legitimacy depends on the satisfaction of several demands and expectations at various levels. Therefore, even a formal and regulative organization, such as the Council of Higher Education is prone to the pressures of the organizational field it operates within and is called upon to redefine its structures and implementations accordingly in order to secure its legitimacy.

Social movement is the primary agency to enact social change, But, might not be achieved in a short time. After 1980s, the third sector in Taiwan has grown up quickly. Following different social movements, the sector has grown several organizational fields, such as environmental protection, the elderly welfare and the disable organizational fields. Reviewing the changes in organization fields above, they are enacted by social movement and organizations. The study focuses on ¡§non-profit disable organizational field¡¨ to discuss the change from ¡§handicapped¡¨ to ¡§disabled.¡¨ Furthermore, the new organizational form ¡§social enterprise¡¨ is emerging in this field recently. The study also explore the emerging process under the historical context in the field. Based on the institutional theory, The study focus on the contest of institutional logics in the field. Conducting the historical narrative approach, the study analysis archival material and interviews and divide the changing process in to 4 stages. The first stage (1949-1979) and second stage (1980-1990) were dominated by ¡§charity and relief¡¨ institutional logic. However, the social movements organized by the handicap were framing another new logic ¡§social model¡¨. In the third stage (1991-1998) the contest of two logics was much significant. Finally, the ¡§social model¡¨ logical won the contest and become the dominated logics in the forth stage (1999-2009). The study also revels that social enterprise is the product of new institutional logic. The study reveals ¡§social enterprise¡¨ is the by-product of institutional change in the non-profit disable organizational field. The study also discusses, following the institutional change, how the new actor introduce management model to change the disabled sheltered workshop becoming social enterprise.

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AngeloBinot.pdf: 1048556 bytes, checksum: 9078a685c051f0a71436f3742a7325c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / This work tries to comprehend, throw the prism of the Institutional Theory, the structural process of organizational field of cachaça¿s handicraft producers¿ from a Brazilian countryside region. The role of values and traditions on the determination of the structure and decision making on this industry are analyzed. It is necessary to research historic, economic and social facts, and confront them to the formation of Brazilian society to understand the field¿s formulation. An important aspect of this research is the mapping of isomorphic process and the comparison of the field¿s institutional degree, before and after the changes. It was noticed that the alteration on perception of Cachaça in the national market and the entrance of a new actor oriented by functional rationality are the major reasons for the mimetic changes on this field. As a contribution, this study confirms the applicability of Institutional Theory on analysis of specific fields and shows how this field has structured itself. / Neste estudo, procura-se entender, segundo o prisma da Teoria Institucional, o processo de estruturação do campo das organizações produtoras de cachaça artesanal em Bananal, interior do estado de São Paulo. São analisadas questões como a influência dos valores e tradições compartilhados pela sociedade na determinação da estrutura e tomada de decisão dos alambiques artesanais. Por isso, a base para se entender a formação deste campo é o levantamento histórico de fatores econômicos e sociais frente a características inerentes à formação da sociedade brasileira. Um dos focos dessa pesquisa está no mapeamento de processos isomórficos e na comparação do grau de institucionalização do campo antes e depois das mudanças. Acredita-se que a alteração da percepção do produto Cachaça no mercado interno e a entrada de um novo produtor orientado por características de racionalidade funcional tenham influenciado mudanças de cunho mimético neste campo, podendo-se também, utilizar os resultados deste estudo para corroborar a aplicação da Teoria Institucional na aplicação de análises de campos específicos.

