Corporate scandal and the theory of the firm: Formulating the Contributions of Organizational Communication Studies

Management Communication Quarterly

Volumn 17, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 20-57

  Lee Ashcraft, Karen ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF UTAH   (United States)

Author keywords

constitutive communication; corporate scandal; practice theory; theory of the firm

Indexed keywords

EID: 84990342701     PISSN: 08933189     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0893318903253421     Document Type: Article

References (161)

1. Akst, D. (2002, July 7). Shocked by scandals? These are nothing! New York Times. Retrieved July 8, 2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
2. Alchian, A. A., & Demsetz, H. (1972). Production, information costs, and economic organization. American Economic Review, 62, 777-795.
3. Alvesson, M. (1990). Organization: From substance to image? Organization Studies, 11, 373-394.
4. Alvesson, M. (1993). Organizations as rhetoric: Knowledge-intensive firms and the struggle with ambiguity. Journal of Management Studies, 30, 997-1015.
5. Alvesson, M., & Lindkvist, L. (1993). Transaction costs, clans and corporate culture. Journal of Management Studies, 30, 427-451.
6. Anderson, P. (1999). Complexity theory and organization science. Organization Science, 10, 216-232.
7. Anderson, W. L. (2002). What brought down Enron? Retrieved February 18,2003, from http://www.mises.org
8. Ashcraft, K. L. (2002). Practical ambivalence and troubles in translation. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 113-117.
9. Ashcraft, K. L., & Allen, B. J. (2003). The racial foundation of organizational communication. Communication Theory, 13, 5-38.
10. Ashcraft, K. L., & Kedrowicz, A. (2002). Self-direction or social support? Nonprofit empowerment and the tacit employment contract of organizational communication studies. Communication Monographs, 69, 88-110.
11. Aune, J. A. (2001). Selling the free market: The rhetoric of economic correctness. New York: Guilford.
12. Barley, S. R., & Tolbert, P. S. (1997). Institutionalization and structuration: Studying the links between action and institution. Organization Studies, 18, 93-117.
13. Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99-120.
14. Barney, J. B. (1986). Organizational culture: Can it be a source of sustained competitive advantage? Academy of Management Review, 11, 656-665.
15. Barney, J. B. (1996). The resource-based theory of the firm. Organization Science, 7, 469.
16. Berle, A., & Means, G. (1932). The modern corporation and private property. New York: Macmillan.
17. Blau, P. M. (1963). The dynamics of bureaucracy (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
18. Blau, P. M., & Meyer, M. W. (1987). Bureaucracy in modern society (3rd ed.). New York: Random House.
19. Boden, D. (1994). The business of talk: Organizations in action. Cambridge, MA: Polity.
20. Bowie, N. E. (1991). The firm as a moral community. In R. M. Coughlin (Ed.), Morality, rationality, and efficiency: New perspectives on socio-economics(pp. 169-183). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharp.
21. Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational learning and communities-of- practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organization Science, 2, 40-57.
22. Browning, L. D. (1992). Lists and stories as organizational communication. Communication Theory, 2, 281-302.
23. Cadette, W. M. (2002, July 12). How stock options lead to scandal. New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
24. Cameron, K. S. (1984). The effectiveness of ineffectiveness. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (pp. 270-295). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
25. Cameron, K. S. (1986). Effectiveness as paradox: Consensus and conflict in conceptions of organizational effectiveness. Management Science, 32, 539-553.
26. Carse, J. P. (1986). Finite and infinite games. New York: Free Press.
27. Cheney, G. (1995). Democracy in the workplace: Theory and practice from the perspective of communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 23, 167-200.
28. Cheney, G., & Christensen, L. T. (2001). Organizational identity: Linkages between internal and external communication. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods (pp. 231-269). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
29. Child, J. (2002). The international crisis of confidence in corporations. Academy of Management Executive, 16(3), 145-147.
30. Coase, R. H. (1937). The nature of the firm. Economica, 4, 386-405.
31. Coase, R. H. (1960). The problem of social cost. The Journal of Law & Economics, 3, 1-44.
