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Showing papers on "Resource dependence theory published in 1993"


Book
01 Dec 1993
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take a critical look at the field of strategic human resource management and in particular the debate about the strategic value of the human resource and identify the contribution as well as the problematic nature of the situational-contingency perspective.
Abstract: This paper takes a critical look at the field of strategic human resource management and in particular the debate about the strategic value of the human resource. We identify the contribution as well as the problematic nature of the situational-contingency perspective. Drawing from the strategic management literature and the concept of resource heterogeneity, we then posit a resource-capability view of the firm and argue that the mutually reinforcing interaction between the stock of knowledge, skills and expertise (resources) and the organizational routines and human resource policies and practices (capabilities) generates human resource competencies whose strategic value is realizable to the extent that they are linked with core competencies. We thus offer a reconceptualization of human resource competencies which goes beyond existing trait, behavioural and systems approaches. Finally, we identify the circumstances surrounding the generation and distribution of rents arising from the utilization of human resource competencies by drawing from transaction cost theory and industrial relations.

268 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the literature over the past fifteen years and organized it into three theoretical traditions: the resource dependence model, the social class framework, and the institutional model, and showed how social networks help to explain the formation of interorganizational ties and how inter-organizational relations, conceptualized as social networks, can explain organizational power as well as the strategies decision makers pursue.
Abstract: Network analysis has been used extensively in the study of interorganizational relations. This article reviews the literature over the past fifteen years and organizes it into three theoretical traditions: the resource dependence model, the social class framework, and the institutional model. It is shown that network methods have enabled researchers to describe phenomena, such as interorganizational fields, that were previously inaccessible. It is also shown how social networks help to explain the formation of interorganizational ties and how interorganizational relations, conceptualized as social networks, can explain organizational power as well as the strategies decision makers pursue.

240 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Why the two questions of why successful firms differ are different is explained and some of the implications for the field of strategic management are explored.
Abstract: Much theory and research that apparently seeks to explain why firms differ actually addresses the question of why successful firms differ. This article explains why the two questions are different and explores some of the implications of this difference for the field of strategic management. A wide variety of organizational and economic theories are reviewed in this context, including contingency theory, resource dependence theory, process models, dispositional models, transaction cost economics, organizational ecology and institutional theory. Further discussion considers why heterogeneity persists at the firm level when it becomes apparent that only certain types of firms will succeed.

216 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a model which uses resource dependence to explain how and why purchasing is moving towards Just-in-Time (JIT) and bridged the fields of operations management and organization theory.

197 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of research concerning whistle-blowing suggests that legal sanctions have been singularly unsuccessful in encouraging whistleblowing but that legalistic responses by organizations seem to have been somewhat more successful as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Review of research concerning whistle-blowing suggests that legal sanctions have been singularly unsuccessful in encouraging whistle-blowing but that legalistic responses by organizations seem to have been somewhat more successful. Below, we review three sets of studies that illustrate this point. The first set includes federal employees, both before and after a legal change intended to encourage whistle-blowing. The second study examines the effects of state laws, by comparing states with whistle-blowing statutes to those without such statutes. The third study focuses on whistle-blowers who are role prescribed and therefore have legalistic protections but not legal protections. Results from these three sets of studies suggest that legal procedures seem not to be effective in encouraging positive organizational responses to whistle-blowing, but legalistic responses designed by the organizations themselves have more positive effects both for the whistle-blowers and for the organizations themselves. We atte...

154 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on managerial autonomy of state-owned enterprises SOEs, or its reverse: the control which is exerted by government and supervising public authorities on SOEs.
Abstract: The present paper reports on managerial autonomy of state-owned enterprises SOEs, or its reverse: the control which is exerted by government and supervising public authorities on SOEs. First, it examines the types of control applied. Using evidence from a sample of 110 Greek SOEs, the paper identifies certain distinct dimensions of control related to: strategic business-boundary issues, pricing decisions, resource acquisition and mobilisation issues. Second, environmental and organisational "determinants" of the control intensity are identified. Results broadly suggest that the intensity of control, as perceived by enterprise managers, is i positively related to dependence on the state for resources, to enterprise size, and to "political visibility," i.e., social orientation of product market strategy, and ii negatively related to market competition and demand unpredictability. An interpretation of the results is attempted drawing on wider organisational, social and economic theories. Policy implications are discussed.