Este estudo teve como objeto a pré-institucionalização da Enfermagem profissional na cidade do Recife, Pernambuco, num dado campo organizacional, cujos antecedentes remontam às práticas oriundas das formas de organização hospitalar e das formas de organização escolar, expressas nos discursos dos agentes, tanto no campo da saúde como no da educação. Trata-se de estudo histórico-social, cujo recorte temporal compreende o período de 1922 a 1938, sendo o marco inicial o lançamento da pedra fundamental do Hospital do Centenário, ambiente institucional do estudo. O marco final ocorre com a sua desapropriação. A pesquisa apóia-se principalmente em fontes primárias, consultando-se periódicos e documentos de importantes acervos institucionais: Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Recife, Arquivo Público Jordão Emerenciano, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Arquivo Nacional, Biblioteca Pública de Pernambuco, Biblioteca Nacional, Academia Santa Gertrudes, Memorial de Medicina, Academia de Medicina, Mosteiro de São Bento de Olinda, Faculdade de Enfermagem Nossa Senhora das Graças da Universidade de Pernambuco e Departamento de Enfermagem da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Utilizou-se também depoimentos de informantes chave, como o da ex-aluna da Primeira Turma da Faculdade de Enfermagem Nossa Senhora das Graças. A teoria institucional e o pensamento de Pierre Bourdieu foram os referenciais teóricos do estudo. Os achados apontam para um campo organizacional emergente, visto a partir do Hospital do Centenário, além da chegada ao Recife de enfermeiras alemãs. Contudo, não se dá a criação de uma Escola para Enfermeiras como era esperado, pois os valores e as crenças dos agentes não foram compartilhados durante todo o período estudado, juntamente com as bases cognitivas e normativas necessárias na formação do campo organizacional. O contexto delineado percorre um período entre guerras, compreendendo, a Primeira e Segunda Repúblicas e início do Estado Novo. No campo emergente, nota-se a predominância de um modelo médico sanitário, com ênfase na Educação Sanitária. Na formação do campo organizacional da Enfermagem, foi possível destacar a luta dos agentes no campo da saúde e educação, sendo visível a diversidades de escolas, sobressaindo-se a ênfase nos cursos para visitadoras de saúde pública, o que leva à apreensão das disputas também existentes no campo da Saúde Pública e Hospitalar. Não menos importante foi o foco envolvendo a Igreja e o Estado, os quais irão dominar a luta pelo domínio do capital simbólico, definido pelas relações de forças entre dois agentes, que exercerão nítida influência na criação da futura Escola para Enfermeiras, nos idos de 1945. Nesse ínterim serão as Visitadoras de Saúde Pública e/ou Educadoras Sanitárias ou Educadoras de Higiene, que atuarão criando e dando forma às bases precursoras da Enfermagem na cidade do Recife (Pernambuco) / This study addresses the preinstitutionalization of professional Nursing in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, in a given organizational field. Its antecedents go back to the practice originated in the hospital and school organization forms, expressed in the discourse of agents in the health and education spheres. We carried out a social-historical study of the period from 1922 to 1938. The initial boundary is the cornerstone of the Hospital do Centenário, which constitutes the institutional environment for this study, and the final boundary its expropriation. The research is mainly based on primary sources, consulting journals and documents from important institutional collections: Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Recife, Public Archives Jordão Emerenciano, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, National Archives, Pernambuco Public Library, National Library, Santa Gertrudes Academy, Memorial de Medicina, Academia de Medicina, São Bento de Olinda convent, Nossa Senhora das Graças Faculty of Nursing - University of Pernambuco and Department of Nursing, Federal University of Pernambuco. We also used testimonies by key informants, such as a former student in the first class group of Nossa Senhora das Graças Faculty of Nursing. The theoretical frameworks for the study were institutional theory and Pierre Bourdieu?s thinking. The findings point towards an emerging organizational field, from the perspective of the Hospital do Centenário, besides the arrival of German nurses to Recife. However, against expectations, a School for Nurses is not created, as the agents? values and beliefs were not shared across the entire study period, together with the cognitive and normative bases needed in the formation of the organizational field. The outlined context covers an interwar period, including the First and the Second Republic and the beginning of the Estado Novo. In the emerging field, the predominance of a medical health model is noticeable, with an emphasis on health education. In the formation of Nursing?s organizational field, the fight between health and education agents deserves special attention, which was visible to a wide range of schools. In this respect, the emphasis on courses for public health visitants stands out. This reveals the disputes that also existed in Public Health and in the Hospital sphere. No less important was the focus involving the Church and the State. These will dominate the struggle for the mastery of symbolic capital, defined by the power relations between two agents, which will exert a clear influence on the creation of the future School for Nurses, in 1945. In this interval, it will be the Public Health Visitants and/or Health Educators or Hygiene Educators who will act, creating and molding the bases that preceded Nursing in Recife (Pernambuco)

