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Maintenance, an important concept in the organizational literature, is often assumed to be a key factor in the low levels of sensitivity to client needs and demands apparent in many human service organizations. This paper uses data from a national sample of juvenile courts to demonstrate, however, that maintenance may relate to other variables in ways that are at variance with the common assumption. The maintenance of internal organizational operations is bound closely to the development of ties to the community; as a result, strong emphasis on maintenance actually leads to high levels of sensitivity to clients when certain environmental forces demand it. This positive relation is especially strong when organizations are highly vulnerable to external pressures. Such results suggest a contingent view of the role of maintenance in organizations and imply some further directions for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the importance of identifying the environmental context in which organizations function. The relationship between an organization and those other groups and individuals constituting its environment is specified in terms of linkages. Two key dimensions of linkage are identified: strength and breadth. The former refers to how intimately the organization is connected with any other group while the latter refers to how extensive is the support. These linkages' dimensions are viewed from a "resource mobilization" perspective, i.e., as the means by which resources are brought into an organization. A study of linkages sustained by the NAACP during 1961-69 illustrates how the dimensions of linkage strength and breadth can be operationalized and applied. New avenues of research then are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the field of sociology and the subfield of complex organization have experienced a series of running debates between persons subscribing to structural approaches and those holding to interaction perspectives of scientific inquiry. Drawing upon Spinner's (1973) discussion of the types of intertheory relationships, this paper extends his analysis by drawing attention to the Polanyi-Hanson-Kuhn position on the fundamental nature of theory-laden observation. A methodological rule is proposed, using theoretic blockage as the basis for alternate shifting between diverse theories. In this manner, tenets of various theoretic perspectives can serve as heuristics to a more informed analysis. A theoretical discussion of power, deference, and social coordination is used to illustrate how the methodological rule of theoretic blockage can be employed to advance organization theory. I argue that the theoretical diversities in the subfield of complex organization can provide an excellent arena for exploring critical intertheory dialogues which can advance our knowledge of organizations. At the same time they can serve as a testing ground for general intertheory and interdisciplinary linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of organizations has been guided by a paradigm consisting of interrelated theoretical, methodological, and practical commitments. Theoretically, a problematic of rational structuring has dominated the field. This has been coupled with positivist methodology and a practical commitment to administrative problem-solving. The paradigm has fallen into crisis as a consequence of work on several analytical problems—action, power, levels, and process. Work on the action problem emphasizes the grounding of organizational patterns in the interactions and practices of people. Patterns are also seen in recent work as the expression of power relationships. The levels problem involves the analysis of interpenetration and interdependence between distinct sectors or layers of social structure. The concern with process involves the continuous transformation of organizational patterns. The central issue growing out of the work on these analytical problems is how to handle theoretically the production and reproduction of organizational patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An alternative approach to organizational theory is outlined, based on Marxian categories and propositions. The concepts of "productive forces" and "social relations of production" are specified in terms of various organizational phenomena such as organizing activity vs. organization; historical contradictions between organizational control structures and new forms of organizing work activity (e.g., occupational and professional status groups vs. administrative rationalization and bureaucratization; bureaucratic and technocratic administration vs. selforganization of labor and workers' control); the contradictions between such organizational dimensions as labor-power and its manifestations in terms of skills and knowledge, the object of labor (complexity of task structure), the means of labor (technology), the division of labor, the control of labor (cost-accounting and hierarchical authority relations), and the organization of labor (e.g., either in terms of occupations and professions or unions, corporate management, state bureaucracies, or self-organization and workers' control). Organizational contradictions between functional as well as historical phases of the work process are described for work organizations, in general, and for public service bureaucracies and courts of law, in particular. For example, administrative and technical innovations designed to increase productivity tend to come into contradiction with strategies of established authority structures (e.g., of the professional judicial elite) designed to expand domain, thus impeding or nullifying various organizational reform efforts. The paper concludes with a more general discussion of Marxian method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that the theory of negotiated order, which has remained largely submerged within a series of fairly specific "grounded" case studies of occupations, professions, and complex organizations in the health field, has a number of attractive qualities to it. As such, it represents one of the more exciting recent developments in the study of organizations. The present paper examines the more recent historical origins of the theory, summarizes its major points, and critically assesses its strengths and weaknesses. Since most of the substance of the theory is found in studies of health professionals working in hospital settings, the examples used here are also derived from this particular body of literature. Some future possible directions which we believe will improve the overall explanatory power of the perspective are presented in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal and system resource approaches represent alternative conceptions of organizational effectiveness. The goal approach views effectiveness in terms of internal organizational objectives and performance. Organization-environment relations are the focus of the system resource approach, though previous applications of this perspective have been limited to profit-making organizations. This paper reconceptualizes the system resource approach for use in public agencies and examines the flow of organizational resources as an indicator of effectiveness.

