Showing papers in "Administrative Science Quarterly in 1976"
TL;DR: Weick as discussed by the authors argued that the concept of loose coupling incorporates a surprising number of disparate observations about organizations, suggests novel functions, creates stubborn problems for methodologists, and generates intriguing questions for scholars.
Abstract: Karl E. Weick In contrast to the prevailing image that elements in organizations are coupled through dense, tight linkages, it is proposed that elements are often tied together frequently and loosely. Using educational organizations as a case in point, it is argued that the concept of loose coupling incorporates a surprising number of disparate observations about organizations, suggests novel functions, creates stubborn problems for methodologists, and generates intriguing questions for scholars. Sample studies of loose coupling are suggested and research priorities are posed to foster cumulative work with this concept.1
6,410Â citations
TL;DR: Mintzberg et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed a general model to describe the interrelationships among strategic decision processes in terms of 12 elements: 3 central phases, 3 sets of supporting routines, and 6 sets of dynamic factors.
Abstract: Henry Mintzberg, Duru Raisinghani, and Andre Theoret A field study of 25 strategic decision processes, together with a review of the related empirical literature, suggests that a basic structure underlies these \"unstructured\" processes. This structure is described in terms of 12 elements: 3 central phases, 3 sets of supporting routines, and 6 sets of dynamic factors. This paper discusses each of these elements in turn, and then proposes a general model to describe the interrelationships among them. The 25 strategic decision processes studied are then shown to fall into 7 types of path configurations through the model.'
3,713Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a double-loop model is proposed as providing feedback and more effective decision-making, in which the potential role of learning and feedback in the decision making process is largely ignored.
Abstract: September 1 976, volu me 21 Some current research and theory on organizational decision making from the political science literature is examined, in which the potential role of learning and feedback in the decision-making process is largely ignored. An espoused theory of action based on single-loop learning is found to be the most general model of action. A double-loop model is proposed as providing feedback and more effective decision making.
1,142Â citations
988Â citations
TL;DR: The work in this paper was conducted while the author held a fellowship in the United StatesFrance Exchange of Scientists Program jointly administered by the National Science Foundation and the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique.
Abstract: The author acknowledges the considerable research assistance of R. Ernest Baumann and William T. Bielby in the preparation of this article and the critical comments of Howard Aldrich, J. Kenneth Benson, Jean de Kervasdou6, and William Starbuck on an earlier version. Much of this article was written while the author held a fellowship in the United StatesFrance Exchange of Scientists Program jointly administered by the National Science Foundation and the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique. The support of the Centre de Recherche en Gestion at the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, was instrumental in the completion of the manuscript.
927Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a model of individual socialization into organizations is presented and tested, which identifies three distinct stages of socialization, specifies the activities engaged in by an individual at each stage, and specifies the personal and organizational contingencies that control an individual's movement through the stages.
Abstract: September 1976, volume 21 A model of individual socialization into organizations is presented and tested. The model (a) identifies three distinct stages of socialization, (b) specifies the activities engaged in by an individual at each stage, and (c) specifies the personal and organizational contingencies that control an individual's movement through the stages. Interview and questionnaire data collected from 118 hospital employees -nurses, nurse's aides, radiology technologists, tradesmen, and accounting clerks -were used to develop, refine, and test the model. The model basically was supported by the data. Four variables are identified as possible outcomes of the socialization process: general satisfaction, mutual influence, internal work motivation, and job involvement. Two of these variables general satisfaction and mutual influence are empirically linked with important aspects of the socialization process, and are shown to increase steadily as individuals progress through socialization. The differences between the socialization experiences of professional, paraprofessional, and nonprofessional workers are identified and explained, and implications for the conduct of socialization programs are drawn.1
821Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined and classified public inquiries into behavior connected with three major disasters to study the conditions under which large-scale intelligence failures develop, including rigidities in institutional beliefs, distracting decoy phenomena, neglect of outside complaints, multiple information-handling difficulties, exacerbation of the hazards by strangers, failure to comply with regulations, and a tendency to minimize emergent danger.
Abstract: September 1 976, volume 21 Public inquiries into behavior connected with three major disasters are examined and classified to study the conditions under which large-scale intelligence failures develop. Common causal features are rigidities in institutional beliefs, distracting decoy phenomena, neglect of outside complaints, multiple information-handling difficulties, exacerbation of the hazards by strangers, failure to comply with regulations, and a tendency to minimize emergent danger. Such features form part of the incubation stage in a sequence of disaster development, accumulating unnoticed until a precipitating event leads to the onset of the disaster and a degree of cultural collapse. Recommendations following public inquiries are seen as part of a process of cultural readjustment after a disaster, allowing the ill-structured problem which led to the failure to be absorbed into the culture in a well-structured form. The sequence model of intelligence failure presented and the discussion of cases are intended to offer a paradigm for discussion of less tragic, but equally important organizational and interorganizational failures of foresight.
780Â citations
TL;DR: Hedberg and Starbuck as mentioned in this paper describe how an organization can be designed to meet social and technological changes and to reap advantage from them, by putting together processes, the generators of behaviors.