137 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, two streams of research and theory development, resource dependence and population ecology, are combined to develop a model of the relationship between organization formation and environmental management, and the model is applied to the problem of resource allocation.
Abstract: Two streams of research and theory development, resource dependence and population ecology, are combined to develop a model of the relationship between organization formation and environmental muni

111 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply a resource dependence perspective to examine evidence and explain how pay forms may be influenced by groups of employees in critical positions that affect firm performance, and propose to predict specified forms of pay subject to various conditions.
Abstract: This paper applies a resource dependence perspective to examine evidence and explain how pay forms may be influenced by groups of employees in critical positions that affect firm performance. Contingency factors that impact the degree of dependence of management on groups of employees in critical positions are identified. Propositions are developed that predict specified forms of pay subject to various conditions. Implications for further research that utilizes a resource dependence perspective are discussed.

71 citations


Book
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the nature of strategic management and issues in human resource management, including roles, relationships and skills in developing a strategic approach to Human Resource Management, and how to achieve equality of treatment and opportunity.
Abstract: Preface. List of contributors. Acknowledgements. Part 1: Concepts and Issues in Human Resource Strategy. 1. The Nature of Strategic Management. 2. Concepts and Issues in Strategic Human Resource Management. 3. Roles, Relationships and Skills in Developing a Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management. 4. Strategies for Human Resource Management: Issues in Larger and International Firms. 5. Strategies for Human Resource Management: Challenges in Smaller and Entrepreneurial Organizations. 6. Industrial Relations, Employment Relations and Strategic Human Resource Management. Part 2: Human Resource Strategies in the Workplace. 7. Communicating Organizational Vision, Goals and Human Resource Strategy. 8. Achieving Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Workplace. 9. The Strategic Management of Recruitment and Selection. 10. Performance Management: Its Role and Methods in Human Resource Strategy. 11. Choosing and Using Relevant Financial Reward Systems. 12. Developing People - For Whose Bottom Line? Part 3: Applying Concepts: Practical Assigments and Case Studies.

48 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey study of acute care hospitals expands Miles and Snow's (1978) strategy gestalts by drawing from the literature on strategic choice, resource dependence, and loose coupling.
Abstract: This survey study of acute care hospitals expands Miles and Snow's (1978) strategy gestalts by drawing from the literature on strategic choice, resource dependence, and loose coupling. Building upon the resource dependence perspective, we hypothesize that interorganizational coupling patterns will differ by strategy type. We also contend that different configurations of inter-organizational coupling are involved within each Miles and Snow strategy type when an organization deals with increasing environmental turbulence. The responses of 58 chief executive officers of acute care hospitals indicate that the strategy gestalts associated with Miles and Snow's typology have distinctive patterns or interorganizational coupling.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the effect of government, university, and private organizations on the survival of a new organization through the process of sponsorship, which is defined as the intervention by government agencies, business firms, and universities to create an environment conducive to the birth and survival of organizations.
Abstract: Recently, state and local agencies have attempted to encourage, either directly or indirectly, increased economic activity. Often, these agencies focus on incentives to help new business formation, because of their dominance in new job generation and their contribution to the gross national product (U.S. Small Business Administration 1990). This attempt to create a richer, more nurturing environment can be defined as the process of sponsorship (Flynn and Falbe 1985). Sponsorship includes the intervention by government agencies, business firms, and/or universities to create an environment conducive to the birth and survival of organizations (Flynn 1988). Some notable examples of sponsorship are: * Efforts by state and local government, university, and private organizations, including special tax rates, subsidized mortgages, and endowed university chairs, to attract the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) and SEMATECH, two computer research consortia, to Austin, Texas; * A program entitled the Business Intelligence Access System (BIAS) based at the University of Pennsylvania was funded by a $200,000 grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Small Business Administration enabling small firms to access a plethora of databases from public and private sources; * Forty states have venture capital funds for seed support of new businesses (Livingston 1989); * The university and private industry sponsored business incubators at Georgia Tech and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; * The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds engineering research centers at selected universities; and * Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) at universities that provide free comprehensive managerial planning to small businesses. Although the phenomenon of sponsorship is apparently quite visible, very little has been written on the topic. There are however, a number of different ways that the effects of sponsorship on the survival of a new organization can be studied. More dominant among these are theories that consider the level of control that organizations have on their environments. Prominent among these perspectives are population ecology and resource dependence which provide insights relevant to the critical issues facing new organizations. We will discuss each of these theoretical perspectives and attempt to integrate these for a better understanding of the somewhat unique phenomenon of sponsorship. SPONSORSHIP AND INFRASTRUCTURE: AN OVERVIEW Organizations' survival is contingent upon available resources in the environment (Lawrence and Lorsch 1967). These resources, termed infrastructure, may exist in the local environment (e.g. city or county,) as a composite of land, labor, capital, and existing organizations. Also, resources may be provided by public and private organizations through the sponsorship process. These two primary sources of resources have been shown to be important contributors to the emergence and survival of new organizations (Flynn 1990, 1988). At its initiation, sponsorship increases the amount of resources available to an entrepreneur, providing the opportunity for organizational formation. Without sponsorship, the existing infrastructure primarily contributes to organizational birth through the existence of compatible resources, such as the ecology of human resources, location costs, quality of life factors, and populations of existing firms. Resources are considered important in helping a firm survive when they provide a sustained competitive advantage (SCA). This is achieved if other firms cannot duplicate a value-creating strategy (Barney 1991). In order for a firm to have an SCA, its resource must have the following attributes: 1) it must be valuable, i.e., allows a firm to implement strategies that improve its effectiveness and efficiency; 2) it must be rare among a firm's current and potential competitors; 3) it must be imperfectly imitable, effected by unique historical conditions, ambiguous causality of the link between the SCA and the resource, and complex social phenomena among the firm's stakeholders; and 4) there cannot exist strategically equivalent substitutes (Barney 1991). …

