A World of Standards

by Brunsson, Nils; Jacobsson, Bengt

• ISBN13: 9780199256952
• ISBN10: 0199256950
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the modern world there is no shortage of people who know what is best for others. Self-appointed experts, consultants, and organizations try to convince states, corporations, and individuals that they would be better off if they only followed some specific rules about what to do. These rules are presented as being voluntary and advisory. They are standards, not mandatory directives, and in modern life standards abound. Standards may concern what characteristics a telephone should have, how a company should report its financial transactions, how organizations should be managed, how states should treat their citizens, how children should be raised, and so forth. Even organizations as powerful as states and large corporations follow standards on how to organize, which policies to pursue, what kinds of services to provide, or how their products should be designed. Standards enable a higher degree of global order in the modern world than would exist without them. They facilitate coordination and cooperation even among people and organizations that are far apart. The authors believe that standardization is a much neglected area of social science -- an area that has by no means received the attention it deserves in view of its importance to society. This book seeks to redress the balance by providing an in-depth examination of a number of aspects of standardization, how it is formed, and what effects it has on the world in which we live.

Author Biography

Nils Brunsson is Professor of Management at the Stockholm School of Economics and Chairman of the Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (SCORE). He has held the City of Stockholm Chair in Management at the Stockholm School of Economics since 1986. He has authored or co-authored numerous articles and eighteen books in the field of organizations, including The Irrational Organization, The Organization of Hypocrisy, The Reforming Organization, and Organizing Organizations. Bengt Jacobsson is Professor of Management at the Stockholm School of Economics and works at the Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (SCORE). His research has focused primarily on organization theory and complex decision-making processes involving political organizations as well as companies. His current interest is transnational regulation, especially its consequences for states. He has published numerous books and articles.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
List of Contributors	x
The Contemporary Expansion of Standardization	1	(20)
Nils Brunsson
Bengt Jacobsson
Standardizers, standards and adopters	2	(5)
Perspectives on standardization	7	(3)
Standardization as regulation	10	(6)
Structure of the book	16	(5)
Part I Regulating by Standards
Organizations, Markets and Standardization	21	(19)
Nils Brunsson
Comparing organization, market and standardization	22	(6)
Normative communities	28	(1)
Mixed forms	29	(2)
Standardization as an alternative	31	(5)
Individualization, globalization, and standardization	36	(4)
Standardization and Expert Knowledge	40	(10)
Bengt Jacobsson
Rules as a store of expert knowledge	41	(2)
The scientific bases of standards	43	(1)
Standards as technical expert knowledge	44	(2)
Expert knowledge, the voluntary nature of standards, and responsibility	46	(2)
Standardization, expert knowledge, and the Cartesian heritage	48	(2)
Standardizing through Organization	50	(21)
Goran Ahrne
Nils Brunsson
Christina Garsten
Introduction	50	(3)
Three standard-based organizations	53	(1)
The creation of standard-based organizations	54	(5)
Recruiting members	59	(1)
Dissemination of standards through formal organization	60	(2)
Application and modification of standards	62	(4)
Standard-based organizations in a globalized world	66	(5)
Part II Producing and Distributing Standards
The Knowledge Base of Standards	71	(14)
Staffan Furusten
What is ISO 9000 and what does it provide?	71	(4)
Assumptions about organization: an interpretation of ISO 9000	75	(3)
Limited academic influence	78	(2)
The strong influence of popular management culture	80	(3)
Why research has not influenced the standard	83	(2)
Organizing the Process of Standardization	85	(15)
Kristina Tamm Hallstrom
A standards organization at work: TC 176	85	(3)
A catalogue of problems	88	(5)
Different principles of organization	93	(3)
Conflicts between different principles	96	(4)
Arenas as Standardizers	100	(14)
Kerstin Sahlin-Andersson
An arena serving as a standardizer	101	(2)
Standardization by editing	103	(5)
The organization and situation of the standardizer	108	(3)
Standardization: A way for the neutral arena to produce results	111	(3)
Selling Standards	114	(11)
Roger Henning
Standardizers and standards	115	(2)
The problem of persuasion	117	(1)
Arguments for standards	118	(7)
Part III Adopting Standards
Following Standards	125	(13)
Nils Brunsson
Bengt Jacobsson
Following standards by changing practice or presentation	127	(3)
Why follow standards?	130	(4)
How voluntary is the standard?	134	(4)
Standardization and Uniformity	138	(13)
Nils Brunsson
Processes that create uniformity	138	(4)
Uniformity and following standards	142	(7)
Achieving uniformity through standards	149	(2)
Standardization and Fashion Trends	151	(18)
Nils Brunsson
Fashions and fashion trends	152	(1)
Standardization as the origin of fashion trends	153	(2)
Fashion trends in organizational forms	155	(3)
A cropping-up model of organizational forms	158	(5)
Model dynamics	163	(3)
Interaction between reforms and standards	166	(2)
The range of applicability	168	(1)
The Pros and Cons of Standardization---An Epilogue	169	(6)
Nils Brunsson
Bengt Jacobsson
Why standards?	169	(2)
Arguments against standards and standardization	171	(1)
Standardization and the procrustean heritage	172	(3)
Bibliography	175	(10)
Index	185