Showing papers in "Journal of Management Studies in 1982"
TL;DR: The Irrationality of Action and Action Rationality: Decisions, Ideologies and Organizational Actions as mentioned in this paper is a book about the rationality of action and action rationality.
Abstract: The Irrationality of Action and Action Rationality : Decisions, Ideologies and Organizational Actions
505 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that changeless stable intervals punctuated by infrequent but revolutionary periods of "quantum" or multifaceted structural change may sometimes be the most economical strategy.
Abstract: There may be hidden costs in making prompt incremental and piecemeal changes to organizational structure to cope with a new strategy or environment. We shall argue that changeless stable intervals punctuated by infrequent but revolutionary periods of ‘quantum’or multifaceted structural change may sometimes be the most economical strategy. Incremental structural changes may create severe and costly disharmonies as they destroy an integral structural configuration. These costs might outweigh the benefits of adapting structure to changes in strategy and environment. Because such costs may be high it might be necessary to delay changing until they can be justified. Such delays can require subsequent revolutionary structural changes. The applicability of this view of change for different contexts will be discussed.
216 citations
TL;DR: According to as discussed by the authors, organizational structures and technologies are primarily arbitrary, temporary, and superficial characteristics determined by complex interactions among ideologies, although determined may be an inappropriate description because people acting under the influence of ideologies perceive that they are choosing freely.
Abstract: Studies of organizations in crisis show how forcefully and universally ideologies affect organizations, and life in general. Under the influence of societal and organizational ideologies, quite normal organizations manufacture crises for themselves, and then escape or succumb, depending on which ideologies dominate. Yet organization theorists have paid little attention to the ideological elements in organizations—apparently because of misguided perceptions that objectively measurable phenomena are more real or more important.
Organization theorists have carried out numerous studies of so-called objective phenomena, and their aggregate finding is that almost nothing correlates strongly and consistently with anything else. This null finding fits the hypothesis that organizational structures and technologies are primarily arbitrary, temporary, and superficial characteristics. These characteristics are determined by complex interactions among ideologies- although determined may be an inappropriate description because people acting under the influence of ideologies perceive that they are choosing freely.
Ideologies are logically integrated clusters of beliefs, values, rituals, and symbols. The interactions among elements within an ideology enable a change by one element to produce far-reaching effects. The interactions between ideologies are probably controlled by ceremonies and rituals, and communications between ideologies emphasize stylized or metaphorical language. One can see rituals and language at work when organizations are acting.
Organizations can act in either of two modes: a problem-solving mode in which perceived problems instigate searches for solutions, or an action generating mode in which choices of actions stimulate the creation of problems to justify the actions. Problem solving is abnormal, and action generating normal. In the action-generating mode, people watch the results of their actions, appraise these results as good or bad, and propose needs for action. Whether needs for action are real is decided by collective voting in which votes are phrased as clichts about causation. These clichts give birth to quasi-theories that explain why certain actions are needed to solve problems.
187 citations
TL;DR: This paper observed how organizational ideologies are manifested and sustained by beliefs, stories, languages, and ceremonial acts, and found that harmonious ideologies accompany simple structures, but that discordant ones accompany elaborate structures.
Abstract: Observations of nineteen hospitals show how organizational ideologies are manifested and sustained by beliefs, stories, languages, and ceremonial acts. The data indicate that harmonious ideologies accompany simple structures, but that discordant ones accompany elaborate structures. Through their effects on people and structures, ideologies guide organizations’responses to external threats.
160 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the relationships between some of the various concepts and scales that have been used to characterize innovative attitudes and behaviours and found that change attitudes, as measured by these same four attitude-value scales, do consistently predict multiple innovative intentions and behaviours but not, as expected, single behaviours or single intentions.
Abstract: In this paper we explore the relationships between some of the various concepts and scales that have been used to characterize innovative attitudes and behaviours. A sample (N = 123) of undergraduate and graduate business students with full-time jobs or the equivalent provided questionnaire data to test two initial hypotheses. It was found that four attitude-value scales which have been used to measure change values, innovation orientation, readiness for change, and innovativenesss, are intercorrelated significantly when no distinction is made between the respondents’intentions to be innovative and respondents’actual innovative behaviour. Innovative and change attitudes, as measured by these same four scales, do consistently predict multiple innovative intentions and behaviours but not, as expected, single behaviours or single intentions. The single best predictor in a multiple regression of the combined multiple innovative intention-behaviour measure was found to be a creative scale (R2= 0.43, p < 0.01). The innovative behaviour scale was tentatively called attitude toward being innovative. A factor analysis of this scale revealed dimensions related to innovative behaviour in organizations: the innovator, the preserver of the status quo, and the unchallenged, dissatisfied person.