O ambiente de gerenciamento de projetos com o envolvimento de múltiplos atores, no âmbito da administração pública, mostra-se muitas vezes confuso, com sobreposição de papéis, transformando-se num espaço de disputa de múltiplos interesses. Este trabalho analisa o ambiente de projetos da Codevasf sob a ótica da teoria institucional e do conceito de campo organizacional como arena funcionalmente específica, e relaciona a configuração do campo com alterações estruturais da organização. Para tanto, foi selecionado como recorte o projeto de revitalização da bacia hidrográfica do rio São Francisco, onde foi feito o mapeamento do campo organizacional, considerando os atores envolvidos direta e indiretamente no projeto. Em seguida, foi analisada a influência do campo organizacional desse projeto específico na estrutura organizacional da Codevasf. Foi realizada uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, com uso da estratégia do estudo de caso, utilizando-se de pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e de campo, onde a coleta de dados se deu por meio dos instrumentos de análise documental, observação e entrevistas. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam vetores de conflito, cooperação e dependência dentro do campo organizacional, cujo desenho impacta a estrutura formal e informal da Codevasf / The project management environment where many participants coexist within the public administration, is often confused, with overlapping roles, becoming a space of dispute of multiples interests. This work analyzes Codevasf\'s project environment from the perspective of institutional theory and the concept of organizational field as a functionally specific arena, and relates the configuration of the field with structure changes of the organization. In order to develop the analysis, the project to revitalize the São Francisco river basin was selected as a cut-off, where the organizational field was drawn, considering the actors involved directly and indirectly in the project. Next, the influence of the organizational field of this specific project on the organizational structure of Codevasf was analyzed. The nature of research was qualitative, using the case study strategy, using bibliographical, documentary and field research, where data collection was done through documental analysis tools, observation and interviews. The results of the research indicate vectors of conflict, cooperation and dependence within the organizational field, whose design impacts the formal and informal structure of Codevasf

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the process of institutionalization and legitimization of development in Western Seridó (Rio Grande do Norte), and for that reason it was necessary to know and analyze the Organizational Field, the legitimation and the institutionalization process in the seven counties of Western Seridó. As far as methodology is concerned, we have used qualitative research and case study. The semistructured questionnaire and the interview were used as tools of research. Also, we have used research and documentary literature and direct observation. When defining the organizations to be researched, we sought those ones with a significant participation in development activities or being part of some forum or network of organizations dealing with the issues concerning the development in the semi-arid region. One approach used in order to define the participating organizations was to get an initial list from the Planning Board of Seridó region, which served as a basis to define the participating organizations. In this list, it was noticed that most organizations were in Caicó, an important town in that region. However, it was possible to do a research, at least on two leading organizations in the other six towns that make up the Western Seridó. As for data analysis, we have defined categories of analysis and, where necessary, we made use of content analysis. Among the results, it was noticed that West Seridó, despite being located in the Brazilian semi-arid region, a region with serious social, environmental and economic problems, has a good performance in areas such as health and education, reaching significant levels in FIRJAN rating of Municipal Development (IFDM). The employment and income rates were the lowest in every municipality in Western Seridó. Regarding the Organizational Field, it was noticed that there are internal (endogenous) and external (exogenous) organizations participating in this field. They are not always related directly, and the exogenous organizations manage to have great power to influence public policies and to achieve resources for the region, even with organizations linked to the federal government or foreign organizations. The coercitive Isomorphism appears with the economic power and the legal power of the