Abstract: Bo L. T. Hedberg, Paul C. Nystrom, and William H. Starbuck This article prescribes how an organization can be designed to meet social and technological changes and to reap advantage from them. Long-term viability maximizes in a self-designing organization, in which those who perform activities take primary responsibility for learning and for inventing new methods, and in which nonparticipant designers restrict themselves to a catalytic role. Such an organization is formed by putting together processes, the generators of behaviors. Although the complex interactions among processes make designers' forecasts unreliable, serious future problems can be avoided by keeping processes dynamically balanced. The desired balance can be caricatured with six aphorisms:
698Â citations
661Â citations
523Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the Manpower Administration, United States Department of Labor, under research and development contract (grant) No. 31-0570-07-A, and under a grant from the Research Program on Management in the Arts, Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
Abstract: This report was prepared for the Manpower Administration, United States Department of Labor, under research and development contract (grant) No. 31-0570-07-A, and under a grant from the Research Program on Management in the Arts, Graduate School of Management, UCLA. Since contractors (grantees) conducting research and development projects under Government sponsorship are encouraged to express their own judgment freely, this report does not necessarily represent the official opinion or policy of the Department of Labor. The contractor (grantee) is solely responsible for the contents of this report.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply the methodology of System Dynamics together with a corporate framework to modeling a typical large magazine publishing company and test the assumptions built into the model are tested by an empirical study of the old Saturday Evening Post Experiments with a simulation version of the model.
Abstract: June 1976, volume 21 The peculiar circumstances surrounding the demise of mass circulation magazines, such as Life, Look, and the old Saturday Evening Post, are explained from a systems point of view. The methodology of System Dynamics together with a corporate framework is applied to modeling a typical large magazine publishing company. The advantages and pitfalls associated with this methodology are discussed. The assumptions built into the model are tested by an empirical study of the old Saturday Evening Post Experiments with a simulation version of the model lead to an understanding of how the system reacts, both in the short and long run, to changes to the management control variables such as subscription and advertising "rates." This understanding of the dynamic relation among the parts of the publishing system is used as a basis for interpreting the phases of the rise and fall of the old Saturday Evening Post Similarities to other magazines are noted and some implications are drawn for this method of studying the systemic pathology of organizations.'
TL;DR: In this paper, the responses of employees in administrative organizations in Israel and Holland to the introduction of automatic data processing through electronic computers were studied. But the results were limited to the first three months of the 1990s.
Abstract: This study is part of a larger research project on the responses of employees in administrative organizations in Israel and Holland to the introduction of automatic data processing through electronic computers. For a more detailed analysis, see Elizur (1970) and Elizur and Ushpiz (1973). The authors thank Aaron Antonovsky, Howard Fromkin, and Ben Schneider for their valuable comments on an earlier draft.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored factors associated with role conflict and ambiguity in top-level administrators in public agencies and found that interorganizational variables tended to account for the largest amount of variance in role conflict, and intraorganizational factors accounted for the smallest amount of variability in role ambiguity.
Abstract: December 1976, volume 21 This study explores factors associated with role conflict and ambiguity in top-level administrators in public agencies. Research is reviewed, on possible organizational and interorganizational antecedents. Despite the fact that toplevel administrators devote a considerable proportion of their time to relations with other units, interorganizational factors have not been included in models of role conflict. Data were obtained in structured personal interviews with 102 top-level county administrators. As demonstrated by regression analysis, interorganizational variables tended to account for the largest amount of variance in role conflict, and intraorganizational variables accounted for the largest amount of variance in role ambiguity. Interorganizational variables were stronger independent determinants of role conflict than intraorganizational variables were of role ambiguity.
TL;DR: The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Hugo van Hassel and Roger Depre, Vervolmakingscentrum Voor Bedrijfsleiding en Administratie, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in the design and execution of this study.
Abstract: The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Hugo van Hassel and Roger Depre, Vervolmakingscentrum Voor Bedrijfsleiding en Administratie, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in the design and execution of this study. Computer funds were provided by the Western Societies Program of the Center for International Studies, Cornell University. We want to express our appreciation to Howard Aldrich and Howard Schwartz for helpful comments on earlier versions. The comments of Jonathan Reader and Lawrence French were especially helpful. Finally we want to thank Pam Kline for typing this manuscript.
TL;DR: In this paper, participativeness, centralization, and organizational autonomy were analyzed conceptually and operationally and subsequently related to five indicators of organizational effectiveness, including total production, decline in production, financial loss due to errors, morale and anxiety.
Abstract: December 1976, volume 21 In this study participativeness, centralization, and organizational autonomy were analyzed conceptually and operationally and subsequently related to five indicators of organizational effectiveness. The criteria of effectiveness included total production, decline in production, financial loss due to errors, morale and anxiety. The individual and joint effects of the influence variables on organizational effectiveness were very strong. Participative, decentralized, and autonomous organizations are more effective. The implications of these results are discussed.
TL;DR: Beyer et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed the distribution of influence in terms of the sharing of influence across hierarchical levels in decision making across universities in two countries, and drew a distinction between decentralization and collegiality.
Abstract: Janice M. Beyer and Thomas M. Lodahl University-environment relations, administration, and the functioning of organizational subunits are considered in a cross-cultural comparison of universities in two countries. The distribution of influence is analyzed in terms of the sharing of influence in decision making across hierarchical levels. A distinction is drawn between decentralization and collegiality. Data were collected from a stratified random sample of 80 academic departments in 46 major universities in the United States and 12 schools of study in 2 English universities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors made use of the subjects and training time necessary for the conduct of the study, which was conducted by Major General W. Fulton, then commanding the 9th Infantry Division and Lieutenant General S.B. Berry, then the commander of the United States Army Military Personnel Center.
Abstract: The authors wish to thank Major General W. Fulton, then commanding the 9th Infantry Division, and Lieutenant General S.B. Berry, then the commander of the United States Army Military Personnel Center, for making available the subjects and training time necessary for the conduct of the study. Special thanks also are due to Terrence R. Mitchell, M. Peter Scontrino, and Linda Mahar for their editorial assistance; to David Goldsmith for specialized computer programming; and to David L. Taylor, Carol Crawford, and Susan Koepsell for their assistance in data collection and coding tasks.