Showing papers in "Administrative Science Quarterly in 1982"

Representing and testing organizational theories: A holistic construal.

Abstract: This research was supported by a Senior Fulbright Research Grant to R. P. Bagozzi and a grant to L. W. Phillips from the Distribution Research and Educational Foundation (DREF), National Association of Wholesale Distributors, Washington, DC. Special thanks go to Dirk Van Dongen, Executive Director of DREF, and Ron Schreibman, Director of Research, for their assistance throughout the project. The contributions made to the research by Louis W. Stern, Northwestern University, are gratefully acknowledged. Comments on an earlier draft by Claes Fornell, University of Michigan, Barbara Lawrence and Alvin Silk, MIT, and V. Srinivasan and Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford University, also contributed to ideas presented in this paper, as did suggestions made by the editors. A holistic construal is presented to represent and test organizational theories, using examples from contemporary organizational theory and data from a recent study of wholesale distribution companies. The methodology provides a mechanism for linking theory construction and theory testing in organization research by explicitly representing theoretical and empirical concepts, nonobservational hypotheses, and correspondence rules. Unlike traditional methods used for construct validation and hypothesis testing, the methodology permits the researcher to model the extent of random and systematic error in measures of theoretical concepts and to control these sources of error when testing substantive hypotheses. Comparisons made between the holistic construal and traditional procedures show how the latter can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the status of a theory's constructs, hypotheses, and measures.

Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Challenge.

Abstract: Proposes a new form of business management that focuses on long-range planning, strong corporate philosophy, and concensus decision-making to help American corporations meet the challenge of Japan.

Adapting to environmental jolts.

Abstract: This paper examines organizational adaptations to an environmental jolt--a sudden and unprecedented event (in this case, a doctors' strike)-- that created a natural experiment within a group of hospitals. Although adaptations were diverse and appeared anomalous, they are elucidated by considering the hospitals' antecedent strategies, structures, ideologies, and stockpiles of slack resources. Assessments of the primacy of the antecedents suggest that ideological and strategic variables are better predictors of adaptations to jolts than are structural variables or measures of organizational slack. Although abrupt changes in environments are commonly thought to jeopardize organizations, environmental jolts are found to be ambiguous events that offer propitious opportunities for organizational learning, administrative drama, and introducing unrelated changes.

Managerial Response to Changing Environments: Perspectives on Problem Sensing from Social Cognition.

Abstract: ? 1982 by Cornell University. 000 1-8392/82/2704-0548/$00.7 5 This paper characterizes managerial problem sensing, a necessary precondition for managerial activity directed toward organizational adaptation, as composed of noticing, interpreting, and incorporating stimuli. It then reviews the constituent social cognition processes that make certain kinds of problem-sensing behavior, including errors, relatively likely to occur. Implications for the organizational issues of crisis, chance events, break points, and extreme change are explored.

The Effects of Group Longevity on Project Communication and Performance.

Abstract: In his research on engineering project teams, for example, Allen (1977) carefully demonstrated that only 11 percent of the sources of new ideas and information could be attributed to written media; the rest ocurred through interpersonal communications. This study investigated the communication behaviors and performances of 50 R&D project groups that varied in terms of group longevity, as measured by the average length of time project members had worked together. Analyses revealed that project groups became increasingly isolated from key information sources both within and outside their organizations with increasing stability in project membership. Such reductions in project communication were also shown to affect adversely the technical performance of project groups. Furthermore, variations in communication activities were more associated with the tenure composition of project groups than with the project tenures of individual engineers. These findings are presented and discussed in the more general terms of what happens in project groups with increasing group longevity.

Input uncertainty and organizational coordination in hospital emergency units.

Abstract: The relationships among input uncertainty, means of coordination, and criteria of the organizational effectiveness of hospital emergency units were explored using data from 30 emergency units in six midwestern states. Input uncertainty generally was not associated with the use of various means of coordination. However, input uncertainty affected relationships between the means of coordination and the effectiveness criteria. Specifically, programmed means of coordination made a greater contribution to organizational effectiveness under conditions of low uncertainty than under conditions of high uncertainty. Conversely, nonprogrammed means of coordination made a greater contribution to organizational effectiveness when uncertainty was high than when it was low. Findings were interpreted and suggestions were advanced as to how emergency units might best solve their coordination problems under varying conditions of uncertainty.

