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On drifting rules and standards

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  • Ortmann, Günther

Abstract

Summary Rules and standards are considered to be of vital importance for the functioning not only of organizations but of societies as well. The difficulties and paradoxes associated with the concept of rules and rule-following are analyzed much more frequently in the context of philosophy than of social science. In this paper, I will draw on the writings of Wittgenstein and Derrida to examine four particular characteristics of rules and standards: first, the dependence of their validity and meaning on the practice of rule-following. Second, properties that have led me to describe them as pharmaka in Derrida's (1997) sense, which means medicine or poison and possibly illicit drugs. Third, their dependence on the possibility of rule-breaking, and fourth, their being inevitably subject to drift, which is beneficial in many cases but dangerous in others. I will argue that the drift of rules and standards becomes increasingly dangerous when more processes become path dependent. This paper examines four cases as examples of dangerous drifts in the context of organizations: the drift of environmental standards, the Challenger disaster, a friendly fire case in northern Iraq, and Michael Power's "audit explosion."

Suggested Citation

  • Ortmann, Günther, 2010. "On drifting rules and standards," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 204-214, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:26:y:2010:i:2:p:204-214
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Burr, Wolfgang & Frohwein, Torsten, 2012. "Regelbrüche in Organisationen," Research Papers on Innovation, Services and Technology 1/2012, University of Stuttgart, Institute of Business Administration, Department I - Institute of Research & Development and Innovation Management.
    2. Andreas Rasche & Frank Bakker & Jeremy Moon, 2013. "Complete and Partial Organizing for Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(4), pages 651-663, July.
    3. Christiansen, Ulrik & Kjærgaard, Annemette & Hartmann, Rasmus Koss, 2012. "Working in the shadows: Understanding ERP usage as complex responsive processes of conversations in the daily practices of a Special Operations Force," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 173-184.
    4. Leonhard Dobusch & Markus Lang & Sigrid Quack, 2017. "Open to Feedback? Formal and Informal Recursivity in Creative Commons’ Transnational Standard-Setting," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(3), pages 353-363, September.
    5. Andreas Rasche, 2020. "“Speaking on Behalf of…”: Leadership Ethics and the Collective Nature of Moral Reflection," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 13-22, April.
    6. Julie Bertz & Martin Quinn, 2014. "Interpreting management accounting rules: an initial study of public bodies," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 319-342, February.

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