Organizations: Negotiated Orders

Abstract

The negotiated order of an organization is the pattern of activities which has emerged over time as an outcome of the interplay of the variety of interests, understandings, reactions, and initiatives of the individuals and groups involved in the organization. The concept is used to turn attention away from the more traditional way of looking at organizations which gives primacy of attention to the pattern or ordering of activities designed by those officially in charge of the organization. It is recognized that the influence and power of some individuals or groups will be greater than that of others, but the ordering of activities which arises in practice is always seen as resulting from the contributions of the plurality of parties to the organization as a whole. The concept originated in the symbolic interactionist tradition of theorizing but its emphasis accords with those of other approaches in organizational thinking which focus on processes and emergent patterns within organizations. The way forward for the notion of negotiated order is one that combines many of its insights about internal organizational and social construction processes with attention to the relationship between these and wider societal patterns and processes.