Two other hypotheses were also tested. The first was that the perceived organization risk-taking climate would moderate the relationship between these attitude measures. This hypothesis was not supported by the overall results. However, moderate support was found for the hypothesis that the more formal authority a person has in an organization, the greater the consistency between change attitudes and innovative behaviours as measured by self-report methods.
153 citations
TL;DR: This paper argues that each decision topic has varying levels of both complexity and cleavage and four examples of strategic decisions are analyzed on these dimensions and suggests that the model may explain and empirically demonstrate variations across a large number of diverse strategic decisions.
Abstract: This paper presents a framework for the comparative analysis of strategic decision-making processes. It draws together and integrates predominant but previously disparate theories of decision-making. Examples are given of how decision-making processes may be characterized and, hence, facilitate comparison across all types of strategic decisions. Explanation of why decision processes may differ is from two perspectives. First, the complexity of the topic may lead to particular characteristics of the decision process. Secondly, the cleavage of interests which a topic arouses may also lead to particular aspects of decision processes. We argue that each decision topic has varying levels of both complexity and cleavage and four examples of strategic decisions are analyzed on these dimensions. We identify four profiles of decision-making processes associated with varying levels of complexity and cleavage and we finally suggest that our model may explain and empirically demonstrate variations across a large number of diverse strategic decisions.
87 citations
75 citations
TL;DR: The American accounting profession attempts to provide the public with efficient and effective financial reports; but to succeed, it must satisfy an environment of diverse, often conflicting, institutions as discussed by the authors, arguing that it displays an interplay of myth and technology.
Abstract: The American accounting profession attempts to provide the public with efficient and effective financial reports; but to succeed, it must satisfy an environment of diverse, often conflicting, institutions. This article critically interprets the profession's development, arguing that it displays an interplay of myth and technology. This interplay generates structural flaws in the profession as well as a bias against reform.
68 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study illustrates how resources are mobilized to constrain improvement attempts in such a way that the consequences reconfirm the preexisting organizational ideologies and halt the improvement attempts.
Abstract: This paper uses a case study to explore a basic dilemma: can the people who control organizations develop ideologies which simultaneously facilitate stability and change? This dilemma is likely to become most apparent when people set out to improve an organization within its current ideological context but the consequences implicit in the improvements are poorly understood. The meaning and value of the improvements are then likely to be assessed differently by superiors and subordinates, and by loyal members and heretics. The case study illustrates how resources are mobilized to constrain improvement attempts in such a way that the consequences reconfirm the preexisting organizational ideologies and halt the improvement attempts [I].
65 citations
35 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the proposition that there is a rising trend of absences for leavers as the point of their turnover approaches, using data from employees of two midwestern U.S. organizations, a bank and a manufacturing company.
Abstract: Three patterns of relationships between employee absenteeism and turnover have been suggested in the past—that withdrawal progresses from absenteeism to turnover, that absenteeism and turnover are alternatives to each other, and that absenteeism and turnover are unrelated. This paper examines the proposition that there is a rising trend of absences for leavers as the point of their turnover approaches, using data from employees of two midwestern U.S. organizations, a bank and a manufacturing company. A paired subjects design is used for analysis of the progression notion. The results affirm the existence of a positive association between absenteeism and turnover but provide, at best, weak confirmation of the progression hypothesis. The results from the two organizations are also different from each other. Measurement, sample, analysis, and theory problems are discussed as potential explanations of the differential results.
TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of the relations between the semantic responses obtained from managers of four nationalities is reported, and it is shown that the I8 adjectival pairs can be reduced to a two-dimensional circular map for each nationality, and that the placing of the adjectives on the circle agrees with a root mean square misfit of about 10' for the four countries.
Abstract: An analysis is reported of the relations between the semantic responses obtained from managers of four nationalities. A total of 365 expatriate and local managers in the Singaporean subsidiaries of 34 American, British and Japanese M.N.C.s assessed their own and each of the other groups along each of 18 adjectival antonym pairs. For each nationality the correlations between the semantic items are used as similarity data for multidimensional scaling of the adjectives. It is shown that the I8 adjectival pairs can be reduced to a two-dimensional circular map for each nationality, and that the placing of the adjectives on the circle agrees with a root mean square misfit of about 10’ for the four nationalities. The results support the hypothesis that, for the groups considered, a shared international culture exists in the managerial context. The two dimensions on which the 36 semantic items can be mapped are interpretable as functional/dysfunctional and open/closed.
TL;DR: The authors compared U.S. and Australian managers' values, attitudes, beliefs, and opinions on a wide range of topics using a modified version of Schein's Public Opinion Questionnaire.
Abstract: As U.S. business becomes more international, so does U.S. management education. Executive development programmes offer courses in the U.S. and abroad to managers from many nations. As part of the transfer of U.S. management methods, the concepts, techniques and beliefs taught in these programmes may not be easily accepted, especially by foreign managers. Careful examination of cultural differences in attitudes and opinions is a necessary step in the successful transfer of management technology.
