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Perspective—Finding the Organization in Organizational Theory: A Meta-Theory of the Organization as a Social Actor

Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 60208
Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
b-king{at}kellogg.northwestern.edu
teppo.felin{at}byu.edu
dwhetten{at}byu.edu

Organization theory is a theory without a protagonist. Organizations are typically portrayed in organizational scholarship as aggregations of individuals, as instantiations of the environment, as nodes in a social network, as members of a population, or as a bundle of organizing processes. This paper hopes to highlight the need for understanding, explicating, and researching the enduring, noun-like qualities of the organization. We situate the organization in a broader social landscape by examining what is unique about the organization as a social actor. We propose two assumptions that underlie our conceptualization of organizations as social actors: external attribution and intentionality. We then highlight important questions and implications forming the core of a distinctively organizational analytical perspective.

Key Words: organization theory; social actors; sovereignty; responsibility; organizational identity; goals