Showing papers in "Administrative Science Quarterly in 1973"

Size, Composition, and Function of Hospital Boards of Directors: A Study of Organization-Environment Linkage

Abstract: 1 The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mr. Claude Graeff in the data collection effort, and the support of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Illinois. In a study of 57 hospitals in a large midwestern state, the determinants of the size, composition, and function of boards of directors were examined. The function of the board was partly explained by the organizational context, and particularly the ownership and source of funds. The size of the board of directors was related to the requirements for successful linkage with the environment and with the function of the board. The composition of the board was related to the social context in which the organization is embedded, as well as to the function of the board. Finally, board function and composition did have an impact on the hospital's ability to obtain community support and on organizational effectiveness, defined as the ability to attract resources from the environment. It was concluded that boards of directors of formal organizations can be productively analyzed as one possible mechanism linking the organization with its environment.'

Elite Values Versus Organizational Structure in Predicting Innovation

Abstract: Jerald Hage and Robert Dewar This paper compares the predictive power of the concept of elite values with leader values, member values, and the three structural variables of complexity, centralization, and formalization. Elite values proved to be slightly better predictors than either leader values or complexity. When elite values and complexity were combined, there was a considerable increase in the amount of variance explained indicating that these variables are independent. Three contrasting definitions of the elite were considered but one proved a better predictor than the other two.

Predicting and Understanding Organization Structure.

Abstract: Size is examined as a predictor of organization structure with data from a British sample of business organizations, supplemented by findings from British labor unions, engineering firms, and the Aston sample of varied work organizations.' Where possible, comparison is also made with the results of an American study. While the broad outlines of formal organization structures are predictable with a high degree of confidence from a knowledge of organization size, a comparison of size-structure regressions across different industries suggests that other variables must also be taken into account. A solution, more satisfying both theoretically and statistically, emerges when complexity is distinguished from other aspects of structure which more directly constitute the framework of bureaucratic control-namely, the degree of formalization and decentralization. It is then found that while size, with technology, location and environmental variables, predicts complexity, the degree of complexity itself has a more direct relationship with formalization than does size. Size, however, remains the major predictor of decentralization. It is concluded that, in the organizations studied, complexity cannot be satisfactorily predicted or fully understood without reference to the economics of scale, but that it is neither theoretically convincing nor statistically demonstrable that size in itself is the major determinant of formalization.

On the Measurement of the Environment: An Assessment of the Lawrence and Lorsch Environmental Uncertainty Subscale

Abstract: The contingency approach is currently in vogue in organization theory. If certain important environmental parameters can be specified, the best form of organization can be determined. This approach is reminiscent of some of the criticism leveled at Taylor and Fayol, that is, they believed that there is one best way. Modern theorists associated with the contingency school now argue that there is one best way, but it all depends. Thompson noted that recent work searches for patterned variations, for the optimal choice of organization structure and administrative practices in the face of relevant situational factors (Thompson, 1967). Burns and Stalker (1961), Woodward (1965), and Lawrence and Lorsch (1969) all adopted a contingency approach. Their arguments, possessing considerable validity on the surface and generally presented in beguilingly simple form, centered on the existence of an optimal fit between organization structure and some contingency factor such as technology, situational favorability, environmental uncertainty, and so on. Lawrence and Lorsch (1969) argued, for instance, that organization success requires the maintenance of differentiation and integration consistent with the demands of the environment. Firms facing a stable, certain environment may find bureaucratic organization structure adequate for achievement of proper integration and differentiation, while a more uncertain environment would preclude effective use of the same form. Other researchers focused on different dimensions of this fit. Pugh (1963), for instance, considered interrelationships between entire sets of variables-contextual, structural, group, and individual. Morse (1970) suggested that proper fit may enhance not only productivity, but also worker "sense of competence motivation." Fiedler (1967) drew certain conclusions about appropriate and effective leadership styles based on the interaction of three situational variables. Central to this research is the adequate specification of moderator variable characteristics. The validity of prescriptive statements which all of these theorists set forth is especially sensitive to errors in measurement of the contingency variable, for example, situational favorability, environmental uncertainty, technology, and so on. It is therefore both significant and unsettling that recent research findings cast doubt on either the accuracy of measurement of certain of these measures, their underlying meaning, or their sufficiency in isolating relevant environmental factors. Harvey (1968) has argued, for instance, against Woodward's measures of technology in favor of technical diffuseness or specificity, taking account of both the form of technology and the amount of change within a given form. Hunt (1970) concluded that a potential basis for the similarity found by Woodward between unit production and process organizations may be resolved by conceiving of two basically different kinds of organizations-one geared chiefly to per-