Organizational Mortality in the Newspaper Industries of Argentina and Ireland: An Ecological Approach

Abstract: This research was supported by NIMH Grant #2T232MH15149-03 to the Organizations Research Training Program at Stanford University and by NSF Grant #SOC78-12315 to Michael T. Hannan and Nancy Brandon Tuma. During part of the writing stage, Carroll was a guest professor at Zentrum fur Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen in Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany. We wish to thank Michael Hannan and John Meyer for comments on an earlier draft.

Strategy and Structure in Multinational Corporations: An Information- Processing Approach

Abstract: This research was made possible in part by a grant from the Strategy Research Center, Columbia University, Graduate School of Business. The author would like to thank Professors William H. Newman, William K. Brandt, James M. Hulbert, and Michael L. Tushman for their valuable comments and assistance during the study. This study attempts to extend current understanding of the relationship between an organization's structure and its strategy. The study uses an information-processing approach to develop a model for evaluating the goodness of fit between strategy and structure in multinational corporations. Hypotheses drawn from the model are tested with data from 34 U.S. and European multinationals. The hypotheses are generally confirmed, thus supporting both the importance of fit between strategy and structure in organizations and the value of the information-processing model as a means for better understanding the critical relationships between strategy and structure.

Organizational Structure and the Institutional Environment: The Case of Public Schools.

Abstract: Work on this paper was partially supported by a grant from the Texas Christian University Research Foundation. The author wishes to thank John W. Meyer, W. Richard Scott, Lynn Zucker, and two anonymousASQ reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper. Revisions of the manuscript were supported bya grant from the National Institute of Education, Department of Education, under Contract No. 400-80-0103. The contents of this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Education and the National Institute of Education. This paper develops an institutional approach to the problem of administrative expansion in public schools. It is argued that public schools add and subtract administrative positions to come into isomorphism with prevailing norms, values, and technical lore in the institutional environment. Using historical data on school districts in California, the natural histories of three specific types of administrative services were traced from their emergence as innovations to their diffusion and retention at the local level. The historical data revealed that administrative services supported by balanced institutional environments diffused morewidelyandwere morestably retained atthe local level than were services supported by imbalanced institutional environments. Further data analysis contrasted the institutional approach with more common approaches that stress size as a causal factor promoting innovation and structural differentiation. The data revealed that organizational size alone was an insufficient explanation for structural expansion and demonstrated the utility of examining the institutional determinants of organizational structures-

Power, Performance, and Succession in the Large Corporation

Abstract: The authors wish to thank Mayer N. Zald, Jeffrey Pfeffer, William H. Form, Curt Tausky, Donald A. Dillman, and several anonymous ASQ reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. This research examines the effects of managerial power and corporate performance on managerial tenure and longevity and the probability of managerial succession in 242 large industrial corporations between 1971 and 1980. The power of a chief executive officer is defined in terms of his relationship to any family represented on the board of directors that controls a significant block of the voting stock in the corporation. Managerial power was directly related to both managerial tenure and longevity, even controlling for the effects of corporate performance. Similarly, managerial power was inversely related to the probability of managerial succession during periods of poor corporate performance. These relationships were contingent, however, on the extent of stock ownership by the controlling family. Finally, although the proportion of internal directors had no effect on either managerial tenure or longevity, it did have an effect, along with corporate performance, on the degree of internal recruitment for a successor to the chief executive officer.*

A study of upward influence in organizations.

Abstract: ? 1982 by Cornell University. 0001 -839218212702-03041$00.75 This study examines the process of upward influence in organizations from the perspectives of both the subordinate and the supervisor. The study provides a list of categories and supporting data for the agents and methods of influence, the perceived causes of success and failure, and the perceived outcomes in upward-influence episodes. The results suggestthat subordinates and supervisors report (1) similar agents and methods of influence used by subordinates in both successful and unsuccessful attempts; (2) similar outcomes of attempts to influence; and (3) similar causes of success in upward influence attempts. Subordinates and supervisors, however, report different causes of failure. This study also examines the structural, individual, and situational factors that are associated with success and failure in upward influence activity.

