REINSURANCE TRADING IN LLOYD'S OF LONDON: BALANCING CONFLICTING-YET-COMPLEMENTARY LOGICS IN PRACTICE

Drawing on a yearlong ethnographic study of reinsurance trading in Lloyd's of London, this paper makes three contributions to current discussions of institutional complexity. First, we shift focus away from structural and relatively static organizational responses to institutional complexity an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Academy of Management journal 2015-06, Vol.58 (3), p.932-970
Main Authors: SMETS, MICHAEL, JARZABKOWSKI, PAULA, BURKE, GARY T., SPEE, PAUL
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Complexity theory
Economic theory
Ethnology
Experimental methods
Institutions
Organizational analysis
Reinsurance
Structural analysis
Studies
Western Europe
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Drawing on a yearlong ethnographic study of reinsurance trading in Lloyd's of London, this paper makes three contributions to current discussions of institutional complexity. First, we shift focus away from structural and relatively static organizational responses to institutional complexity and identify three balancing mechanisms— segmenting, bridging, and demarcating— that allow individuals to manage competing logics and their shifting salience within . their everyday work. Second, we integrate these mechanisms in a theoretical model that explains how individuals can continually keep coexisting logics, and their tendencies to either blend or disconnect, in a state of dynamic tension that renders them conflicting-yet-complementary logics. Our model shows how actors are able to dynamically balance coexisting logics, maintaining the distinction between them while also exploiting the benefits of their interdependence. Third, in contrast to most studies of newly formed hybrids and/or novel complexity, our focus on a long-standing context of institutional complexity shows how institutional complexity can itself become institutionalized and routinely enacted within everyday practice.
ISSN:0001-4273
1948-0989
DOI:10.5465/amj.2012.0638