Logical Grammar of Educational Practice: analysis of the manifestations and interactions of institutional logics

Abstract

This article analyzes the effects of the interaction between different institutional logics on corporate education. From a framework based on the concepts of institutional complexity (Thornton et al., 2012), logical constellations (Goodrick & Reay, 2011) and economies of worth (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006), we propose a model – Logical Grammar of Educational Practice – to analyze the manifestations of institutional logic in organizational practices, particularly in the corporate education. A longitudinal case study (1965-2018) was thus carried out in Banco do Brasil by using secondary, primary, and observation data. The empirical research has evidenced the coexistence of logics lasts throughout time, without the domination of any of them over the other. The pattern of coexistence varies, depending on the context of the organization and of the institutional field. The modes of interaction among the logics, in turn, depend on the combination of the elements of orders of worth at their interfaces. Therefore, as relevant as the manifestation of logics, it is fundamental to analyze the interaction among them. From these interactions, one can understand: (i) the reasons of changes in the organizational practices’ trajectories; (ii) the diversity of logical-institutional interaction that may happen inside of a constellation of logics; and (iii) the condition under which the logics compete or complement each other.