Making a hybrid out of a crisis: historical contingency and the institutional logics of London’s public transport monopoly
ISSN: 1751-1348
Article publication date: 14 August 2021
Issue publication date: 1 December 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Literature seldom admits the importance of historical contingency and politics in the creation of hybrid organisations. Nevertheless, the circumstances of their creation play a pivotal role in the subsequent operation, priorities and success of these prolific organisations. Through a single case study, this paper aims to explore the connection between the multiple and concurrent crises that created London Transport and the subsequent balance of its institutional logics.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study uses in-depth data collection from multiple archival and public sources to offer quantitative and qualitative analysis of the priorities, logics and services offered by London Transport before and after its transition from a private to a hybrid organisation.
Findings
Providing London’s transport via a quasi-autonomous non-governmental monopoly was justified as being more efficient than competition. However, by applying accounting ratios to the archival records from London Transport, the authors find that there were few decisive efficiencies gained from amalgamation. Instead, the authors argue that the balance of institutional logics within the new, unified organisation showed a political response outwardly addressing market failure but primarily concerned with marginalising democratic control. This reality was obscured behind the rhetoric of rationality and efficiency as politically neutral justifications for creating a public service monopoly.
Originality/value
This paper challenges supposedly objective systems for judging the effectiveness of “hybrid” organisations and offers an alternative political and historical perspective of the reasons for their creation. The authors suggest that London Transport’s success in obscuring its enduring market-based institutional logics has wider resonance in the development of municipal capitalism.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Declaration of interests statement: There are no conflicts of interest for the authors arising out of this article.
This paper benefitted from comments and feedback after it was presented at The Management History Research Group Workshop in 2019. It did not receive any funding.
Citation
Fowler, J. and Gillett, A. (2021), "Making a hybrid out of a crisis: historical contingency and the institutional logics of London’s public transport monopoly", Journal of Management History, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 492-518. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-01-2021-0003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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