Correlates of Whistle-Blowers' Perceptions of Organizational Retaliation

Abstract: 1 Since whistle-blowing may also occur in nonbureaucratic organizations, our study was not limited to bureaucratic organizations. The process of public whistle-blowing and the organizational responses to it are explored, with particular emphasis on retaliation. Individuals who had filed complaints of unfair employment discrimination completed questionnaires about the organizational retaliation that followed their whistle-blowing. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that organizations were more likely to retaliate both against whistle-blowers who were valued by the organization because of their age, experience, or education, and against whistle-blowers whose cases lacked public support, than against other whistle-blowers.*

Empowering nets of participation.

Abstract: To test the implications of field work in a psychiatric hospital for children, this study focuses on the effects of network properties of organizational units, personal network position, and other individual attributes, on individual power. The contextual analysis is carried out by two linked regression equations, one at the individual and one at the contextual level, a procedure that has methodological advantages over a single regression model. The results suggest that sheer complexity can undermine inequalities among bureaucratic units and occupational groups, and that organizational democracy is fostered when complex role relations promote extensive interunit communication. Specifically, we find that a main mechanism that endows individuals with power is found in the local domains of participation, i.e., the organizational units of which they are members, and that the capacity of such a unit to empower its members depends on its integration in organization-wide communication networks. The basis of this integration is conceived as overlapping circles of weak ties that inhibit segmentation along occupational or organizational lines and sustain wide participation by rewarding those who participate.

The Effects of Marriage and a Working Wife on Occupational and Wage Attainment.

Abstract: The data used in this study were obtained from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. The data were originally collected by the Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University. Neitherthe original collectors of the data nor the Consortium bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented in this paper. In a study of a national random sample of mature male managerial, professional, and blue-collarworkers, the positive effects of being married and the negative effects of having a working wife on both occupational status and wage attainment were observed most strongly for the professional and managerial subsamples. These results are consistent with both a conformance-to-social expectations and wife-as-career resource arguments, but not as consistent with either human capital/market-signalling or distributive justice arguments. The effects of specific organizational tenure, education, and socioeconomic origins on both forms of attainment tended to be stronger for managers than for professionals, and, in turn, than for the blue-collar respondents. These results are consistent with the different need for control, given the uncertainty of evaluation and performance and importance of the jobs (higher for managers and professionals than for others), and the different mechanisms for achieving control. Professional control is achieved more through extraorganizational mechanisms, while managerial control is achieved through background, certification, and tenure, which tend to be associated with compliance to the normative structure.

Classwide Rationality in the Politics of Managers and Directors of Large Corporations in the United States and Great Britain

Abstract: The support of the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged (SOC77-06658). The assistance of numerous individuals was invaluable to the completion of this study, especially that of Philip Antweiler, Gladys Delp, Russell Epker, Arthur Francis, Carmenza Gallo, John Hoops, Jerome Karabel, Carol Keller, Arlene McCormack, Francine Miller, S. M. Miller, Susan Sorensen, David Swartz, Linda Tren holm, and Dorothy Wedderburn. The institutional assistance of Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, and University of California, Santa Cruz, is greatly appreciated. Opposed theories of relations between business and government in advanced capitalist democracies are predicated on contrary assumptions concerning the capacity of the managers and directors of large corporations to act upon their political interests. An assumption of corporate rationality presumes that the corporate elite is largely incapable of identifying and promoting its common political objectives; an assumption of classwide rationality presu mes that such a capacity is present. This article examines these and related assumptions about the internal social organization of the corporate elite in the United States and Great Britain. Inclusive and diffusely structured networks of economic and social relations among the largest corporations are found in both countriesto provide a foundation fora special segment of the elite whose political interests transcend individual firms and whose internal cohesion facilitates expression of those interests in the political process. This politically dominant segment enters into contact with government in ways that favor promotion of classwide policies and disfavor more parochial outlooks. Challenge to the position of large business, whether from the labor movement in Great Britain orthe national government in the United States, is shown to have further consolidated the political capacities of this segment. Though corporate rationality still characterizes much of the internal organization of the corporate community, classwide rationality now characterizes its highest circles.

