Lean Enough: Institutional Logics of Best Practice and Managerial Satisficing in American Manufacturing:

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

MattVidal¹ 

关键词: aspiration levels;    empowerment;    fordism;    institutional logics;    lean management;    learning routines;    managerial cognition;    postfordism;    satisficing;    technical inefficiency;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2378023117736949

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

Rational choice theory has been widely criticized for its unrealistic assumptions that individuals have perfect information and computer-like information processing capability, which are used to maximize utility. Sociological institutionalism and the behavioral theory of the firm have developed complementary alternatives. I combine the two into a single model of information processing. Institutional logics are central to top-down (schema-driven) processes that focus attention and guide action. Satisficing—settling for good enough based on a given aspiration level—is critical to bottom-up (feedback-driven) information processing. Here I show that two practices associated with the postfordist logic of the capitalist firm—lean production and worker empowerment—are deeply institutionalized as best practice in the American manufacturing field. Based on interviews with 109 individuals in 31 firms, I demonstrate how moderate aspiration levels and conceptual schemas associated with formerly dominant fordist institutional logics both function to limit the adoption of best practice.

【 授权许可】

CC BY