The end justifies the means, does it?

Changes in the context of cultural organizations have resulted in a shift in institutional logics. Market reasoning has grown in importance and organizations are expected to take responsibility for their own practices by becoming more entrepreneurial. This private logic has been added to the artistic purpose that serves a public logic, which is dominant in many cultural organizations. Departing from the institutional logics approach, this thesis performs a case study analyzing the logics of the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem, two museums that are governed by the same organization. This institute has experienced several changes in its context over the past years as it was privatized from the municipality in 2009 and subsidies were reduced in 2013. In addition the subsidies are likely to be reduced again this year. Furthermore, the previous director who has been in his position at the institute for fourteen years has retired and is being replaced by a new director, who most likely will re-evaluate the organizational practices. It is argued that the public logic of the institute has been complemented by a private logic. Both logics are able to co-exist through loose-coupling of organizational practices from organizational objectives. In this situation, the organizational practices are decided upon through a private logic while the organizational objectives have remained steady and are based on a public logic. While having steady objectives is essential this thesis questions whether loose-coupling is desirable as practices may no longer contribute to achieving objectives. Moreover, fragmentation of identification and practices may result from loose-coupling where the organization positions itself as an autopoietic system, separated from its environment, and where internal actors and departments withdraw themselves as autopoietic systems as well. Furthermore, loose-coupling constrains strategic behavior and often results in decision-making based on the garbage-can model where decisions are made in a specific time and context but are not a reflection of the organizational objectives in the long term.