Institutional Forms and Organizational Structures: Homology, Trust and Reputational Capital in Professional Service Firms

This paper examines how professional service firms have used a combination of clan and bureaucratic control techniques to manage change over a 100-year period. Both sets of controls have been present throughout, but the mix between the two has altered to reflect changes in the broader institutional environment. These shifts create new contradictions that eventually undermine their very success. However, in the midst of these changes and shifts, the basic institutional features of homology, trust and reputational capital have continued to structure these professional arenas.