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  • July – August 2011
  • Article
  • Organization Science

The Enabling Role of Social Position in Diverging from the Institutional Status Quo: Evidence from the U.K. National Health Service

By: Julie Battilana
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:18
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Abstract

This study examines the relationship between social position, both within the field and within the organization, and the likelihood of individual actors initiating organizational changes that diverge from the institutional status quo. I explore this relationship using data from 93 change projects conducted by clinical managers at the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. The results show social position, both within the field and within the organization, influences actors' likelihood to initiate two types of organizational change that diverge from the institutional status quo, namely, (1) changes that diverge from the institutionalized template of role division among organizations and (2) changes that diverge from the institutionalized template of role division among professional groups in a field. The findings indicate that these two types of divergent organizational change are likely to be undertaken by individual actors with different profiles in terms of social position within the field and the organization.

Keywords

Status And Position; Transformation; Organizational Change And Adaptation; Projects; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Relationships; Power And Influence; Health Industry; United Kingdom

Citation

Battilana, Julie. "The Enabling Role of Social Position in Diverging from the Institutional Status Quo: Evidence from the U.K. National Health Service." Organization Science 22, no. 4 (July–August 2011): 817–834.
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About The Author

Julie Battilana

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • January 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Terra Nova: A Social Business Trying to Unlock Land Rights for the Urban Poor in Brazil

    By: Julie Battilana, Ruth Costas, Marissa Kimsey and Priscilla Zogbi
    • 2019
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    Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators

    By: Julie Battilana, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis and Christian Seelos
    • 2019
    • Entreprise & société

    La poursuite conjointe d'objectifs sociaux et financiers dans les entreprises. L'entreprise sociale comme laboratoire d'étude des modes d'organisation hybrides

    By: Julie Battilana
More from the Author
  • Terra Nova: A Social Business Trying to Unlock Land Rights for the Urban Poor in Brazil By: Julie Battilana, Ruth Costas, Marissa Kimsey and Priscilla Zogbi
  • Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators By: Julie Battilana, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis and Christian Seelos
  • La poursuite conjointe d'objectifs sociaux et financiers dans les entreprises. L'entreprise sociale comme laboratoire d'étude des modes d'organisation hybrides By: Julie Battilana
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