Relationships of perceptions of organizational climate to organizational structure, context, and hierarchical position.

Abstract: The authors would like to thank John Fairhead for his help with the fieldwork, Mrs. P. Clark and Mrs. R. Goodkin for their help in data handling, and Diana Pheysey for her many contributions to all aspects of the study. This paper considers the concept of organizational climate and examines the relationships to be expected between different aspects of climate and various dimensions of organizational structure and context. The suggested relationships are examined using data from 387 respondents working at all levels in 14 different work organizations. Examination of the effect of hierarchical level on perceptions of organizational climate showed significant variations by level.1

The Goal Paradigm and Notes Towards a Counter Paradigm

Abstract: The ideas contained in this paper were first developed in seminars held by Leon Peres at the University of Melbourne, 1968. 1 also wish to thank Josef Szwarc for his invaluable assistance and Colin Rubenstein and Rudolf Plehwe for their substantive suggestions. Organization theorists have faced many difficulties in conceptualizing organizational goals and understanding organizational behavior through them. This paper suggests that commitment to a goal paradigm has retarded analysis by requiring the disassociation of conceptual scheme from incompatible empirical findings on organizations. Barnard's incentive system analysis is seen as providing the foundations of a counter paradigm, and suggestions are made for its development along the lines indicated by his statement "the individual is the basic strategic factor in organization." Organizations are not viewed as analytically distinctive social units given meaning by their goals, but as arbitrary focusses of interest, marketplaces whose structures and processes are the outcomes of the complex accommodations made by actors exchanging a variety of incentives and pursuing a diversity of goals. @

An Evaluation of Causal Models Linking the Received Role with Job Satisfaction.

Abstract: This study of the relationship of the received role (that is, a person's perceptions of what other organization members expect of him) to satisfaction with one's job presents four plausible models based on four variables: role accuracy, compliance, performance evaluation, satisfaction. These models are evaluated by the Simon-Blalock technique according to how well they fit correlational data from a field study. Compliance and performance evaluation are shown to be important variables mediating the relationship between role accuracy and satisfaction. A revised model is presented that treats rewards and performance separately.'

Executive Recruitment and the Development of Interfirm Organizations

Abstract: The authors appreciate the thoughtful comments of Howard Aldrich, William Evan, and Mayer Zald on an earlier version of this article. This study develops a general model of the relationship between variables measuring organizational environments and executive succession within organizations, with particular emphasis on the role of executive movement in developing stable patterns of interorganizational interaction.1 Such factors as (1) the number of organizations in the industry, (2) the difference in industry concentration from a median value, (3) the growth rate in industry sales, (4) the rate of technological change, (5) the average debt to equity ratio, and (6) the average firm size are related to characteristics of executive recruitment for 20 manufacturing industries. It is found that the movement of executives between firms, which is one form of interorganizational communication, is consistent with hypotheses dealing with the possibility of developing coordinated structures of interorganizational behavior.

On the Dimensions of Bureaucratic Structure: An Empirical Reappraisal

Abstract: 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the Eastern Academy of Management Meetings in Philadelphia, May 1973. The author is grateful to Professor Anant Negandhi for his help and encouragement. The results of a comparative study of 19 United States manufacturing organizations using the Aston group's four abbreviated structural scales and seven other measures support the concept of a multidimensional bureaucratic structure space. Factor and cluster analyses yielded three independent dimensions of decentralization, specialization, and formalization. The results are interpreted to suggest not only that a multidimensional model of bureaucracy is superior to the unidimensional Weberian one, but that the dimensionality of the bureaucratic structure space may be a function of the socio-cultural environment of the organization unit being examined. The results imply that bureaucratic structure may conform to the equifinality principle, in that a variety of structural arrangements appear to be equally viable strategies for the various sample organizations.'

