How Much do Meta-Organizations Affect Their Members?

Abstract

In the contemporary world there is a large and growing number of formal organi-zations. There are more states, firms and associations than ever before (Drori et al. 2006). Many firms and associations transgress state boundaries and can be called international or transnational. International associations – often called " interna-tional organizations " – have spurred considerable interest from scholars studying international relations, internationalization and globalization. The interest demon-strated by scholars studying organizations in general has been weaker. Most scho-lars in the field of organizations studies have concentrated more on the study of firms than of associations, let alone international associations. The connections and influences between students of international relations and students of organizations have been weak (Jönsson 1986). General theories of orga-nization have been little affected by studies of international associations. And while organization theories have had a strong influence on research about multinational firms, they do not seem to have had the same degree of influence on research about international associations (Koch 2009). One reason for the limited impact of organization theory may be the limited interest for states among contemporary students of organization. Although states have all the typical traits of organizations in general and although other organiza-tions have inspired states and have been inspired by them, organization theorists have generally treated states as environments of organizations rather than as orga-nizations in their own right. Parts of states, such as various departments, have often been considered and studied as organizations but very seldom states as a whole. Such a perspective on states may make organization theory seem of limited rele-vance to those interested in the numerous international organizations where states constitute the membership. Another reason why organization theories may seem of little relevance is the fact that these theories almost always are based on the assumption that the members of organizations are individuals, whereas the large majority of international asso-ciations have other organizations – be they states, firms or associations – as their members: they are " meta-organizations " rather than individual-based organizati-ons. Traditional organization theory does not address this kind of organization and some of its assumptions and conclusions do not apply here. 3.2 Studying International Organizations