organizations that control the use of resources, and the legality of organizations, the regulative and cognitive isomorphism are related to the local institutions and to the identity of the people who make up the organizations. At this point, by using the questionnaires, it became clear there was a dispute between the local traditional groups, connected to Colonels and the new organizations of civil society. Regarding the legitimacy, it was noticed that the identity of the people from Seridó is really present in organizations and local institutions, and places, values, rules and myths help to explain people´s point of view about the development, and how they perceive the organizations working with this subject. The identity of the people from Seridó is characterized by resistance to environmental adversity and by affection to things from the region. Taking the answers, we notice that the legitimacy of the organizations working with development is much associated with solutions to the most pressing issues and practices of the community, such as the ones related to health, education and employment. Finally, the term development is in process of institutionalization, even with characteristics of deinstitutionalization and pre-institutionalization, because the term development from the 70s until the present day was being overhauled and we can say that Seridó has passed through several experiences, not always successful, which eventually contributed to lacking a common definition about the meaning of development. / Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar o processo de institucionalização e a legitimação do desenvolvimento no Seridó Ocidental do Rio Grande do Norte. Para isso, foi necessário conhecer e analisar o campo organizacional, a legitimação e o processo de institucionalização nos sete municípios do Seridó Ocidental. Na metodologia, utilizou-se a pesquisa qualitativa e o estudo de caso. Como instrumentos de pesquisa, utilizaram-se o questionário semiestruturado e a entrevista. Também se fez uso da pesquisa bibliográfica e documental e da observação direta. Na definição das organizações a serem pesquisadas, buscou-se aquelas que tivessem uma significativa participação em ações de desenvolvimento ou que fizessem parte de algum fórum ou rede de organizações que articulassem as questões relativas ao desenvolvimento do semiárido. Uma das estratégias utilizadas para a definição das organizações participantes foi conseguir uma lista inicial com o Colegiado do Território da Cidadania do Seridó, que serviu de base para definir as organizações participantes. Nessa lista, percebeu-se que a maioria das organizações estava em Caicó, cidade polo regional. Entretanto, foi possível realizar a pesquisa com pelo menos dois líderes de organizações nas outras seis cidades que compõem o Seridó Ocidental. Para análise dos dados, foram definidas categorias de análise e, quando necessário, fez-se uso da análise de conteúdo. Entre os resultados, pôde-se observar que o Seridó Ocidental, mesmo estando localizado no semiárido brasileiro, uma região com graves problemas sociais, ambientais e econômicos, apresenta um bom desempenho em aspectos como saúde e educação, alcançando índices significativos no Índice Firjan de Desenvolvimento Municipal (IFDM). O indicador Emprego e Renda foi o de mais baixo índice em todos os municípios do Seridó Ocidental. No que se refere ao campo organizacional, nota-se que existem organizações internas (endógenas) e externas (exógenas) que participam desse campo, elas nem sempre se relacionam diretamente, e as organizações exógenas conseguem ter grande poder para influenciar políticas públicas e para conseguir recursos para a região, inclusive com organizações ligadas ao Governo Federal ou organizações estrangeiras. O isomorfismo coercitivo aparece através do poder econômico e do poder legal das organizações que controlam o uso de recursos, e a legalidade das organizações, o isomorfismo regulativo e o cognitivo estão relacionados com as instituições locais e com a identidade das pessoas que compõem as organizações. Nesse ponto, através dos questionários, ficou aparente uma disputa entre os grupos tradicionais locais, ligados aos ditos coronéis, e as novas organizações da sociedade civil. Com relação à legitimidade, nota-se que a identidade do seridoense é bem presente nas organizações, as instituições locais, através dos valores, das regras e dos mitos, ajudam a explicar o ponto de vista das pessoas sobre o desenvolvimento, e como elas percebem as organizações que trabalham com esse tema. A identidade do seridoense é marcada pela resistência às adversidades ambientais e pelo apego às coisas do lugar. Nota-se, nas respostas, que a legitimidade das organizações que trabalham com o desenvolvimento está muita associada à solução das questões mais urgentes e práticas da comunidade, como, por exemplo, as questões ligadas à saúde, à educação e ao emprego. Por fim, o termo desenvolvimento está em processo de institucionalização, inclusive com características de desinstitucionalização e de pré-institucionalização, pois da década de 70 até os dias de hoje o termo foi sendo reformulado e pode-se dizer que o Seridó passou por várias experiências, nem sempre exitosas, que acabaram contribuindo para não se ter uma definição comum do que seja desenvolvimento.