Negotiated Order

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Anselm Strauss based the negotiated-order approach on the philosophy of pragmatism, which views truth not as concrete but as arising from the practical consequences of a shared idea of truth. The theory suggests that every organization has a set of formal and informal rules. Individuals in the organization define the meanings of these rules through negotiations and then use the rules and the structural features of the organization to determine appropriate actions. Negotiation, in this sense, involves any way in which individuals reach agreements among themselves and with the organization. Negotiation can take many forms to include agreements with allies, special arrangements, passive resistance, contracts, and persuasion.

Negotiations have functional outcomes. These ongoing negotiations result in the development of social structures that must be continuously renegotiated and reconstructed. Human interaction—with each other and with social structures—is the basis for social organization. People interact with other people and with the organization to produce formal rules and procedures and informal understandings and agreements. Formal rules and informal agreements both shape and are shaped by the other. According to this theory, formal rules and structures are not adequate to maintain the social order. Through negotiation, individuals in the organization develop a structure of tacit agreements and informal rules through which they interpret and decide which actions to undertake.

These shared understandings and rules are the bases for mutual action of the people in the organization or in society. According to the theory, the [Page 606]negotiated order in a unit or an organization, then, is the sum of both the formal rules and policies and the informal agreements and understandings. The greater society is built on a network of many negotiated orders.

Negotiations in an organization are not random, but are patterned. In case studies, patterns of how much negotiation, the kinds of negotiation that occur, and which individuals negotiate tend to emerge in predictable ways. These patterns vary with different organizational contexts and structures and in interactions between different individuals. Patterns are partially determined by the formal, fixed organizational structures. For instance, organizational status determines, in most organizations, who is able to negotiate with whom.

Negotiated order theory can be conceptualized as a critique of and alternative to the structural-functional or bureaucratic theories of organization that view organizations as unbending, inflexible systems. Instead, negotiated order theorists view the organization as being fluid, adaptable, dynamic, and constantly changing. The current order at any given point in time is fragile and subject to change. Negotiated order theory assumes organizational change is continuous and seeks to explain how social order is maintained in an ever-changing environment. Change in an organization causes renegotiation of the social order. Conflict in any form, such as change, leads to a disintegration of the social order. New meanings and rules are negotiated in response to this conflict. Organizational change is met with renegotiation of the shared meanings and new application of the formal and informal rules and agreements. Social order is maintained by the chain of continuously occurring conflict, which leads to renegotiation of rules and the reconstruction of shared meanings. The structure of the organization is a manifestation of this ongoing division and reconstruction of the social order.

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