PRACTICE, SUBSTANCE AND HISTORY: REFRAMING INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS
- Alistair Mutch⇑
Nottingham Business School, Nottingham trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Correspondence: Alistair Mutch, Email: alistair.mutch@ntu.ac.uk
Abstract
The characterization by Roger Friedland of institutional logics as a combination of substance and practices opens the door to a more complex reading of their influence on organizational life. His focus suggests attention to feelings and belief as much as cognition and choice. This article uses history to develop these ideas by paying attention to the perennial features of our embodied relations with the world and other persons. Historical work draws our attention to neglected domains of social life, such as play, which can have profound impacts on organizations. The study of history suggests that such institutions have a long run conditioning influence that calls into question accounts that stress individual agential choice and action in bringing about change. Analytical narratives of the emergence of practices can provide the means to combine the conceptual apparatus of organization theory with the attention to temporality of history.
- Received September 10, 2015.
- Revision received May 9, 2017.
- Accepted May 12, 2017.
Organizational History Network 
Just to add that in my acknowledgments I say “Participation in the events organized by the standing working group on organizational history at the colloquia of the European Group for Organization Studies has helped shape my approach; my thanks to the participants over the year and, especially, the organizers.” It’s good to be able to acknowledge the valuable role this group has played over the years. I remember Matthias Kipping, in one of our sessions, challenging us to get our work into ‘mainstream’ debates; I trust this is a good response to that challenge (and that others will follow!)
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