32. Colvin, G. (2002, July 8). Bamboozling: A field guide. Fortune, 146(1), 51.
33. Conner, K. R. (1991). A historical comparison of resource-based theory and five schools of thought within industrial economics: Do we have a new theory of the firm? Journal of Management, 17, 121-154.
34. Conner, K. R., & Prahalad, C. K. (1996). Resource based theory of the firm: Knowledge versus opportunism. Organization Science, 5, 477-501.
35. Conrad, C. (Ed.). (1993). The ethical nexus. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
36. Cooren, F., & Taylor, J. R. (1997). Organization as an effect of mediation: Redefining the link between organization and communication. Communication Theory, 7, 219-260.
37. Corman, S. R., Kuhn, T., McPhee, R. D., & Dooley, K. J. (2002). Studying complex discursive systems: Centering resonance analysis of communication. Human Communication Research, 26, 157-206.
38. Craig, R. T. (1989). Communication as a practical discipline. In B. Dervin, L. Gross-berg, B. O'Keefe, & E. Wartella (Eds.), Rethinking communication: Vol. 1. Paradigm issues (pp. 97-122). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
39. Cyert, R. M., & March, J. G. (1963). A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
40. Dalton, D. R., Daily, C. M., Certo, S. T., & Roengpitya, R. (2003). Meta-analyses of financial performance and equity: Fusion or confusion? Academy of Management Journal, 46, 13-26.
41. Dalton, M. (1959). Men who manage: Fusions of feeling and theory in administration. New York: John Wiley.
42. Deetz, S., & Mumby, D. K. (1990). Power, discourse, and the workplace: Reclaiming the critical tradition. In J. A. Anderson (Ed.), Communication yearbook 13 (pp. 18-47). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
43. Deetz, S. A. (1992). Democracy in an age of corporate colonization: Developments in communication and the politics of everyday life. Albany: State University of New York Press.
44. Deetz, S. A. (1995). Transforming communication, transforming business: Building responsive and responsible workplaces. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
45. Deetz, S. A. (2001). Conceptual foundations. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication (pp. 3-46). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
46. DeSanctis, G., & Poole, M. S. (1994). Capturing the complexity in advanced technology use: Adaptive structuration theory. Organization Science, 5, 121-147.
47. Deutsch, C. H. (2003, January 26). After 10 years, corporate oversight is still dismal. New York Times. Retrieved January 27,2003, from http://www.nytimes.com
48. Dobson, J. (1994). Theory of the firm: Beyond the sirens. Economics and Philosophy, 10, 73-89.
49. Dore, R. P. (1983). Goodwill and the spirit of market capitalism. The British Journal of Sociology, 34, 459-482.
50. Drazin, R., & Sandelands, L. (1992). Autogenesis: A perspective on the process of organizing. Organization Science, 3, 230-249.
51. Dutton, J. E., & Dukerich, J. M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 517-554.
52. Eichenwald, K. (2002, December 16). After a boom, there will be scandal. Count on it. New York Times. Retrieved December 16,2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
53. Eichenwald, K. (2002b, December 31). Pushing accounting rules to the edge of the envelope. New York Times. Retrieved January 1,2003, from http://www.nytimes.com
54. Eichenwald, K. (2003, March 6). Report details Enron's moves to shift assets. New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2003, from http://www.nytimes.com
55. Eisenberg, E. M. (1984). Ambiguity as strategy in organizational communication. Communication Monographs, 51, 227-242.
56. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. Academy of Management Review, 14, 57-74.
57. Etzioni, A. (1988). The moral dimension: Toward a new economics. New York: Free Press.
58. Feldman, M. S. (2000). Organizational routines as a source of continuous change. Organization Science, 11, 611-629.
59. Foss, N. (1999). Research in the strategic theory of the firm: “Isolationism” and “integrationism.” Journal of Management Studies, 36, 725-755.
60. Fox, J. (2002, August 12). The on ly option (for stock options, that is). Fortune, 146, 110-112.
61. Fox, L. (2003). Enron: The rise and fall. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
62. Frank, T. (2000, October 30). The rise of market populism: America's new secular religion. The Nation, 271, 13-19.
63. Fransman, M. (1998). Information, knowledge, vision, and theories of the firm. In G. Dosi, D. J. Teece, & J. Chytry (Eds.), Technology, organization, and competitiveness: Perspectives on industrial and corporate change (pp. 147-191). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
64. Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
65. Ghosal, S., & Moran, P. (1996). Bad for practice: A critique of the transaction cost theory. Academy of Management Review, 21, 13-47.
66. Giddens, A. (1979). Central problems in social theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
67. Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
68. Grant, R. M. (1996). Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 109-122.
69. Grant, R. M. (2001). Knowledge and organization. In I. Nonaka & D. Teece (Eds.), Managing industrial knowledge: Creation, transfer, and utilization (pp. 145-169). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
70. Greenberg, H. (2002, May 13). Don't count on cash flow. Fortune, 145, 176.
71. Greenwood, R., Hinings, C. R., & Brown, J. (1990). “P2-form” strategic management: Corporate practices in professional partnerships. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 725-755.
72. Hacking, I. (1999). The social construction of what? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
73. Hawes, L. C. (1974). Social collectivities as communication. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 60, 497-502.
74. Hawken, P. (1994). The ecology of commerce: A declaration of sustainability. New York: Harper Business.
75. Henriques, D. B., & Fabrikant, G. (2002, December 18). Deciding on executive pay: Lack of independence seen. New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
76. Holmes, R. L. (1979). The concept of corporate responsibility. In T. L. Beauchamp & N. E. Bowie (Eds.), Ethical theory and business (pp. 151-160). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
77. Iverson, J. O., & McPhee, R. D. (2002). Knowledge management in communities of practice: Being true to the communicative character of knowledge. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 259-266.
78. Jackall, R. (1988). Moral mazes: The world of corporate managers. New York: Oxford University Press.
79. Jensen, M. C. (2000). A theory of the firm: Governance, residual claims, and organizational forms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
80. Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs, and ownership structure. The Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 305-360.
81. Johnston, D. C. (2002, October 5). Designers of executive pay plans fear more abuses. New York Times. Retrieved October 6,2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
82. Joskow, P. L. (1988). Asset specificity and the structure of vertical relationships: Empirical evidence. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 4, 95-117.
83. Kelly, M. (2001). The divine right of capital: Dethroning the corporate aristocracy. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
84. Khurana, R. (2002). Searching for a corporate savior: The irrational quest for charismatic CEOs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
85. Kindleberger, C. P. (2002, December 16). Corruption, crime, chicanery: Business through the ages. New York Times. Retrieved December 16,2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
86. Klein, B. (1988). Vertical integration as organizational ownership: The Fisher Body-General Motors relationship revisited. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 4, 199-213.
87. Kochan, T. A. (2002). Addressing the crisis in confidence in corporations: Root causes, victims, and strategies for reform. Academy of Management Executive, 16(3), 139-141.
88. Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1992). Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organization Science, 3, 383-397.
89. Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1996). What firms do?: Coordination, identity, and learning. Organization Science, 7, 502-518.
90. Krugman, P. (2002, June 4). Greed is bad. New York Times, p. A23.
91. Kuhn, T. (1997). The discourse of issues management: A genre of organizational communication. Communication Quarterly, 45, 188-210.
92. Kuhn, T. (2002). Negotiating boundaries between scholars and practitioners: Knowledge, networks, and communities of practice. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 106-112.
93. Kuttner, R. (2002, April 10). Enron cuts to capitalism's core. Boston Globe. Retrieved September 7, 2002, from http://www.boston.com/globe
94. Leaf, C. (2002, March 18). Send them to jail. Fortune, 145, 60-76.
95. Lenz, R. T. (1981). ‘Determinants’ of organizational performance: An interdisciplinary review. Strategic Management Journal, 2, 131-154.
96. Leonhardt, D., & Sorkin, A. R. (2002, September 15). Reining in the imperial C.E.O. New York Times. Retrieved September 16,2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
