COMPLEX SOCIAL-ORGANIZATION - MULTIPLE ORGANIZING MODES, STRUCTURAL INCONGRUENCE, AND MECHANISMS OF INTEGRATION

This article conceptualizes and analyses a type of complex social orga nization consisting of heterogeneous organizing modes and social relat ionships, combining, for instance, relationships making up markets and hierarchies as well as various types of informal networks. Each mode is constituted and regulated on the basis of a system of social rules making up a particular normative order and operates in terms of its ow n particular rationality or social logic. When modes are combined or i ntegrated into multi-institutional complexes or organizations, the res ultant structure entails zones of incongruence and tension at the junc tures or interfaces of the different organizing modes and social relat ionships. The article identifies a number of such incongruent organizi ng modes that are common in complex social organizations or inter-inst itutional complexes. It goes on to identify several of the institution al strategies and arrangements including rituals, non-task-oriented di scourses, and mediating roles that actors develop and institutionalize in dealing effectively with incongruences and potential conflicts in complex, heterogeneous organizations. The article suggests that proble ms of structural incongruence - and the tensions and conflicts that ar ise in connection with it as well as responses to these are major feat ures of complex organizational and inter-institutional arrangements. M oreover, it suggests that social order - the shaping of congruent, mea ningful experiences - in these complex organizations as in most social life builds on nonrational foundations such as rituals and non-instru mental discourses. These contribute to maintaining social order and to providing a stable context, even for rational decision-making and act ion.