Konstruktion av förnyelse i organisationer

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to generate a theory of renewal in organizations. In modern society, characterized by the idea of progress, renewal has become an axiomatic assumption behind organizational existence. From an institutional perspective, the continuous search for new organizational forms and practises can be described as a process of imitation. The thesis acknowledges renewal as a process of institutional construction, occurring locally in organizations. A field study of a major change program in a public service broadcasting corporation visualizes the process whereby an organization’s established existence, identity and practise are called into question. The description recognizes an emerging conflict between actors holding different views of the organization. The field study is further interpreted through a comparative analysis of four existing case studies, focusing on renewal processes in different organizations. In conclusion, renewal is described as a process of redefining the organization´s relation to an institutional environment, and to a past constructed as being in continuity or in discontinuity with the present. Events, situations and activities are periodized into epochs forming the organization’s tradition. In defining the organization as part of a relevant institutional environment, an organizational field is constructed. By a process of translation, ideals of the organizational field are constructed as local practises in the organization. Different actors and translations, referring to various organizational fields, challenge each other in defining the organization and its identity. In a continuous creation of an organizational identity, renewal is the process whereby the identity is being questioned or changed.