97. Levitt, A. (2002). Take on the street: What Wall Street and corporate America don't want you to know. New York: Pantheon.
98. Loomis, C. J. (2001, June 25). “This stuff is wrong.” Fortune, 143(14), 73-84.
99. Lynne, G. D. (1999). Divided self models of the socioeconomic person: The metaeconomics approach. Journal of Socio-Economics, 28, 267-288.
100. Madhok, A. (1996). The organization of economic activity: Transaction costs, firm knowledge bases, and the nature of governance. Organization Science, 7, 577-590.
101. Madrick, J. (2003, February 20). A theory on corporate greed. New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2003, from http://www.nytimes.com
102. Maloy, T. K. (2002, July 16). Greenspan blasts “infectious greed.” The Washington Times. Retrieved September 17, 2002, from http://www.washtimes.com
103. Manning, P. K. (1977). Police work: The social organization of police work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
104. Manning, P. K. (1982). Organizational work: Enstructuration of the environment. British Journal of Sociology, 33, 118-139.
105. March, J. G., & Sutton, R. I. (1997). Organizational performance as a dependent variable. Organization Science, 8, 698-706.
106. Margolis, J. D., & Walsh, J. P. (2001). People and profits?: The search for a link between a company's social and financial performance. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
107. Martin, J., & Meyerson, D. (1988). Organizational cultures and the denial, channeling, and acknowledgement of ambiguity. In L. R. Pondy, R. J. Boland, & H. Thomas (Eds.), Managing ambiguity and change. New York: John Wiley.
108. McPhee, R. D., & Zaug, P. (2000). The communicative constitution of organizations: A framework for explanation. The Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication, 10(1). Retrieved October 22, 2000, from http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/
109. Mills, A., & Chiramonte, P. (1991). Organization as gendered communication act. Canadian Journal of Communication, 16, 381-398.
110. Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22, 853-886.
111. Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
112. Nocera, J. (2002, June 24). System failure. Fortune, 145(13), 62-74.
113. Oliver, C. (1990). Determinants of interorganizational relationships: Integration and future directions. Academy of Management Review, 15, 241-265.
114. Ortner, S. B. (1984). Theory and anthropology since the sixties. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 26, 126-166.
115. Ouchi, W. G. (1979). A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms. Management Science, 25, 833-848.
116. Penrose, E. T. (1959). The theory of the growth of the firm. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
117. Perrow, C. (1986). Complex organizations: A critical essay (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
118. Peterson, P. G., & Snow, J. W. (2003). Report of the Conference Board Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise. New York: The Conference Board.
119. Porter, M. E., & Millar, V. E. (1985). How information gives you competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review, 63(4), 71-82.
120. Powell, W. W. (1990). Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organization. Research in Organizational Behavior, 12, 295-336.
121. Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G. (1990, May-June). The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68, 79-91.
122. Putnam, L. L., & Fairhurst, G. T. (2001). Discourse analysis in organizations. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), New handbook of organizational communication (pp. 78-136). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
123. Quinn, R. E., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1983). A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: Towards a competing values approach to organizational analysis. Management Science, 29, 363-377.
124. Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5, 243-263.
125. Reed, M. I. (1997). In praise of duality and dualism: Rethinking agency and structure in organizational analysis. Organization Studies, 18, 21-42.
126. Reed, M. I. (2001). Organization, trust, and control: A realist analysis. Organization Studies, 22, 201-228.
127. Roy, D. F. (1959-1960). “Banana time”: Job satisfaction and informal interaction. Human Organization, 18, 158-168.
128. Schatzki, T. R., Knorr-Cetina, K., & Von Savigny, E. (Eds.). (2001). The practice turn in contemporary theory. London: Routledge.
129. Schwartz, N. D. (2003, February 17). The looting of Kmart: Part 2. Fortune, 147, 30.
