ERIC Number: EJ919000
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Sep
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7732
EISSN: N/A
Organizational Liminality and Interstitial Creativity: The Fellowship of Power
Lindsay, D. Michael
Social Forces, v89 n1 p163-184 Sep 2010
Formal organizations share a common set of characteristics that include identifiable operating principles and coordinating mechanisms as well as lines of authority and communication. However, some organizations--especially those on the margins of institutional fields--creatively combine institutional and anti-institutional characteristics. This tendency, which I call organizational liminality, represents a way in which certain groups resist the isomorphic tendencies of modern organizational life. By comparing a group called The Fellowship, a religious organization of national and world leaders, with peer organizations, I show how formalized liminality is an intentional organizational strategy and discuss how this produces unique resources and liabilities for the group. (Contains 25 notes, 2 tables and 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Religious Organizations, Institutional Characteristics, Organizational Effectiveness, Organizational Culture, Creativity, Administrative Organization, Power Structure, Group Structure, Group Dynamics, Administrative Principles, Organizational Theories, Nonprofit Organizations, Interviews, Politics, Christianity, Role of Religion, Participant Observation, Leaders, Ideology
University of North Carolina Press. 116 South Boundary Street, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288. Tel: 800-848-6224; Tel: 919-966-7449; Fax: 919-962-2704; e-mail: uncpress@unc.edu; Web site: http://uncpress.unc.edu/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: District of Columbia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A