Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

labour market factors but which broadens the view to institutional determinants. I will assess
macro and combined micro-macro approaches to that issue. 7
The institutional theory postulates that institutional structures are not only a neutral
scene for (political) actors but also entities which set opportunities and restrictions (Keck
1991: 37). Personnel policy is understood as the result of organisational endeavours to
satisfy the requirements and expectations of the environment, which specify how personnel
policy should look like (Walgenbach 1998: 267). Personnel policy (and organisational
behaviour in general) is, unlike in economic theories of the organisation, understood not as
sheer reaction to an internal or external situation or as the expression of profit-maximising
strategy or efforts towards greater technical efficiency. The economic view on personnel
policy reduces it in the opinion of Walgenbach (1998: 268) to the outcome of managers´
rational acts, influenced by the expectations of employees, whereas the interests and
normative expectations of customers, subcontractors, external financiers and of the society
in general are neglected. The expectations and interests of those groups are difficult to deal
with as they often contradict each other and are also inconsistent with the interests of the
managers; therefore sheer profit-maximisation is not possible. Institutions exert impact on
personnel policy and on organisational behaviour not for reasons of greater efficiency but
because of their binding character and legitimacy (ibid: 276). It locates the central decision
organ at the societal macro level – instead of the managerial micro level.
With regard to my research topic, the institutional approach is very useful. It helps to
explain when and why firms will react positively to changed pension rules. Not only those
rules exert impact on personnel policy but likewise do related expectations of employees or
customers. With regard to retirement age, the expectations of employees often contradict the
expectations of the legislator. The theory helps to explain which institutional factors
influenced what changes in personnel policy.
However, I do not agree with Walgenbach´s (1998: 276) assertion that organisations,
and managers as their representatives, adopt certain practices not because of their efficiency,
but because the institutions require them to do so. To take one case in point: The
considering of fair trading principles and inclusion of ecological food in trade is brought
7 I understand institutions in the narrow sense denoting “systems of rules that structure the courses of actions
that a set of actors may choose” (Mayntz/Scharpf 1995: 38). This concept includes both legislative rules
(formal institutions) and sanctioned social norms (informal institutions). Due to the narrow institutional
concept, organisations can be clearly distinguished from that as “social systems or social entities, not only with
regard to the organisational aspect, but also as the complex of planned, unplanned and unintended social
processes, which take part within or in relations to other, surrounding systems”, or as “an association of
people for the pursuit of common interests” (Hillmann 1994: 638; own translation).
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