130. Schwartzman, H. B. (1989). The meeting: Gatherings in organizations and communities. New York: Plenum.
131. Seeger, M., & Ulmer, R. (2003). Explaining Enron: Communication and responsible leadership. Management Communication Quarterly, 7(1) qq.
132. Seglin, J. L. (2002, July 21). Corporate values trickle down from the top. New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2002, from http://www.nytimes.com
133. Sewell, W. H. (1992). A theory of structure: Agency, duality, and transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98, 1-29.
134. Shamir, B. (1991). Meaning, self, and motivation in organizations. Organization Studies, 12, 405-424.
135. Shotter, J., & Gergen, K. J. (1994). Social construction: Knowledge, self, others, and continuing the conversation. In S. A. Deetz (Ed.), Communication year- book 17 (pp. 3-33). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
136. Simon, H. A. (1997). Administrative behavior: A study of decision-making processes in administrative organizations (Vol. 4). New York: Free Press.
137. Simon, J. G., Powers, C. W., & Gunnermann, J. P. (1972). The ethical investor: Universities and corporate responsibility. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
138. Spender, J.-C. (1996). Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 45-62.
139. Stacey, R. D. (2001). Complex responsive processes in organizations: Learning and knowledge creation. London: Routledge.
140. Staw, B. M. (1975). Attribution of the “causes” of performance: A general alternative interpretation of cross-sectional research on organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 13, 414-432.
141. Stohl, C. (1995). Organizational communication: Connectedness in action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
142. Taylor, J. R. (1993). Rethinking the theory of organizational communication: How to read an organization. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
143. Taylor, J. R. (1999). What is “organizational communication”? Communication as a dialogic of text and conversation. The Communication Review, 3, 21-63.
144. Taylor, J. R. (2000). Thinking about organization in a new way: An inquiry into the on tological foundations of organization. Electronic Journal of Communication, 10(1). Retrieved October 12,2000, from http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/v10n1200.htm
145. Taylor, J. R., Cooren, F., Giroux, N., & Robichaud, D. (1996). The communicational basis of organization: Between the conversation and the text. Communication Theory, 6, 1-39.
146. Taylor, J. R., & Van Every, E. J. (2000). The emergent organization: Communication as its site and surface. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
147. Teece, D. J. (1998). Capturing value from knowledge assets: The new economy, markets for know-how, and intangible assets. California Management Review, 40(3), 55-79.
148. Trethewey, A. (2002). Forum introduction: Translating organizational scholarship into practice. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 81-84.
149. Tsoukas, H. (1996). The firm as a distributed knowledge system: A constructionist approach. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 11-25.
150. Veblen, T. (1904). The theory of business enterprise. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
151. Walsh, J. P., & Ungson, G. R. (1991). Organizational memory. Academy of Management Review, 16, 57-91.
152. Weick, K. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
153. Weiss, A. (1995). Cracks in the foundation of stakeholder theory. Electronic Journal of Radical Organization Theory, 1. Retrieved from http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot
154. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
155. Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 5, 171-180.
156. Whyte, W. F., Dalton, M., Roy, D., Sayles, L., Collins, O., Miller, F., et al. (1955). Money and motivation: An analysis of incentives in industry. New York: Harper.
157. Williamson, O. E. (1971). The vertical integration of production: Market failure considerations. American Economic Review, 61, 112-123.
158. Williamson, O. E. (1988). The logic of economic organization. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 4, 65-94.
159. Williamson, O. E. (1991a). Comparative economic organization: The analysis of discrete structural alternatives. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 269-296.
160. Williamson, O. E. (1991b). Strategizing, economizing, and economic organization. Strategic Management Journal, 12, 75-94.
161. Yates, J., & Orlikowski, W. J. (1992). Genres of organizational communication: A structurational approach to studying communication and media. Academy of Management Review, 17, 299-326.