Bureaucracy and Centralization: An Examination of Organizational Structure.

Abstract: Roger Mansfield This article considers the Aston group's contention that Weber's concept of the bureaucratic type is no longer useful. In reviewing the group's methodology, it is concluded that the main variables in their research are scalar quantities, not vector quantities, as they suggest. A number of reinterpretations of the Aston variables are presented and the abandonment of bureaucratic type is found to be premature. The the relationship of bureaucracy to centralization of decision making is examined based on results from two empirical studies.

Three Studies of Measures of Need Satisfaction in Organizations

Abstract: 1 The authors acknowledge the comments of Pete Dachler, Dick Hackman, Tim Hall and Ed Lawler on earlier drafts of this paper. Data analyses reported in this paper were partially supported by the Computer Science Center, University of Maryland, College Park Campus. Three studies attempting to achieve convergence between different measures designed to assess need satisfaction in organizations are reported.1 Study I showed poor convergence between two measures of Maslow's concepts on a sample of 146 nurses. Study 11 showed poor convergence between Maslow and ERG measures in a sample of 217 bank employees. Study Ill showed some convergence where expected between Maslow and ERG measures for 522 employees in a life insurance company. Study Ill also showed some meaningful correlations between Maslow measures and the Job Description Index measure of job satisfaction and a high degree of convergence between ERG and JDI measures. Discussion of results from the different studies concerns the effect of differences in item format on construct intercorrelations and the need to know intermeasure convergence prior to making interstudy comparisons of results. It is suggested that the failure to find support for Maslow's need categories in organizational settings is due to: (1) an inadequate conceptualization which does not readily facilitate the development of operational indicators, and (2) the initial orientation of Maslow's theory which was not specifically aimed toward organizational settings.

Effects of Personal Values on the Relationship Between Participation and Job Attitudes.

Abstract: Support for this research was provided by the Scanlon Plan Associates. The authors are indebted to Dr. Carl Frost who directed the collection of the data and Dr. Frank Schmidt for his help and consideration with the study. The moderating effects of individual values on the relationships between participation in decision making and job attitudes were investigated for a sample of 2,755 employees from six manufacturing organizations. The correlations between participation in decision making and job attitudes were consistently positive and significant for the total sample and within the different value subgroups. No support was obtained for the hypothesized moderating effects of values on the relationships between participation and job attitudes. Possible methodological weaknesses are discussed, as well as the implication of these and other negative findings on generalizing about individual differences moderating this relationship.'

Japanese Blue Collar: The Changing Tradition.

Abstract: The use of Japan for comparative sociology is now extremely fashionable. In industrial sociology, the fall-out from the bomb exploded by Abegglen in 1958 is still noticeable. There appears to be an ever-present demand for articles and books on the peculiarities of Japanese society and culture and 'life-time commitment' is firmly fixed in students' minds as the basis of Japanese institutions. Cole's book has many virtues, but the most outstanding is the fact that it takes the debate beyond generalities and into the details of wage structure, workerlabour union and worker-supervisor relationships in two contrasting plants, a die-cast factory in Tokyo and a car components factory in a rural area in Honshu. The two groups of workers showed sharp contrasts in degrees of independence, union and work group militancy and political attitudes. The contrast lay between the 'sophisticated urban workers' of the Tokyo plant with minds of their own and the 'rural recruits' of the car plant who 'tended to identify uncritically with the fortunes of their company'. It is developed in the book into an argument about the importance of the hammer of social change in Japan. 'The cynicism and scepticism of the urban, high-schooleducated and mobile Tokyo die-cast workers, their willingness to exercise civil rights, their willingness to oppose management, their \"consumption fever\", their competitiveness and their instrumental use of traditional relationships are characteristics that can hardly be described as tradition bound and they are increasingly common.' Cole emphasizes, however, with some perception that Marxist ideological attitudes among workers are symbiotically related to traditional views of managerial authority. One is unlikely to change without the other. Because of absolute authority in the shop assured by managers, union leaders need the 'moral armour' of

An Alternate Approach to Labor-Management Relations.

