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Abstract: This paper provides a figurational critique of one of the most dominant theoretical frames within organisation studies - institutional theory. Despite its status as the leading theoretical lens for explaining organisational change, institutional theorists continue to struggle with the so called agencystructure issue and remain divided in how to overcome it. Our primary criticisms concern the propensity to invoke or generate dualisms, the reliance on the sociological frames which sustain this, and the failure to engage in any comprehensive way with Elias's writings on this subject.
Keywords: Figurational theory, Elias, Institutional theory, Agency-structure, Organisational change
Introduction
To date the application of Elias's theoretical ideas and concepts to organisation studies has been relatively limited (Connolly 2015; Connolly, Dolan, 2011, 2013, 2017; Dopson 2001, 2005; Dopson, Waddington 1996; Newton 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010; van Iterson et alii 2002; van Iterson, Mastenbroek, Soeters 2001) and his influence marginal. This eschewing of Elias's approach is somewhat surprising given that organisational theorists have applied or co-opted the wider theoretical frames associated with sociologists such as Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu and Margaret Archer specifically in seeking to address the what is called the 'structure-agency' issue; a position we will return to in greater detail later in this article. Readers here will perhaps be rather familiar with an Eliasian approach. To that end, our aim here is not to merely summarise what we feel are relevant aspects of Elias's formulations to organisational studies, essentially retracing what has been comprehensively done before. Rather, the trajectory of this paper is more critical in orientation, providing a figurational reading and critique of a specific, though clearly dominant, strand of thinking and theory within the organisation studies literature on the subject of organisational change.
Critical comparisons have previously been made between figurational sociology and other theoretical approaches applied within organisation studies and the sociology of organisations. Tim Newton's (1999, 2001, 2003) work, in particular, has documented the symmetries and variances between a figurational approach and actor-network theory, labour process theory and a Foucauldian approach. Indeed, several of our own contributions in this field both overlaps and extends this by comparing figurational sociology with other network approaches, discursive approaches, path dependency theory (Connolly, Dolan 2017a; Dolan, Connolly (forthcoming)) and institutional theory (Connolly, Dolan 2013)....