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Governing the gap : Forging safe science through relational regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Ruthanne Huising

    (EM - EMLyon Business School)

  • Susan S. Silbey

Abstract

Designed to close the ubiquitous gap between law on the books and law in action, management systems locate the standard setting and implementation of regulation within the regulated organization itself. Despite efforts to more closely couple aspirations and performance, the gap re-emerges because the exigencies of practical action exceed the capacity of system prescriptions to anticipate and contain them. Drawing on data from a six-year ethnographic study of the creation and implementation of an environment, health, and safety management system, this article identifies relational regulation as the approach used by front-line managers to govern the gap: keeping organizational activities within an acceptable range of variation close to regulatory specifications. We identify four practices - narrating the gap, inquiring without constraint, integrating pluralistic accounts, and crafting pragmatic accommodations - and three conditions under which actors may develop a sociological orientation to enact relational regulation. Overall, the article concludes that the mechanism for assuring compliance resides in the apprehension of relational interdependencies rather than the management system per se.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruthanne Huising & Susan S. Silbey, 2011. "Governing the gap : Forging safe science through relational regulation," Post-Print hal-02311930, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02311930
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Susan Perkins, 2014. "Cross‐national variations in industry regulation: A factor analytic approach with an application to telecommunications," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 149-163, March.
    2. Steven J. Kahl & Brayden G. King & Greg Liegel, 2016. "Occupational Survival Through Field-Level Task Integration: Systems Men, Production Planners, and the Computer, 1940s–1990s," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(5), pages 1084-1107, October.
    3. Tampe, Maja, 2021. "Turning rules into practices: An inside-out approach to understanding the implementation of sustainability standards," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    4. Susan S. Silbey, 2011. "The sociological citizen: Pragmatic and relational regulation in law and organizations," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, March.
    5. Ruthanne Huising & Susan S. Silbey, 2021. "Accountability infrastructures: Pragmatic compliance inside organizations," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 40-62, November.
    6. Błażej Koczetkow & Andrzej Klimczuk, 2022. "The Context of Public Policy on the Sharing Economy," Springer Books, in: Vida Česnuitytė & Andrzej Klimczuk & Cristina Miguel & Gabriela Avram (ed.), The Sharing Economy in Europe, chapter 0, pages 41-64, Springer.
    7. Garry Gray & Benjamin van Rooij, 2021. "Regulatory disempowerment: How enabling and controlling forms of power obstruct citizen‐based regulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 800-821, July.
    8. Helle Ørsted Nielsen & Vibeke Lehmann Nielsen, 2023. "Different encounter behaviors: Businesses in encounters with regulatory agencies," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 61-82, January.
    9. Vida Česnuitytė & Bori Simonovits & Andrzej Klimczuk & Bálint Balázs & Cristina Miguel & Gabriela Avram, 2022. "The State and Critical Assessment of the Sharing Economy in Europe," Springer Books, in: Vida Česnuitytė & Andrzej Klimczuk & Cristina Miguel & Gabriela Avram (ed.), The Sharing Economy in Europe, chapter 0, pages 387-403, Springer.
    10. Sharique Hasan & John-Paul Ferguson & Rembrand Koning, 2015. "The Lives and Deaths of Jobs: Technical Interdependence and Survival in a Job Structure," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1665-1681, December.
    11. Gokce Basbug & Ayn Cavicchi & Susan S. Silbey, 2023. "Rank Has Its Privileges: Explaining Why Laboratory Safety Is a Persistent Challenge," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 571-587, May.
    12. Ruthanne Huising & Susan S. Silbey, 2013. "Constructing Consequences for Noncompliance," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 649(1), pages 157-177, September.
    13. Ebru Kayaalp, 2012. "Torn in translation: An ethnographic study of regulatory decision‐making in Turkey," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 225-241, June.
    14. Jodi L. Short, 2021. "The politics of regulatory enforcement and compliance: Theorizing and operationalizing political influences," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 653-685, July.
    15. Simona Giorgi & Massimo Maoret & Edward J. Zajac, 2019. "On the Relationship Between Firms and Their Legal Environment: The Role of Cultural Consonance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 803-830, July.
    16. Natasha Iskander & Nichola Lowe, 2021. "Turning Rules into Resources: Worker Enactment of Labor Standards and Why It Matters for Regulatory Federalism," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(5), pages 1258-1282, October.
    17. Steven Samford, 2015. "Innovation and public space: The developmental possibilities of regulation in the global south," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(3), pages 294-308, September.
    18. Carol A. Heimer, 2013. "Resilience in the Middle," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 649(1), pages 139-156, September.
    19. Christine Parker, 2013. "Twenty years of responsive regulation: An appreciation and appraisal," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(1), pages 2-13, March.
    20. Ruthanne Huising, 2014. "The Erosion of Expert Control Through Censure Episodes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 1633-1661, December.
    21. Suzanne Rutz & Dinah Mathew & Paul Robben & Antoinette de Bont, 2017. "Enhancing responsiveness and consistency: Comparing the collective use of discretion and discretionary room at inspectorates in England and the Netherlands," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 81-94, March.
    22. Palmer, Mark & Toral, Inci & Truong, Yann & Lowe, Fiona, 2022. "Institutional pioneers and articulation work in digital platform infrastructure-building," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 930-945.
    23. Česnuitytė, Vida & Klimczuk, Andrzej & Miguel, Cristina & Avram, Gabriela (ed.), 2022. "The Sharing Economy in Europe: Developments, Practices, and Contradictions," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 249157, December.

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