Swimming in a Sea of Shame: Incorporating Emotions into Explanations of Institutional Reproduction and Change

We theorize the role in institutional processes of what we call the shame nexus, a set of shame-related constructs: felt shame, systemic shame, sense of shame, and episodic shaming. As a discrete emotion, felt shame signals to a person that a social bond is at risk and catalyzes a fundamental motivation to preserve valued bonds. We conceptualize systemic shame as a form of disciplinary power, animated by persons’ sense of shame, a mechanism of ongoing intersubjective surveillance and self-regulation. We theorize how the duo of the sense of shame and systemic shame drives the self-regulation that underpins persons’ conformity to institutional prescriptions and institutional reproduction. We conceptualize episodic shaming as a form of juridical power used by institutional guardians to elicit renewed conformity and reassert institutional prescriptions. We also explain how episodic shaming may have unintended effects, including institutional disruption and recreation, when it triggers sensemaking among targets and observers that can lead to the reassessment of the appropriateness of institutional prescriptions or the value of social bonds. We link the shame nexus to three broad categories of institutional work

Mobile applications as carriers of institutional pressures:a case of the Finnish taxi industry

Abstract While the worldwide market expansion of Uber has raised controversy, Uber has also received praise for its mobile phone app. Its many features — taxi ordering, pricing, real-time location information, paying, and service evaluation — have provided significant customer value. When Uber entered Finland in November 2014, few other taxi apps were available. Between 2014 and 2018, this shortage of taxi apps turned into an abundance, with many companies introducing their own taxi apps. By leaning on institutional theory, and more specifically by applying coercive, mimetic and normative pressures as a lens, we provide an explanation for why three Finnish taxi apps now resemble Uber in some features, whereas they differ in others. Based on our interviews, we can explain the present-day differences between these apps by coercive and normative pressures in the institutional environment of the Finnish taxi industry. We contribute to the IT and institutionalization research stream by illustrating how mobile applications as IT artefacts can be seen as carriers of institutional pressures materializing in the features they provide

Housing support workers as equilibrists between instrumentality and situation : a qualitative study in congregated housings for people with smi

Community-based psychiatry as an arena for studying work efforts is relatively unexplored. The professional role of a housing support worker (HSW) in congregated supported housings for people with severe mental illness (SMI) is fairly new. The role has emerged due to major changes in Swedish mental care and services. Our aim was to describe the work experiences of HSWs and to understand the conditions provided when work assignments are being constructed. By doing this we provide an important piece of the puzzle in understanding the processes in contemporary congregated supported housings for people with SMI. Four focus group interviews were conducted and included 25 participants. Four different facilities of congregated supported housings for people with SMI were represented in the material. The interpretation of the material was inspired by a constructionist approach. The work of an HSW is experienced as complex and ambiguous. Together with different significant actors (including objects), the HSWs are negotiating the content of the responsibilities. Thus, different actors help co-construct the work content. Furthermore, the HSWs are caught between two different logics, one that is related to a complex practice and one that is related to instrumental and routine-based ideas. The complex emotional work of an HSW is often not supported by the principles of the organization. The findings can be helpful when organizing the work in congregated supported housings for people with SMI. This paper highlights the importance of bridging the gap between organizational demands and expectations and the individual preconditions and basic needs

Working conditions, health and productivity among dentists in Swedish public dental care - a prospective study during a 5-year period of rationalisation

In recent decades, comprehensive rationalisations have been implemented in public dentistry in Sweden. How rationalisations affect working conditions, health and production from a long-term perspective has been poorly investigated. This study aims to analyse changes and associations in dentists' working conditions, health and productivity during a 5-year period. In 2003 and 2008, 65 dentists responded to questionnaires measuring work conditions and health. Treatment times for patients and productivity were tracked in electronic registers. Paired t-tests showed that the number of treated adult patients per dentist increased, and perceived physical working conditions improved while perceived work control and leadership deteriorated. Structural equation modelling showed that physical factors were important for health and productivity. When assessing risks in the work environment, there is a need to understand the interaction of effects on working conditions and health due to rationalisations so as to increase the sustainability of production systems. Practioner Summary: Dentistry in Sweden has undergone considerable change. Questionnaire surveys with dentists, undertaken in 2003 and 2008, found that the present rationalisations resulted in improved perceived physical working conditions. Aspects of the psychosocial working environment had deteriorated, however. This is a concern as health and workability are important for workplace efficiency

The Academic Contract : From Simply a metaphor to Technology

The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the ontological assumptions that underlie the idea of a contract in Academic Capitalism. Far from being “simply a metaphor”, there are now concrete examples of real contracts in Swedish universities, which we here designate “academic contracts”. In investigating the perceived function of academic contracts, we will try to answer this fundamental question: For which problem, in what conception, is signing a contract between a student and an academic teacher a solution? By analysing four existing academic contracts from Swedish universities through the lens of a very influential economic theory of the nature and function of contracts, New Institutional Economics (NIE), we will argue that the implementation of academic contracts is totally at odds with the Humboldtian tradition and the classic university. Our contention is that the introduction of academic contracts does not facilitate, but rather undermines, the academic teaching and learning process