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined how interdependencies created by domain similarity and resource dependence are related to interdepartmental power and found that domain similarity between the two departments is positively associated with the eventual take over of the less powerful department (public relations) by the more powerful one (marketing).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the changes in the way that we theoretically conceptualize organizations being brought about by the configurations approach towards organizations and show that the concept of fit is crucial to this approach and that this can be operationalized at both a macro and a micro level in organizations.
Abstract: Considers the changes in the way that we theoretically conceptualize organizations being brought about by the configurations approach towards organizations. Shows that the concept of fit is crucial to this approach and that this can be operationalized at both a macro and a micro level in organizations. With reference to three case studies, considers the implications of configurations to the debate over the differences between human resource management and traditional personnel management.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The resource theory of the firm suggests that firm-specific, intrastrategic group factors have large, significant impacts on firm profitability, greater in some contexts than the combined impacts of industry and strategic group structures.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a longitudinal study of the Fonds d'Action Sociale's changing ability to act autonomously in its resource environment extends and modifies this concept, suggesting that autonomy and dependency describe several different conditions in which the organization functions.
Abstract: A common presupposition in the resource dependence literature is that autonomy is a goal to be achieved by the organization. This longitudinal study of the Fonds d'Action Sociale's changing ability to act autonomously in its resource environment extends and modifies this concept, suggesting that autonomy and dependency describe several different conditions in which the organization functions. This study demonstrates that organizational performance varies with condition. More autonomous conditions permit better performance: increased innovation, the internal generation of goals, and improved morale. These results force us to question certain assumptions about the inherent limitations on public organization performance and reconsider the potential of, and conditions necessary for, autonomous public organization.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present hypotheses to examine the impact of using different decision-making parties (e.g., chain-of-command managers, higher-level executives, peers of the employee, peers in the disciplining supervisor, and human resource managers) to evaluate appeals.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the interaction effect of resource dependence and an R&D lab's research orientation on its involvement in interorganizational linkage activity is examined, showing that the stronger a lab's orientation toward basic research, the less likely it will participate in interlab collaborative projects as a way to deal with its resource dependence problems.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of four case studies provides evidence of a unique and short-term increase of resource dependence on community organizations by outside institutions in times of emergency, and the policy implications are discussed, as well as the possible changes in these relationships in the long run.
Abstract: An analysis of four case studies provides evidence of a unique and short-term increase of resource dependence on community organizations by outside institutions in times of emergency. Outside institutions rely on community organizations as the primary service providers, sometimes temporarily replacing traditional service channels; they also depend on the advantages these organizations offer for the distribution of their own resources. A window of opportunity results for these organizations to advocate on behalf of their clientele, establish their own policies for distribution of resources, and expand and create programs. Policy implications are discussed, as well as the possible changes in these relationships in the long run.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: Several theoretical schools are competing within the field of strategic management knowledge on a general disciplinary level, theoretical contributions to strategic management have their roots in such different (sub)disciplines as industrial organization economics, decision theory, marketing theory, interorganizational theory (including resource dependence), economic history, population ecology etc as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Several theoretical schools are competing within the field of strategic management knowledge On a general disciplinary level, theoretical contributions to strategic management have their roots in such different (sub)disciplines as industrial organization economics, decision theory, marketing theory, interorganizational theory (including resource dependence), economic history, population ecology etc Looking at one important issue in strategic management, namely the strategic change process, Mintzberg (in Fredrickson 1990) has identified three main groups of schools: 1 Rather normative schools which emphasize analytical, rational and sequential aspects of strategic processes 2 Descriptive schools, which describe the process from a specific theoretical perspective 3 Synthesizing schools, which try to integrate different apparently contradictory theories