Journal Article

Norms and Networks in Economic and Organizational Performance

Nee, Victor

1998

Overview

Institutional design requires a combination of poetry and science. The cold rationalist view based on the extension of standard economic theory to analyze the workings of institutions is effective so far as the formal organizational rules are concerned. However, in the domain of informal norms and networks of ongoing social relationships, a poet's insight into the human condition may prove to be as useful in institutional design as science. In a recent Gallup Organization survey of 55,000 workers to match employee attitude to organizational performance, four attitudes were found to be strongly correlated with company results: that workers feel they are provided the opportunity to do their best work, that they feel their opinions matter, that they are confident that fellow workers are also committed to quality, and that they sense their effort contributes directly to the company's success.

• Publisher: American Economic Association,American Economic Assoc
• Subject: Attitudes / Author productivity / Collective action / Companies / Economic activity / Economic conditions / Economic growth / Economic networks / Economic organization / Economic performance / Economic theory / Economics / Employee attitude / Entrepreneurs / Faculty publishing / Games / Informal sector / Institutionalism / Market economics / Market economies / Neue Institutionenökonomik / New institutional economics / Norms / Organization theory / Organizational effectiveness / Organizational performance / Organizations / Poetry / Property rights / Self-interest / Social networks / Social relations / Soziale Werte / Studies / The New Institutional Economics / Theorie / Transaction costs / Transition economies / Transitional economies / Work / Workers