Abstract: The research on which this article is based was supported by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant MH-16437) and the School of Business Administration, University of Colorado. The authors are indebted to David Summers, Kenneth Boulding, Thomas Stewart, Ernest Flack, Peter Boyle, Karene Will, Margaret Marshall, and the six negotiators from Dow Chemical Company and the Allied and Technical Workers' Union for their assistance. This study applies social judgment theory and interactive computer graphics to labor-management negotiations.1 It is based on a reenactment of actual negotiations. Self-understanding and understanding of one's counterpart were found generally to be poor. Union negotiators showed a high degree of agreement with one another whereas management did not. Two pairs of negotiators given feedback from the computer graphics device achieved consensus. Participants reported gaining new insights and indicated that the use of interactive graphics is feasible and desirable.

An Analysis of Clique Formation and Structure in Organizations.

Abstract: The organizational literature has long acknowledged the effects of various formal organizational variables on informal structure. Nevertheless, very few systematic and empirically testable propositions have been formulated specifying relationships in this area. In this article a number of testable propositions are developed which relate the variables of compliance, mobility and size to motivation for clique formation and to constraints within which cliques form. A typology of five clique types (1) coercive cliques, (2) normative cliques, (3) high-mobility utilitarian cliques, (4) seniority utilitarian cliques, and (5) no-mobility utilitarian cliques, is discussed.

Parkinson's Progress: Accounting for the Number of Specialists in Organizations

Abstract: The research on which this study is based was carried out at the Industrial Administration Research Unit, The University of Aston in Birmingham, England, and at the London Graduate School of Business Studies. It was supported by the Social Science Research Council. The author is grateful to Martin Evans, Roger Mansfield, Bruce Mayhew and Derek Pugh for their comments on a previous draft. Hypotheses on the determinants of the supportive component in organizations are reviewed and examined in the light of data from 54 British manufacturing companies. Total employment in supportive activities displays a strong linear relationship to total organizational employment. Spatial dispersion, technological complexity and the number of workflow divisions also provide a basis for predicting total employment in supportive activities. The supportive component is, however, a heterogeneous category, with two clusters appearing around activities to support and control the workflow, and activities to maintain resources. Moreover, total organizational employment does not strongly predict employment levels in all specialized supportive functions. Variables other than organizational size are associated with the numbers of individuals in specialized supportive categories in a way that is more complex than accounted for by available theories.

Comparative Urban Structure from an Interorganizational Perspective

Abstract: consensus and community-wide voluntary associations. An interorganizational view of the city also implies that a certain level of abstract consensus is likely among organizations. Either because of their search for predictability in uncertain environments (Form and Miller, 1960: 6; Emery and Trist, 1965; Terreberry, 1968) or because of their penetration by broader structures, like nonlocally based organizations or community federations (Parsons, 1960; Eisenstadt, 1965; Warren, 1970), organizations can hold certain abstract and overarching norms and values in common that regulate their interaction with one another. One might expect that the greater a community's organizational density, the more likely is such penetration to occur and thus the more likely are shared standards (Coleman, 1957; Stinchcombe, 1965). The integration associated with shared standards is partly a function of voluntary associations having uncontested, communitywide significance. Belonging to a general class of structures having integrative significance for broader social contexts (Goldhammer, 1964; Babchuk and Edwards, 1965), voluntary associations often pursue diffuse goals that may reflect whatever consensus exists among the other organizations in the

Analysis of Public Systems.

