Showing papers on "Resource dependence theory published in 1991"

Strategic responses to institutional processes

Abstract: This article applies the convergent insights of institutional and resource dependence perspectives to the prediction of strategic responses to institutional processes. The article offers a typology of strategic responses that vary in active organizational resistance from passive conformity to proactive manipulation. Ten institutional factors are hypothesized to predict the occurrence of the alternative proposed strategies and the degree of organizational conformity or resistance to institutional pressures.

A Strategic Approach to Managing Buyer‐Seller Relationships

Abstract: Business marketers need strategic frameworks to assess the value of a portfolio of buyer‐seller relationships and to decide how they should be managed. By drawing on insights from the political economy, resource dependence, relational contracting and transaction cost perspectives, previous work on portfolios of trading relationships is extended and updated and avenues for future research are suggested.

Network Relations and Loss of Organizational Autonomy

Abstract: A fundamental premise of resource dependence theory is that organizations tend to avoid interorganizational relations which com- promise their autonomy. This study examined the frequency with which organizations in a population established interorganizational relationships as a function of five different types of network relations that varied in the degree to which they required organizations to relinquish autonomy. The findings failed to support the assumption that organizational independence is a primary consideration in the decision to establish or forego interorganizational relations.

The Management of Organizations: Strategy, Structure, Behavior

Abstract: Part 1 Organizations and management: the world of organizations history and theory of organizations contemporary organizational challenges. Part 2 The strategic management of organizations: organizational environments decision making in organizations goals and planning in organizations formulating organizational strategy implementing organizational strategy individual creativity and organizational innovation. Part 3 Managing structure: the elements of structure in organizations the design of organizations control in organizations information systems in organizations human resources in organization operations management. Part 4 Behaviour in organizations: individuals in organizations motivation in organizations leadership and influence processes interpersonal and group dynamics communication in organizations conflict and stress in organizations. Part 5 Integrating strategy, structure and behaviour: ethics and social responsibility in organizations organization change, development and revitalization entrepreneurship and small business management.

Conservation of resources in community intervention.

Abstract: Evaluated the applications of principles of resource conservation and management in community interventions and compared these to a more individual, perception-based psychological perspective. Conservation of resource theory suggests that promotion of well-being and prevention of disease depend on the availability and successful management of resources. When resources are lacking, lost, or when invested without consequent gain, people become vulnerable to psychological and physical disorder and debilitated functioning. Resources, in this context, are defined as those things people value or those things that may help people obtain that which they value. Conservation of resource theory further suggests that resources are to a large extent common to all people, more common within a given culture and time in the developmental cycle, and only to a small extent idiographic. Further, conservation of resource theory posits that resources operate within an ecological context where feedback, sharing, and exchange operate between the individual, social context, and environment. Given these principles, it is reasoned that community interventions must acknowledge the solid base of most problems and accept that interventions must target resources and be intensive enough to change the ecology in which resources operate.

Multiple Resource Theory and Consumer Processing of Broadcast Advertisements: An Involvement Perspective

Abstract: In an attempt to reconcile past modality research, Leigh (1991) used Multiple Resource Theory while emphasizing the role of audio / visual congruency and task difficulty This paper provides an alternative interpretation by reviewing Multiple Resource Theory from an involvement perspective Past modality studies are organized and integrated based on the level of consumer involvement in the stimulus ad Empirical findings are shown to be highly consistent with this approach Suggestions for future modality research are presented

Decision making style and leadership patterns in nonprofit human service organizations.

Abstract: The authors report on the adaptation of twelve nonprofit human service organizations. This analysis is part of a research project that entailed a comprehensive study of both the fiscal patterns and policy patterns of nonprofit organizations. Through the use of interviews in an exploratory descriptive design, several major patterns were identified concerning organizational adaptation. Three categories of events effected the adaptation of these organizations: executive staff turnover, program/service structure change and financial issues. The three industrial subsectors studied demonstrated unique patterns in these events. A reactive decision making style was the overwhelming choice of these organizations. Leadership was a phenomenon shared by CEOs and Boards of Directors. Resource dependency theory offers some explanation for the change that occurs in this cluster of organizations.

Influence of the external environment on interorganizational systems: an integration of transaction costs and resource dependence perspectives

Abstract: In the research presented the managerial environment is described in terms of two theoretical dimensions-transaction cost and resource dependence-to analyze the development, diffusion, and implementation of interorganizational systems (IOS). Transaction cost theory emphasizes the organization's concerns with efficiency in its external exchange operations. Resource dependence theory emphasizes the degree to which an organization is dependent on other organizations for important resources. A 2*2 matrix formed by transaction costs and resource dependence perspectives is used to suggest the most appropriate strategy of IOS design and implementation and to predict possible outcomes of IOS use. The integration of transaction cost and organizational dependence theory helps clarify interorganizational relationships in which an IOS is developed and implemented, and provides a theoretical foundation for IOS research. Finally, managerial implications are discussed by using the matrix topology. >

Microeconomic contributions to strategic management

Abstract: Introduction: Microeconomic-Strategic Management Interfaces (J. Thepot, R.-A. Thietart). Strategic Economics. A Duopoly Model Suggesting a Taxonomy of Competitive Situations (G. Demange, J. Ponssard). Brand Loyalty and Advertising: A Note (D. Neven, J.-F. Thisse). Cost Reducing Strategies with Spillovers (R. De Bondt). Barriers to Entry and Strategic Marketing Investments (J.K. Karlsen, K. Gronhaug). Dynamic Diversification and Learning Effects (J. Thepot). Multimarket Competition: Entry Strategies and Entry Deterrence when the Entrant has a Home Market (M. Van Wegberg, A. Van Witteloostuijn). Organizational Economics. The Dynamics of Power and Control: A Case Study of Bull (R.-A. Thietart). Vertical Integration: Why Transaction Cost and Resource Dependence Can't Be Easily Separated (G.A. Krickx). Inter Firm Alliances: The Role of Trust (C. Koenig, G. Van Wijk). Strategic Management and Vertical Disintegration: A Transaction Cost Approach (C. Boone, A. Verbeke). Organizational Choice and Entry Deterrence (G. Hendrikse). Top Management Incentives from Bonuses and from Labour Markets (H.G. Barkema).

