The small company and its organizational environment: construction of a map of managerspractices of an information technology company on the basis of resources dependence theory and institutional theory / A pequena empresa e seu ambiente organizacional: construção de um mapa das práticas dos dirigentes de uma empresa de tecnologia da informação com base na teoria da dependência de recursos e na teoria institucional

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

The main objective of this research is to construct a map, supported by "Environmental Theories", of the practices of small company managers related to the organizational environment. The specific objectives are the comprehension of the specificities of the information technology small company, how the manager understands the organizational environment and which practices are related to it. A subjective-interpretative position was adopted and the theoretical frame of analysis is ethnomethodology. According to the environmental theories studied, the organizational environment is composed of interest groups and institutions that supply resources and legitimacy to the organization. The practices related to the environment are the meeting of the interest groupsdemands, alteration of the organizational environment and institutional conformity. The small company presents specificities that can be understood by means of three dimensions: manager, organization and context. A case study was performed in an information technology small company in Campinas-SP. By means of a conversation analysis and observation of quotidian routine of company, it was possible to understand the managersmain practices related to the organizational environment. A representative map of these practices was constructed on the basis of the Resource Dependence Theory and Institutional Theory. The company presents practices of institutional conformity, especially to the technological, legal-political and socio-cultural contexts. Normative and mimetic mechanisms limit the choice of the technology for software development, and coercive mechanisms force the company to adjust to the legal-political system and the values and social and cultural norms. However, although restricted, attempts have been made to modify these institutional contexts. The main practice of organizational environment alteration is the expansion strategy - direct investment, seeking for other "niches" and diversification. Although relatively modest, in comparison with large companiesstrategies in the software development segment, growth represents, inside of the "specific niche" the company acts in, a dependence reduction and greater control of the resources required for the company to survive. The idea of "map" is coherent with the weberian conception of "ideal-type"; it is a way to understand reality, a scheme of interpretation.

ASSUNTO(S)

pequena empresa teoria da dependência de recursos teorias ambientais da organização teoria institucional ambiente organizacional environmental theories of organization small company institutional theory dependence resource theory organizational environment especificidades specificities

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