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Journal ArticleDOI

Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design

01 May 1986-Management Science (INFORMS)-Vol. 32, Iss: 5, pp 554-571
TL;DR: Models are proposed that show how organizations can be designed to meet the information needs of technology, interdepartmental relations, and the environment to both reduce uncertainty and resolve equivocality.
Abstract: This paper answers the question, "Why do organizations process information?" Uncertainty and equivocality are defined as two forces that influence information processing in organizations. Organization structure and internal systems determine both the amount and richness of information provided to managers. Models are proposed that show how organizations can be designed to meet the information needs of technology, interdepartmental relations, and the environment. One implication for managers is that a major problem is lack of clarity, not lack of data. The models indicate how organizations can be designed to provide information mechanisms to both reduce uncertainty and resolve equivocality.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how environmental aspects (i.e., dynamism and competitiveness) moderate the effectiveness of exploratory and exploitative innovation and found that exploratory innovation is more effective in dynamic environments, whereas exploiting competitive environments is more beneficial to a unit's financial performance.
Abstract: Research on exploration and exploitation is burgeoning, yet our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of both activities remains rather unclear. We advance the growing body of literature by focusing on the apparent differences of exploration and exploitation and examining implications for using formal (i.e., centralization and formalization) and informal (i.e., connectedness) coordination mechanisms. This study further examines how environmental aspects (i.e., dynamism and competitiveness) moderate the effectiveness of exploratory and exploitative innovation. Results indicate that centralization negatively affects exploratory innovation, whereas formalization positively influences exploitative innovation. Interestingly, connectedness within units appears to be an important antecedent of both exploratory and exploitative innovation. Furthermore, our findings reveal that pursuing exploratory innovation is more effective in dynamic environments, whereas pursuing exploitative innovation is more beneficial to a unit's financial performance in more competitive environments. Through this richer explanation and empirical assessment, we contribute to a greater clarity and better understanding of how ambidextrous organizations coordinate the development of exploratory and exploitative innovation in organizational units and successfully respond to multiple environmental conditions.

1,968 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the impact of surface-level and deep-level diversity on group social integration and found that the length of time group members worked together weakened the effects of surface level diversity and strengthened the effect of deep level diversity as group members bad the opportunity to engage in meaningful interactions.
Abstract: We examined the impact of surface-level (demographic) and deep-level (attitudinal) diversity on group social integration. As hypothesized, the length of time group members worked together weakened the effects of surface-level diversity and strengthened the effects of deep-level diversity as group members bad the opportunity to engage in meaningful interactions.

1,906 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that where the technological frames of key groups in organizations—such as managers, technologists, and users— are significantly different, difficulties and conflict around the development, use, and change of technology may result.
Abstract: In this article, we build on and extend research into the cognitions and values of users and designers by proposing a systematic approach for examining the underlying assumptions, expectations, and knowledge that people have about technology. Such interpretations of technology (which we call technological frames) are central to understanding technological development, use, and change in organizations. We suggest that where the technological frames of key groups in organizations—such as managers, technologists, and users— are significantly different, difficulties and conflict around the development, use, and change of technology may result. We use the findings of an empirical study to illustrate how the nature, value, and use of a groupware technology were interpreted by various organizational stakeholders, resulting in outcomes that deviated from those expected. We argue that technological frames offer an interesting and useful analytic perspective for explaining an anticipating actions and meanings that are not easily obtained with other theoretical lenses.

1,854 citations


Cites background from "Organizational information requirem..."

  • ...…research on social information processing [Salancik and Pfeffer 1978], power [Pettigrew 1973; Pfeffer 1980], specializa­tion [Burns and Stalker 1961; Daft and Lengel 1986; Lawrence and Lorsch 1967], and organizational cultures [Gregory 1983; Riley 1983; Pettigrew 1979, Schein 1985; Strauss…...