Duality Theory: New Directions for Human Resource and Organizational Management

Abstract: The subject of this book is a duality, and this article outlines duality theory and its relevance to human resource management. Complex organizations today are beseiged by dualities, and the basic paradigm for management and organization is changing from the “structuring” framework of the 60s and the “fit/contingency” framework of the 70s and early 80s to a duality paradigm. Duality theory is summarized, as is the evidence for its validity.

Competing rationalities and the politics of interorganizational regulation

Abstract: This article reports results of an analysis of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regulatory activity from 1952 to 1986. Support is found for a synthesis of resource dependence and institutional theories of interorganizational regulation. Regulation maintains stable competitive relationships by tying competing orientations to resource exchange and the institutional norms that bind member organizations and legitimate their activities. A balance of tangible and symbolic resources, material interest, and belief, binds member organizations in a regulatory network. In the case of the NCAA, successful athletic schools are more likely to pursue instrumentally-rational athletic activity oriented toward winning and maximum profit, while academically selective schools pursue more value-rational athletic activity oriented toward the educational benefits of amateur athletic competition.

Taking the Measure of Human Resource Management Flows

Abstract: All active organizations engage in internal and external staffing activities. However, as employment grows and the number of staffing decisions multiples, it often becomes difficult to keep track of human resource flows and to maintain a manageable overview of these staffing activities. In this paper, we propose a simple methodology through which an easily understandable summary of organizational staffing activities may be obtained. This methodology combines a graphic representation (called human resource maps) of personnel stocks and flows with a number of quantitative indicators which measure different human resource flows through the organization. Uses of this methodology are illustrated with an application to a thirteen-year history of a large organization. For any medium-sized or large-scale organization, many diverse staffing activities occur simultaneously. New positions and jobs are created and old positions are phased out. An employee announces his intention to quit to take a job elsewhere as plans are made to effect a smooth transition for an older employee to take a well-deserved retirement. Internal candidates are screened for possible promotions, and external candidates are sought for both entry-level positions and for those key jobs for which there is perhaps to suitable internal candidate (Milkovitch, et. al., 1988). These activities cover a wide spectrum of personnel tasks and activities. Moreover, these human resource flows are a critical feature of organizational performance as they impact on the numbers and capacities of people employed, and the distribution of skills and abilities these individuals bring to bear on organizational problems (Bawdny, 1982; Muckler, 1982; Mahoney, Milkovitch & Weiner, 1977). For example, if controls over the number and grades of jobs are not maintained, wage and salary costs can rise to levels which constrain financial performance. If replacement planning hasn't been done, an unanticipated quit may leave a department vulnerable. If outside candidates are 'parachuted' into key positions, internal candidates may have their promotional aspirations frustrated. Frustrated employees often search out opportunities outside the organization, potentially increasing further loss of valuable organizational experience. If the management of human resource flows is a critical management function, how can we develop an appreciation of how well this task is performed? For any medium or large organization, a simple listing of all staffing actions is beyond the comprehension of any senior executive or HR professional. Manages need a set of comprehensive indicators which summarizes the nature of recent human resource flows into, through and out of the organization (Fitz-enz, 1984). Thus, in this paper we described an simple methodology through which a number of qualitative and quantitative measures of human resource management flows can be obtained. First, we described the concept of a human resource 'map' and demonstrate how much maps can be used to obtain a summary appreciation of the human resource stocks, and flows of the organization. Second, we define indicators of human resource activities which mirror changes in the human resource map of the organization. Third, we demonstrate an application of these ideas to a thirteen-year history of a large business organization to illustrate potential uses of this approach to human resource management. Human Resource Maps A human resource map is a representation of a) the different stocks of human resources in an organizational unit, and b) the flows of human resources which maintain or change the size and distribution of those resources over a specified time period. A human resource map describes the relationships among the human resources in different parts of an organization and is the single most useful means of diagnosing existing and potential issues in an organization's HR system. …

Organizational Media Theory

Abstract: All large organizations are “media organizations” because they must use media to manage meanings for organizational symbols held by members of the internal and external environment. This commentary discusses a theory of organizational media, presenting results from two studies of the 100 largest U.S. corporations and from seven studies of 199 Chicago oiganizations. The theory accounts for why organizations use space-and time-shift media, and what relationships these media have to the status of communication management, to shared meaning for organizational symbols, to the abstractness and orgocentrism of meanings, to cultural convergence after merger/acquisition, to oigan-izational time perceptions, and to financial valuation in the marketplace. Although it is assumed that an adequate theory should explain all kinds of oiganizations’ media use, some observers wish to isolate the media industry for study. Accordingly, the theory is used to generate a set of 20 hypothesesabout organizational changes in the m...