Features analyses offering evidence of how the perspective of new institutionalism can help us understand the anatomy of change, and how some actors avoid complete stasis through utilizing small openings instead of breaking down the whole wall.

Globalization, the new economy, and the IT revolution are some of the words used when researchers, as well as practitioners, try to explain the seemingly ever-increasing speed of change in contemporary society. Whatever the label, organizations today are facing change in a host of different ways. Sometimes they act as 'change-takers', forced to adapt to changes and innovations coming from the outside. At other times they are 'change-makers', who foster innovation and change, giving them a competitive advantage or a heightened legitimacy. Sometimes they force others to adapt to these changes. The analyses presented in this volume provide ample evidence of how the perspective of new institutionalism can help us understand the anatomy of change, and how some actors avoid complete stasis through utilizing small openings instead of breaking down the whole wall.

Table of Contents:Notes on ContributorsPrefaceChapter 1Introduction: Change Anatomies and Processes, John Damm ScheuerSECTION I: Changing OrganizationsChapter 2Interpreting the Means and the Goals: Innovation in Danish Public Libraries, Lars FuglsangChapter 3Organizational Change and Values-Driven Management: A Perspective from Institutional Theory, Jacob Dahl RendtorffChapter 4Changing Success Criteria for Public Sector Institutions: Squaring the Circle?, John Storm PedersenChapter 5Convergent and Divergent Processes of Change in Organizations: Exploring Change as Translation in the Encounter of Idea and Practice, John Damm ScheuerChapter 6Intervention, Implementation, and Translation as Metaphors of Change in Healthcare and Public Sector Organizations, John Damm ScheuerChapter 7The Institutionalization of a Routine: Identity, Interaction, and Materiality, NIels Christian NickelsenSECTION II: Changing SocietiesChapter 8Ideas in EU Decision making: Towards a Typology of Ideas and Ideational Change, Kennet LynggaardChapter 9The Process of Legitimation, Eva BoxenbaumChapter 10Institutions and Governance: The Dynamics of Change in the Institutional Arrangements of the Danish Labor Markets, Steen ScheuerSECTION III: ConclusionsChapter 11Conclusion: Theoretical Perspectives, Steen Scheuer