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Reversals of Capacity: Norms, Culture, and Institutional Disruption

Author

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  • Goldstein, Daniel A. N.

    (University of Oslo)

Abstract

In recent years, leaders in a number of nations have undermined their public sector's capacity to deliver on its core goals. To understand this interference, it is necessary to examine the formal and informal organizational dynamics at play within bureaucracies. Considering a widely-applicable generalized organization, a formal model outlines how a leader may augment the career incentives of supervisors and lower-level workers, which shifts the alignment of policy with an organization's central mission. While hierarchy may amplify disruption, organizational culture can coalesce as a norm facilitating resistance to extreme shifts, thereby stabilizing long-term mission-compliance. Yet, should disruption lead to an exodus of mission-driven employees, durable reversals of an organization's capacity to fulfill its aims may ensue. The model highlights three trajectories disrupted organizations follow: temporary reversal, erosion, and resistance. Implications are considered for public sector institutions and international organizations as well as for the study of bureaucratic and state capacities.

Suggested Citation

  • Goldstein, Daniel A. N., 2022. "Reversals of Capacity: Norms, Culture, and Institutional Disruption," OSF Preprints ypshr_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ypshr_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ypshr_v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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