An Action-Research Program for Increasing Employee Involvement in Problem Solving.

Abstract: Describes the use of participative action research to solve problems of work-related employee injuries in a rural midwestern electronics plant by increasing employee involvement. The researchers established an employee problem-solving group that interviewed and surveyed workers, analyzed the results, and suggested new work arrangements. (Author/RW) Language: en

Centrality in Corporate Interlock Networks: Reliability and Stability

Abstract: I There is a terminological difficulty to be noted here. "Centrality" has both a generic and a particular meaning in this paper. Generically, "centrality" refers to any of three intuitive conceptions: degree (connectedness), closeness, and betweenness (Freeman, 1979). In its particular sense, "centrality" refers to any variation of a measurement technique introduced by Phillip Bonacich (1972a, 1972b) and further elaborated in Bearden et al. (1975), Mariolis (1975), and Mariolis, Schwartz, and Mintz (1979). When using it in this latter sense, we generally refer to "centrality scores," or to "directional" and "nondirectional" centrality. In other cases, the context should make clear which of the two meanings we intend. This paper addresses a series of empirical, methodological, and theoretical questions raised by examining the reliability and stability of centrality in corporate interlock networks. Data on the interlocking directorates of 1094 large U.S. corporations in 1962, 1964, and 1966 are analyzed with a test-retest simultaneous equation model. The results confirm the common, but little tested, assumptions that centrality measures are highly reliable and stable. Further, we find that, of three measures examined (number of interlocks, nondirectional centrality, and directional centrality), number of interlocks is slightly more reliable or stable than the other two. Finally, the results show that the centrality of banks is more stable than the centrality of nonbanks. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings.*

Tightening up Loose Coupling in Organizations of Higher Education.

Abstract: ? 1982 by Cornell University. 0001 -839218212704-06531$00.75 Organizational researchers and practicing administrators in institutions of higher education during the last several years have accepted loose-coupling and garbage can models as accurate descriptions of universities and colleges. In this article, I examine the basic assumptions of these models and point to some of the practical outcomes of administrating universities according to these models and to some of the pitfalls of using the models as research paradigms. Further, I propose a model from political anthropology that accounts equally well for some of the same data. Finally, I suggest that the application of other organizational and administrative models would be more productive in both administering universities and in researching their organizational processes.

Errata: Stability in Interorganizational Exchanges: Rulemaking Processes of the Chicago Board of Trade

Abstract: The authors would like to thank Mr. Robert Williams, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, for his valuable comments and assistance and the CBT library personnel for their help during the collection of data. The authors also would like to thank Professor Owen Gregory for providing the daily price data from the Archives of the Chicago Board of Trade. This article reports the results of a longitudinal study designed to show (1) how stability of interorganizational transactions is achieved within the working rules of an interorganizational organization and (2) how the working rules of such an organization are changed as a result of environmental uncertainty. The study investigates the relationship over time of rule changes at the Chicago Board of Trade to uncertainty in commodity futures prices and to volume offuturestransactions in a period of 84 months. The findings support the proposition that the transformation of working rules is partly associated with the level of uncertainty in the exchange environment-

Organizational Barriers to the Utilization of Research.

Abstract: We would like to express our appreciation to Michael Kane, John Egermeier, Bob Herriott, Sheila Rosenblum, Bob Dentler, Jack Fowler, Tom Mangione, and to several anonymousASQ reviewers of an earlier draft of this paper. Research findings frequently do not seem to have a discernible influence on administrative practice. We propose that a key reason is that research is often conducted in a policy vacuum. Policy vacuums occur in the absence of: an organized constituency of policy makers, identifiable policy issues and research questions, consistent policies and clear policy options, coordination among the independent agencies responsible for a policy area, and an ongoing, operational program that can make use of the findings. Examples of each feature are drawn from two demonstration programs operating in the National Institute of Education. Numerous organizational properties are identified that inhibited the utility of the research connected with the programs.0