This paper compares U.S. and Australian managers' values, attitudes, beliefs and opinions on a wide range of topics using a modified version of Schein's Public Opinion Questionnaire. Our findings suggest that there are common business management views as well as national differences among managers in the U.S. and Australia.
TL;DR: In this article, a planning project in British Rail suggests that under conditions of conservative incrementalism, the agreement of interested parties itself constitutes evidence of successful performance in a matrix structure, as well as providing essential pre-construction monitoring.
Abstract: Performance assessment in matrix structures is particularly problematical, for matrix structures themselves represent a compromise, and performance within the structure usually requires achievement of an ‘even balance’—and there are no conventions for judging ‘evenness’. Analysis of a planning project in British Rail suggests that under conditions of ‘conservative incrementalism’, the agreement of interested parties itself constitutes evidence of successful performance in a matrix structure, as well as providing essential pre-construction monitoring. More generally, where conventional performance indicators are deficient or inadequate, analysis of the problems in the task environment provides a base against which to assess performance.
TL;DR: In this paper, the transition in bank supervision from an ideology of self-regulation to a more open-ended preventive-medicine approach is discussed, and the processes by which the supervisors are developing a realistic and relevant appreciation of the banking system as a network of organizations are explored.
Abstract: This article examines the transition in bank supervision from an ideology of self-regulation to a more open-ended, preventive-medicine approach. It explores the processes by which the supervisors are developing a realistic and relevant appreciation of the banking system as a network of organizations [1].
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present two case studies of the interactions between politics and problem-solving in municipal governments, where the main functions of politicians are to take responsibility for solutions, by committing themselves through formal decisions and to defend solutions externally.
Abstract: This paper presents two case studies of the interactions between politics and problem solving in municipal governments. Problem solving seems to be more efficient and to promote more action when administrative officers have the initiative and politicians tune in cognitively to the officers’presentations. Two main functions of politicians are to take responsibility for solutions, by committing themselves through formal decisions, and to defend solutions externally. Politicians learn about the merits of a solution through their interactions with administrative officers during the problem-solving process. When politicians feel that a proposed solution is based on sound principles, they are ready to speak as proponents of the solution.
TL;DR: In this paper, the actors, rules and ideology components of 60 industrial relations systems, of which 15 exhibited a low propensity to strike and 45 exhibited a high propensity of strike, were compared via a discriminant analysis procedure.
Abstract: Strike proneness is analyzed through the industrial relations system conceptualization The actors, rules and ideology components of 60 industrial relations systems, of which 15 exhibited a low propensity to strike and 45 a high propensity to strike, are compared via a discriminant analysis procedure Strike-vulnerable establishments as compared with harmonious units tend to include more strikers and have a more complicated structure of labour representation In highly strike-prone organizations, negotiations are usually handled by representatives equipped with limited authority These organizations tend to be less prepared rulewise for a strike situation, and their ideology is less critical of promoting union leaders to managerial positions and less favourable of opening recruitment to out-of-plant competition The comparison of the technological, economic and power constraints of the two strike propensity groups indicates that the conflictual units, as compared with organizations with a low strike propensity, tend to be larger units and service organizations; they are mostly budget controlled and publically owned A comprehensive industrial relations system analysis indicates that the internal components of the industrial relations system take priority in discriminating between the two strike groups Theoretical and substantive conclusions conclude the analysis
TL;DR: In this article, the authors found that personal, joint personal-situational, and situational factors accounted for significant amounts of variance in climate perceptions among professional-technical employees, above the technical level.
Abstract: Professional-technical employee perceptions of the R and D subsystem climate were believed to be influenced by personal, joint personal-situational, and situational characteristics. One hundred and five professional-technical employees, above the technical level, from seven organizations cooperated in a study to ascertain the factors which contribute to the formation of subsystem climate perceptions. The findings failed to support the expected relationship between personal characteristics and subsystem climate, but did indicate that joint personal-situational factors accounted for significant amounts of variance in climate perceptions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify organizational feedback as an attribute of organizations and as a form of macroscopic communication behavior and use it as a way of measuring organizational effectiveness in federated nonprofit organizations.
Abstract: Organizational feedback is identified as an attribute of organizations and as a form of macroscopic communication behaviour Previous organizational theory is used to generate propositions linking organizational feedback (horizontal and vertical) to organizational effectiveness in order to evaluate the construct validity of feedback Reliable measures of feedback are devised and the posited relationships are empirically examined using federated nonprofit organizations Horizontal feedback is observed to be positively related to three forms of organizational effectiveness (goal attainment, superordinate approval and lateral approval) Vertical feedback is found to be positively related only to goal attainment Organizational feedback is concluded to be a viable concept worthy of further investigation and additional research on communication as a property of organizational collectivities is recommended