Ben asks, "Which definition of 'institution' is closest or how would
I define it?"
The large challenge we all face in this area of organisation,
structure, institution is to join the information age. That is, we
have inherited meanings that are all material and physical.
We don't see information, language, practices, relationships as
"structure" and we don't see enduring structure of this kind as
institutions.
By going back to indo-european roots and discovering the root word
"sta" which relates to "that which persists and/or provides a place
to stand", we can see that institutions are those places which
provide an organising structure - one that persists - and which
emerge from human action.
These then include the bill of rights - as ideas, language and
customs which extend beyond the physical document and even the
specific articles.
Yes, institutions would include practices, language, etc in an
organisation. Would it include the whole of what we call culture? I
think not. I think it would usefully (operationally) included only
those main elements which persist AND MAINTAIN THE LARGER
PERSISITENCE of the organisation.
--
Michael McMaster : Michael@kbdworld.com
web:http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe/TIA/TIAmap.html
"I don't give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity
but I'd die for the simplicity on the other side of complexity."
attributed to Chief Justice Brandeis
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations
For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>