Organisational Analysis

This paper explores the concept of legitimacy in organisations and how it is achieved through four academic resources. It discusses the new language of learning and its interpretations in light of the readings. The article also highlights the changes in the educational setting with a particular emphasis on how digital technologies could be best used for supporting learning.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
Organisational Analysis
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1ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
Introduction
Organisations are made of different individuals who exercise lesser or greater levels
of power. Often, the authority in the organisations either stems from an individual’s title in
the organisation or from the specialised expertise and knowledge. Also, there are others who
exercise power through their interpersonal relationships, the force of their personality and
even through their potential of granting access to the different important resources. However,
organisational legitimacy is considered to be a key concept within the organisational
research. Often organisations seek towards establishing the congruence in between the social
values that are associated with and implied by their norms and activities of the acceptable
behaviour in larger social system. When an actual disparity prevails in between the two value
systems, there exists a threat to the concept of organisational legitimacy. It is referred to the
alignment of a particular subject, in terms of a social system. This paper shall explore the
question- What is “legitimate” knowledge about organisations and how “legitimacy” is
achieved, in light of four academic resources.
Discussion
Background on the concept of Legitimacy
It is to mention that the idea of legitimacy as a property has developed the language
that is used for describing the actual phenomenon. Suddaby, Bitektine and Haack (2017)
refers legitimacy as “an operational resources of the firm”. Bicho, Nikolaeva and Lages
(2018) have described legitimacy as “an intangible asset that emergent organisations do not
have but can be acquired, accumulated, lost, restored and spread to the other organisations. It
is to note that as per Tallberg et al. (2018), there are two primary categories of legitimacy and
they are- cognitive and socio-political. On one hand, cognitive legitimacy is all about the
extension of the socio-political legitimacy that takes place when there is high level of

2ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
acceptance and congruence in between the normative expectations of the organisations and its
environment that they have taken for granted. On the other hand, socio-political legitimacy
refers to the level of congruence in between the focal characteristics of the organisation or the
behaviours and the normative expectations in the cultural meaning system of the other
different organisations that surround the same. Below is mentioned a brief discussion on four
readings in order to reconcile them to the four perspectives that are discussed in the Hirsheim
and Klein’s paper- objectivism, order, subjectivism and conflict.
Article 1: Haugsbakk, G. and Nordkvelle, Y., 2007. The Rhetoric of ICT and the New
Language of Learning: a critical analysis of the use of ICT in the curricular
field. European Educational Research Journal, 6(1), pp.1-12.
This article by Haugsbakk and Nordkvelle (2007) have focused on the perception of
human beings about new technology and the technological development within the
educational context. The authors of this article seek to develop a critical relation in between
the rhetoric of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) while analysing Gert
Biesta’s term “the new language of learning”. It is to note that as per the article, the concept
of “teaching” today has been replaced by “learning” and this further challenges the traditional
curricula in different respects. Furthermore, it is to mention that the article claims that there is
a notable change in the manner in which human speaks today regarding education and in
education. The term “teaching” has been altered by “facilitation of learning”; the term
“education” has been changed by “provision of learning opportunities”. With the same,
Biasta have also claimed that the increasing importance of the “new language” is related to
the underlying tendencies in the modern society and these tendencies include- a) theories of
learning, b) effect of post modernism, c) impacts of individualism and d) erosion of welfare
state. Moreover, it is also opined in this article that the concept of “interactivity” is one of the
significantly useful elements of marketing the new technology. There are certain number of

3ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
examples that clearly supports the concept of all these terms and their relation to the new
language of learning. It carries a wide range of possible interpretations and is related to the
underlying tendencies in the modern society. The article primary have discussed two different
aspects throughout and they are- a) the claim that introduction of ICT is based on the rhetoric
typical of advertising and marketing that is most recently demonstrated by introduction of
typical learning system of management and, b) introduction of ICT been the driving force for
the shift to learning from teaching. The article has pointed out the ideas that are underpinning
the rhetoric of ICT as well as the education and the findings of the whole thing confirms the
assumption of the new language of learning development from the 1980s. Furthermore, it is
to state that this article have drawn the attention to a picture that has been focused very less
so far and that is- the consequences of the introduction of computers in the educational
setting.
Article 2: Biesta, G., 2004. Against learning. Reclaiming a language for education in an
age of learning. Nordic Studies in Education= Nordisk Pedagogik, 23, pp.70-82.
Biesta (2004) in this article have focused on the different ways in which the language
that is available to the educators has changed in the last two decades. Like, in the article by
Haugsbakk and Nordkvelle (2007), Biesta too in this article have claimed that language of
“education” has been replaced by the learning of “learning”. As per him, the “new language
of learning” has made it possible to express the insights and the ideas that were earlier very
difficult to articulate through the language of education. However, it has also made it very
difficult to articulate the other aspects of the understanding related to what education is or
should be actually about. The concept of “teaching” in this article has been redefined as a
facilitating and supporting learning. Learning has today become a favourite notion in the
policy documents, for instance, very recently produced documents with the ambitious titles
like “The Learning age: A Renaissance for a New Britain” and “Learning to Succeed”.

4ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
Several theories of learning have been highlighted in this article including- postmodernism,
silent explosion and erosion of the welfare state. Biesta (2004) have also opined that one
should not understand the educational relationship as a relationship in between a consumer
and a provider. He claims that a proposal for language for education revolves around a total
of 3 interlocking concepts and they are- transcendental violence, trust without ground and
responsibility without knowledge. The idea of “coming into presence” as a critical
educational concept is meant as a significant alternative for the modern idea of emancipation
as a process that depends on the results in autonomy and rationality. It is also an attempt for
articulating a traditional educational concern as a response to the post-humanist and post-
modern challenges.
Article 3: Howard, S.K., Thompson, K., Yang, J. and Ma, J., 2019. Working the system:
Development of a system model of technology integration to inform learning task
design. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(1), pp.326-341.
This article by Howard et al. (2019) have also focused on changes in the educational
setting which a particular emphasis on how the digital technologies could be best used for
supporting the learning persist. He have argued that the different methods that are designed
for addressing complex systems that are required for understanding the interplay in between
the learning, digital technologies and teaching. Right from developing a system model of the
technology integration of teachers, this article has revised the model for including different
factors for the experience of students, making use of digital technologies and the different
beliefs regarding learning. This revised model is used for demonstrating all the possible
impacts of student experiences in the technologically integrated group learning tasks. In the
other fields, different system models are widely used for testing and informing the dynamic
and complicated issues. Modelling the educational systems can provide a deep insight into
the complexity of learning and teaching, but there has been very minimum research in this

5ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
field of educational setting. As a response to this gap, the researchers earlier developed a
Practice Model of Technology Integration system model about Teachers. This model have
focused on the different process of technology integration in teaching. The main aim of this
model for providing a representation of the complexities among the important factors related
to technology integration designing decisions. Notwithstanding this fact, while the teacher
model detects some complexity of the technology integration. Construction of a system
model is considered to be a multi-step process. It is very important to continuously examine
how the different systems influence the different patterns and behaviours that are required to
be explored and the systems should be redefined as required.
Article 4: Almås, A.G. and Krumsvik, R., 2008. Teaching in Technology-Rich
Classrooms: is there a gap between teachers' intentions and ICT practices? Research in
Comparative and International Education, 3(2), pp.103-121.e
This paper by Almas and Krumsvik (2008) have focused on the Norwegian school
system that gives high priority to the ICT as its ICT density is very high. They provide laptop
to every student as they considered it as desirable and nearly accomplished. Almas and
Krumsvik in this article have emphasised on finding out the reasons behind such pedagogical
behaviour of Norwegian teachers. It is to note that the curriculum of the Norwegian schools
since the World War II have laid strong focus on the individual learners and at the same time,
have advocated these progressive ideas as active student and subject integration learning.
Their investigation had built on the ICT project that was started in the year 1999 along with a
description which was quite required prior to presentation of data from the current practise.
The schools of Norway involved the participation in PILOT right from 1999 to the year 2003
and thereafter work out different plans for their own implementation of the ICT. The main
objective of PILOT was development of the organisational and pedagogical potential that was
provided by the ICT in the education and reporting the knowledge regarding it. Furthermore,

6ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
it is to mention that the article claims that there is a notable change in the manner in which
human speaks today regarding education and in education. The term “teaching” has been
altered by “facilitation of learning”; the term “education” has been changed by “provision of
learning opportunities”.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis of the four readings on the subject, it is to conclude
that the concept of “new learning of language” has been analysed and examined in all the
four readings and this carries a huge number of possible interpretations. As per Biesta, the
“new language” is related to the different underlying tendencies in the modern society- the
theory of learning, the effect of individuals, the impact of postmodernism and the erosion of
welfare state. Similarly, Haugsbakk and Nordkvelle have focused on the perception of human
beings about new technology and the technological development within the educational
context. They pointed out the ideas that are underpinning the rhetoric of ICT as well as the
education and the findings of the whole thing confirms the assumption of the new language
of learning development from the 1980s. Similarly, Howard et al. (2019) have highlighted the
different changes in the educational setting which a particular emphasis on how the digital
technologies could be best used for supporting the learning persist. Lastly, Almas and
Krumsvik (2008) emphasised on finding out the reasons behind such pedagogical behaviour
of Norwegian teachers. There are certain number of examples that clearly supports the
concept of all these terms and their relation to the new language of learning. It carries a wide
range of possible interpretations and is related to the underlying tendencies in the modern
society. Learning has today become a favourite notion in the policy documents. The term
“teaching” has been altered by “facilitation of learning”; the term “education” has been
changed by “provision of learning opportunities”. Modelling the educational systems can

7ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS
provide a deep insight into the complexity of learning and teaching, but there has been very
minimum research in this field of educational setting
References:
Suddaby, R., Bitektine, A. and Haack, P., 2017. Legitimacy. Academy of Management
Annals, 11(1), pp.451-478.
Tallberg, J., Bäckstrand, K., Scholte, J.A., Agné, H., Bexell, M., Dellmuth, L., Gregoratti, C.,
Jönsson, K., Sommerer, T., Söderbaum, F. and Uhlin, A., 2018. Legitimacy in Global
Governance.
Haugsbakk, G. and Nordkvelle, Y., 2007. The Rhetoric of ICT and the New Language of
Learning: a critical analysis of the use of ICT in the curricular field. European Educational
Research Journal, 6(1), pp.1-12.
Biesta, G., 2004. Against learning. Reclaiming a language for education in an age of
learning. Nordic Studies in Education= Nordisk Pedagogik, 23, pp.70-82.
Howard, S.K., Thompson, K., Yang, J. and Ma, J., 2019. Working the system: Development
of a system model of technology integration to inform learning task design. British Journal
of Educational Technology, 50(1), pp.326-341.
Almås, A.G. and Krumsvik, R., 2008. Teaching in Technology-Rich Classrooms: is there a
gap between teachers' intentions and ICT practices? Research in Comparative and
International Education, 3(2), pp.103-121.e
Bicho, M., Nikolaeva, R. and Lages, C., 2018, June. Social Enterprise Legitimacy in a
Hostile Market. In Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress (pp. 153-165).
Springer, Cham.