Tribes, warlords and transformers: An institutional logics model of the architectural profession

Abstract

Architecture has often been described as profession divided by a foundational logic of aesthetics versus one of production: Creatives versus Suits. The business plan is one way that architects have sought to reconcile and mediate between the demands of design creativity and profit. In the theory of practice, the business plan integrates and balances issues of strategy, available resources and operational contingencies. Through a survey the business planning practices in different sized Australian architectural firms is established. The institutional logics evident in business planning indicates the way in which architects structure their firms and how they collectively resolve conflicts betw..