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01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: Garrison, Anderson, and Archer as mentioned in this paper developed a community of inquiry model that synthesizes pedagogical principles with the inherent instructional and access benefits of computer conferencing, and defined social presence as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community.
Abstract: Instructional media such as computer conferencing engender high levels of student-student and student-teacher interaction; therefore, they can support models of teaching and learning that are highly interactive and consonant with the communicative ideals of university education. This potential and the ubiquity of computer conferencing in higher education prompted three of the authors of the this article to develop a community of inquiry model that synthesizes pedagogical principles with the inherent instructional and access benefits of computer conferencing (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). This article explicates one element of the model, social presence. Social presence is defined as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community of inquiry. A template for assessing social presence in computer conferencing is presented through content analysis of conferencing transcripts. To facilitate explication of the scheme and subsequent replication of this study, selections of coded transcripts are included, along with interrater reliability figures. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications and benefits of assessing social presence for instructors, conference moderators, and researchers. Les medias educatifs, tel le forum electronique, sont susceptibles d'engendrer un niveau eleve d'interaction entre les etudiants et entre le tuteur et chaque etudiant; par consequent, ils peuvent soutenir des modeles d'enseignement et d'apprentissage qui mettent en valeur l'interaction et qui sont compatibles avec les ideaux communicationnels d'une education universitaire. Ce potentiel, ainsi que l'ubiquite du forum asynchrone dans l'education superieure, ont mene trois des auteurs de cet article a developper un modele de communaute de recherche qui resume les principes pedagogiques applicables au forum electronique en incluant les benefices que l'enseignement peut en retirer et les avantages relatifs a l'accessibilite (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). Cet article explique un element du modele : la presence sociale. On y definit la presence sociale comme la capacite des apprenants de se projeter sur le plan social et emotionnel dans une communaute de recherche. On y decrit un gabarit utilise pour evaluer la presence sociale lors d'une analyse de contenu de transcriptions de forums electroniques. Afin d'aider la comprehension des modalites d'evaluation et de faciliter la reproduction subsequente de cette etude, un echantillonnage de transcriptions codees ainsi que les baremes de fiabilite inter-evaluateurs sont fournis. L'article se termine par une discussion des consequences et des avantages de l'evaluation de la presence sociale du point de vue des formateurs, des animateurs de conference et des chercheurs.

1,773 citations


Cites background from "Organizational information requirem..."

  • ...http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html (12 of 18) [6/25/2007 2:58:04 PM] Transcript A contained 2.5 times as many instances of social presence than transcript B (n=362, 145 respectively)....

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  • ...Complimenting and acknowledging, and expressing appreciation are ways of communicating reinforcement in a text-based medium. http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html (7 of 18) [6/25/2007 2:58:03 PM]...

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  • ...In this model, deep http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html (2 of 18) [6/25/2007 2:58:03 PM] and meaningful learning, ostensibly the central goal of higher education, takes place in a community of inquiry composed of instructors and learners as the key participants in the educational process....

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  • ...Filtered-cues theorists such as Short et al. (1976), Sproull and Keisler (1986), and http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html (4 of 18) [6/25/2007 2:58:03 PM] Daft and Lengel (1986) applied Mehrabian’s (1969) concept of immediacy to all applications of communication media....

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  • ...http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html (9 of 18) [6/25/2007 2:58:03 PM] Table 2: Sample of Coded Text http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html (10 of 18) [6/25/2007 2:58:04 PM]...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a model of the growth strategy of the firm in planned economies in transition such as Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics, and China, focusing on the stylized state-owned enterprises.
Abstract: Highlighting an important facet of diversity among organizations operating in different institutional environments, this article presents a model of the growth strategy of the firm in planned economies in transition such as Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics, and China. Focusing on the stylized state-owned enterprises, we explore the interaction between institutions and organizations in these countries. Given the institutional constraints, neither generic expansion nor acquisitions, two traditional strategies for growth found in the West, are viable for firms in these countries. Instead, firms settle on a network-based strategy of growth, building on personal trust and informal agreements among managers. The institutional environment that leads to this unique strategy of growth is examined, and boundary conditions, limitations, and implications of this model are discussed.

1,758 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1978
TL;DR: The External Control of Organizations as discussed by the authors explores how external constraints affect organizations and provides insights for designing and managing organizations to mitigate these constraints, and it is the fact of the organization's dependence on the environment that makes the external constraint and control of organizational behavior both possible and almost inevitable.
Abstract: Among the most widely cited books in the social sciences, The External Control of Organizations has long been required reading for any student of organization studies. The book, reissued on its 25th anniversary as part of the Stanford Business Classics series, includes a new preface written by Jeffrey Pfeffer, which examines the legacy of this influential work in current research and its relationship to other theories.The External Control of Organizations explores how external constraints affect organizations and provides insights for designing and managing organizations to mitigate these constraints. All organizations are dependent on the environment for their survival. As the authors contend, "it is the fact of the organization's dependence on the environment that makes the external constraint and control of organizational behavior both possible and almost inevitable." Organizations can either try to change their environments through political means or form interorganizational relationships to control or absorb uncertainty. This seminal book established the resource dependence approach that has informed so many other important organization theories.

13,195 citations

Book
01 Jan 1969

12,535 citations

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11,087 citations

Book
01 Jan 1963
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an overview of basic concepts in the Behavioral Theory of the Firm, and present a specific price and output model for a specific type of products. But they do not discuss the relationship between the two concepts.
Abstract: List of Tables and Figures. Acknowledgements. Preface to Second Edition. 1. Introduction. 2. Antecedents of the Behavioral Theory of the Firm. 3. Organizational Goals. 4. Organizational Expectations. 5. Organizational Choice. 6. A Specific Price and Output Model. 7. A Summary of Basic Concepts in the Behavioral Theory of the Firm. 8. Some Implications. 9. An Epilogue. Index.

8,897 citations

Trending Questions (1)
How does internal information reduce the agency problem?

The provided paper does not directly address the agency problem or how internal information reduces it. The paper focuses on the information needs of organizations and how they can be designed to meet those needs.