Vincent N. Parrillo

Rationalization and Ritualism in Committee Decision Making

Symbolic interactionists and negotiated order theorists have attempted to use their perspectives to understand behavior in complex organizations. The two approaches are similar, but differ in their practical application. The negotiated order theory stresses power relationships within the informal structure, whereas symbolic interacting emphasizes the perception and exchange of meanings as the basis of interaction patterns. This article suggests that the concept of quasi-theories (Hewitt and Hall, 1973) may offer the link between these two schools of thought. The authors ground the proposal theory in a conceptually oriented case study of a small group within an academic organizational structure. A definition evolved that explains situational response principally in terms of the microsocial processes of cure selection and cure justification, based on the current culturally acceptable stock of meanings, rather than a heavy reliance upon macrosocial issues.