Institution: coordinated group of social face-groups.

Institutions are the means or organized human society, and come in many kinds, such as firms, guilds, governments, churches, universities, schools. They generally have their own leadership, ends and norms, and are actively maintained and often indeed (in part) enforced by leaders and members, and tend to consist of many groups of face-groups that exist to serve specific ends of the institution.

The term "institution" is used in varies senses, and the following is a part of reading 7. for it in the Shorter OED of 1933: "An establishment, organization, or association, instituted for the promotion of some object (..)"