Abstract: This book presents leading recent studies on the application of formal modeling for improved delivery of public services It very significantly updates and extends the type of material found in "Operations Research for Public Systems" (MIT Press, 1967), which began to organize studies about public systems Most of the chapters can be read with or without detailed consideration of their technical content For clarity and compactness, much of the intermediate mathematical detail is referenced to other sources The editors and authors have striven to make it possible for administrators, who may have limited analytic backgrounds, to use this book to develop their own views on the place of formal analysis in system planning and operationContents: "Introduction, " Alvin W Drake, Ralph L Keeney, and Philip M Morse; "From Inside the System, " Frederick O'R Hayes; "Analysis and Urban Government, " Peter L Szanton; "Public Systems Analysis: A Consultant's View, " Martin L Ernst; "Afterthoughts on Four Urban Systems Studies Performed with Small Cities, " W Edward Cushen; "A Critique of Formal Analysis in Public Decision Making, " Ralph L Keeney and Howard Raiffa; "Quantitative Models in Public Administration: Some Educational Needs, " Alvin W Drake; "The New York City Fire Project, " Edward H Blum; "Emergency Ambulance Transportation, " Keith A Stevenson; "Improving the Effectiveness of New York City's 911, " Richard C Larson; "Methods for Allocating Urban Emergency Units, " Jan M Chaiken and Richard C Larson; "Blood Bank Inventory Control, " John B Jennings; "Library Models, " Philip M Morse; "Efficient Operation of Runways, " Amedeo Odoni; "Post Office Mail Processing Operations, " Charles C McBride; "Driver Accident Models and Their Use in Policy Evaluation, " Joseph Ferreira, Jr; "Analysis of a Total Criminal Justice System, " Alfred Blumstein and Richard C Larson; "Water Quality Management, " David H Marks; "A Rational Approach for Government Decisions concerning Air Pollution, " Howard M Ellis and Ralph L Keeney; "Analysis in Health Planning, " Robert N Grosse; "Puerto Rico's Citizen Feedback System, " John D C Little, Chandler H Stevens, and Peter Tropp; "A Study of the Education Process: The Structure of a Lesson, " R W Revans; "Operations Research in University Planning, " Robert M Oliver; "Use of Decision Analysis in Airport Development for Mexico City, " Richard deNeufville and Ralph L Keeney

Exchange Between Superiors and Subordinates in Large Organizations.

Abstract: Social exchange theory is used to formulate hypotheses about superior-subordinate relations in large complex organizations. The behavior of superiors were characterized as expressive and instrumental. These two modal types of behavior can be considered reconceptualizations of the human relations and Weberian models of supervisory behavior, respectively, into exchange terms. It was predicted that both modes increased subordinates' social profit, resulting in increased loyalty to the superior, greater compliance with his demands, and reduced conflict between the two organizational levels. However, intermediary exchange processes differ in the two categorizations. Expressive behavior deemphasizes status distinctions and fosters supportive work environment thus reducing subordinates' costs of interaction on the job. Instrumental behavior maintains distinctions in status between the two levels, providing rewards to subordinates. Data from self-administered questionnaires, collected in one district of a large Midwestern organization, are used to support the hypotheses derived from the theoretical model and suggest the utility of further research using social exchange theory.

The Biography of an institution : the civil service commission of Canada, 1908-1967

Abstract: This book is the first full-scale study of the history of the Civil Service Commission of Canada, an organization launched on a wave of civil service reform to uphold the merit principle of selection. The historical narrative culminates in the 1967 legislation which reshaped personnel policy in the federal bureaucracy and set the Public Service Commission on its contemporary path. Attention is directed to the economy-efficiency role of the Commission, the changing perspectives of the staff associations, and the growth of the Treasury Board's powers in personnel policy. In the final chapter, the authors examine the effects of the administration of the merit principle on personnel policy regarding veterans, French Canadians and women.

Structural Determinants of Individual Behavior in Organizations.

Abstract: A new way of looking at organizational structure and its effects on the attitudes and behavior of those within the organization is presented.' Measures are generated which reflect an individual's position in the structure in terms of variables that are applicable to all groups and organizations. These include status, influence, and the direct and indirect linkages between persons in a network of interactions. Empirical results are presented which show that these measures are significantly related among themselves, to characteristics of interpersonal relationships, and to measures of attitudes and job behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of these data are discussed.