Institutional Dynamics in International Organizations: Lessons from the Recruitment Procedures of the European External Action Service

In: Organization studies: an international multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of organizations, organizing, and the organized in and between societies, Volume 35, Issue 12, p. 1793-1811

Abstract

This article examines how organizational designs develop by proposing a novel theoretical framework that views organizational change as resulting from a dialectic process between interpretive agents. The key claim is that existing formal procedures (such as recruitment processes, our empirical focal point) are subject to involved actors' interpretive efforts. This results in a bargaining situation based on the interpretations of the principal actors, which may induce a feedback loop whereby the original procedures are amended. The empirical relevance of the theoretical argument is illustrated via a case study of the hiring procedures in the European External Action Service.