Coercive isomorphism

coercive isomorphism and its focus on expediency impact organizational change, using a practical example.

Core Concepts

• Regulative Function: This refers to the ways rules, laws, and regulations influence an organization’s behavior.
• Coercive Isomorphism: This is when an organization changes its practices to conform to external pressures, such as laws or industry standards, often regardless of whether these changes improve efficiency. The driving force is to gain legitimacy or avoid penalties.
• Expediency as an Effect of Compliance: Expediency, in this context, means prioritizing quick and easy compliance over deep, meaningful change. The focus is on appearing compliant to satisfy external requirements, sometimes without fundamentally altering internal operations or values.

Example: Environmental Regulations in Manufacturing

Imagine a small manufacturing company, “GreenTech,” that produces industrial cleaning solutions. New environmental regulations are introduced, mandating stricter limits on the discharge of certain chemicals into local waterways.

1. The Regulative Pressure: The environmental regulations act as the regulative function, setting the rules GreenTech must follow.
2. Coercive Isomorphism in Action: GreenTech faces a choice:
   • Option A: Deep Change: They could invest in research and development to create new, environmentally friendly cleaning solutions and overhaul their manufacturing processes to minimize waste. This is a costly and time-consuming option.
   • Option B: Expedient Compliance: Alternatively, they could install a basic wastewater treatment system that removes just enough of the regulated chemicals to meet the minimum requirements for discharge. They might also implement a superficial recycling program and create a “green” marketing campaign, without making substantial changes to their core products or processes.
   GreenTech chooses Option B. This is coercive isomorphism. They’re changing their practices (installing the treatment system, starting a basic recycling program) not because they genuinely value environmental sustainability, but because they have to in order to comply with the new regulations and avoid fines or legal action.
3. Expediency as the Effect: The company prioritizes expediency. Their primary goal is to achieve compliance as quickly and cheaply as possible. The effect is that they meet the letter of the law. However, the changes are largely superficial. The company continues to use some harmful chemicals, their commitment to sustainability is questionable, and they miss out on potential innovations and competitive advantages that could have come from a deeper, more genuine commitment to environmental responsibility.
4. External Factors Determining Change: Whether GreenTech changes, and how it changes, depends heavily on external factors:
   • The specific rules and laws (the stringency of the regulations).The level of enforcement (how likely they are to be inspected and penalized).The availability of government subsidies or tax breaks for environmental investments.Pressure from customers or advocacy groups.
   If enforcement is weak, subsidies are unavailable, and customer pressure is minimal, GreenTech is likely to stick with its expedient, superficial compliance strategy. If external pressures increase (stricter regulations, more active enforcement, greater customer demand for eco-friendly products), they may be forced to adopt more substantial changes.

Example 1: School – Implementing the K-12 Curriculum

• Regulative Function: The Department of Education (DepEd) mandates the K-12 curriculum for all schools in the Philippines. This is the regulative function – setting the rules.
• Coercive Isomorphism: Schools, both public and private, have to implement the K-12 curriculum to maintain their accreditation and operate legally. They might not fully agree with all aspects of the program, or they might not be entirely prepared for the changes, but they comply because they have to.
• Expediency as an Effect:
  • Some schools might focus on simply meeting the minimum requirements of the K-12 curriculum. They might adopt new textbooks and teaching materials without fully training teachers on how to effectively use them. They might add the required subjects without truly integrating them into the existing curriculum.
  • The goal becomes appearing to comply with DepEd’s regulations, rather than deeply transforming the school’s educational philosophy or improving the quality of education. This is expediency.
• External Factors: Whether a school truly embraces the K-12 curriculum or just superficially complies depends on:
  • DepEd’s monitoring and evaluation: How closely DepEd checks on schools to ensure they are properly implementing the curriculum.
  • Availability of resources: Whether DepEd provides adequate funding, training, and materials to support schools in implementing the curriculum.
  • Parental and community pressure: Whether parents and the community demand high-quality education and hold the school accountable for its performance.

Example 2: Government Agency – Implementing Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA)

• Regulative Function: The Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) aims to reduce bureaucratic delays and improve government services. This act is the regulative function.
• Coercive Isomorphism: Government agencies are required to comply with ARTA by streamlining their processes, setting up citizen’s charters, and reducing the number of required documents and steps for transactions.
• Expediency as an Effect:
  • An agency might comply with ARTA by simply posting a citizen’s charter on their website and reducing the number of steps on paper. However, the actual time it takes to process a transaction might not significantly decrease. Employees might not be properly trained on the new streamlined procedures, or the agency’s internal systems might not be updated to support the changes.
  • The agency focuses on appearing to comply with ARTA to avoid penalties or negative publicity, rather than truly improving the efficiency and quality of its services.
• External Factors: Whether an agency truly embraces ARTA or just superficially complies depends on:
  • The Anti-Red Tape Authority’s (ARTA) oversight: How effectively ARTA monitors and enforces compliance with the law.
  • Public pressure: Whether citizens demand better services and report instances of red tape.
  • Political will: Whether the agency’s leadership is genuinely committed to reducing red tape and improving government services.

In both examples, coercive isomorphism leads to a focus on expediency. The organizations (school and government agency) prioritize compliance with external regulations, sometimes at the expense of genuine, meaningful change. The extent of the change is heavily influenced by external factors such as monitoring, resources, and public pressure.