From Ritual to Reality: Demography, Ideology, and Decoupling in a Post-Communist Government Agency

Abstract

Decoupling - the creation of gaps between formal policies and actual practices - is a ubiquitous organizational phenomenon. Yet, little research has examined how decoupling unfolds over time. This qualitative case study of a post-communist government agency develops process models of what precedes and what follows the decision to decouple. I show that the demography and ideology of powerful organizational members influence whether decoupling occurs, how it unfolds, and whether it is sustainable. Further, I suggest that decoupling may carry seeds of its own decay: under certain conditions, the decision to decouple can trigger demographic changes that eventually contribute to the erosion of decoupling.

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Keywords: institutions, organizational change, decoupling, post-communist transition