The Role of Competing Rationalities in Institutional Change

Abstract

Reporting on a longitudinal case study of the introduction of business planning and performance measures in cultural organizations, this article uses Weber's identification of types of rationality as a means to illuminate institutional and organizational change. The study illustrates how conflict that accompanies change coalesces around different dimensions of rationality—substantive, practical, theoretical, and instrumental—that inform organization members’ understandings of organizational and professional identity and management practices.