The relationship between size and structure is a general problem in the study of social organization. Organization can be seen as a system of relationships among differentiated activities performed by units of a population. Viewed as arising out of the exchange relations among these units, the structural characteristics of organizations should be affected by population size. As specific expressions of this general concern, size has been included in every taxonomy of group properties and has been related to goals, effectiveness, succession, and job satisfaction in studies of formal organizations (Merton, 1957:310-326; Berelson and Steiner, 1964:364-367; Tannenbaum, 1961; Meltzer and Salter, 1962; Simpson and Gulley, 1962; and Grusky, 1961). But perhaps the greatest amount of theoretical and research attention has focused on the relationship between size and the administrative component as one structural aspect of formal organizations (Melman, 1951; Terrien and Mills, 1955; Tsouderos, 1955; Bendix, 1956:221-223; Haire, 1959:287-296; Anderson and Warkov, 1961; Lindenfeld, 1961; Haas et al., 1963; Hawley et al., 1965; Starbuck, 1965:495-502; Rushing, 1966; Raphael, 1967; Hall et al., 1967). The findings produced by this research along with other inquiries into the effects of size on structural characteristics have been inconclusive. This has led some to conclude that "… size may be irrelevant in determining organizational structure" (Hall et al., 1967:912). Such a conclusion, however, may be premature. It is clear from both our own work and that of others that the effects of size may vary by type of organization (Akers and Campbell, 1968). Further, a clearer understanding of the size factor, especially as related to the administrative segment, requires a systematic investigation into other structural features of organization. In particular, Blau and Scott (1962:227) have suggested that complexity, as a second structural characteristic, may be an intervening variable between size and the administrative component, as well as being itself directly affected by organizational size. While other studies have treated complexity in a variety of ways, none has attempted systematically to explore the interrelationships among size, complexity, and the administrative component in a relatively large number of voluntary organizations. It is the purpose of this paper to examine these interrelationships for one kind of organization. Specifically, we want to consider: 1. the relationship between organizational size and the administrative component, controlling for complexity. 2. the relationship between size and complexity controlling for the relative size of the administrative component. 3. the relationship between complexity and the size of the administrative component controlling for organizational size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the effects of members on organizations. We looked at the kinds of responses organizations can make to members, the connection of different responses to the type of relationship between organization and members, the choice of different organizational responses, and the conditions maximizing effects of members. The term "organizational response" is used to cover both new developments which are customarily thought to be changes and those which are not usually viewed as changes. The basis for distinguishing two major types of responses to members is how the pressure for change is handled: Any new activities, procedures, norms, or goals introduced in order to alter or manipulate the source of pressure on the organization are called controls. Any new activities, etc., introduced in order to alter or manipulate the targets of pressure are called organizational modifications. The most important organizational responses to members are social controls. These may involve major redistributions of resources, the creation of new departments and services, dramatic shifts in conceptions of the organization's purposes, and so on. At the same time, they represent attempts by agents of the organization to resist, control, contain, manipulate, and prevent possible influence from members on the organization. Many times, these attempts to protect the organization are more costly than modifying those aspects of the organization which are the targets of influence. The social controls can backfire and engender greater member disaffection. Nevertheless, it was assumed that social controls should be a preferred response when pressures from members occur. Should the range of controls available to an organization become depleted—either because it has few available or because previous attempts at control have failed—organizational modifications then occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ORGANIZaTiON goals and their consequences provide a major frame of reference for the systematic investigation of variation in the structure and operation of large-scale organizations. Sociologists have traditionally identified relatively specific goals as one of the distinctive aspects of large-scale organization. But they have not analyzed comparatively the effects of different goals on organizational behavior, nor have they confronted the problem of measuring goals when comparing organizations. In a study recently concluded, custodial and treatment goals of correctional institutions for delinquents were used as the major source for independent variables in the testing of hypothesized relationships about the social structure of these institutions.)Using data from this study, this paper has two purposes. First, we wish to illustrate a method for the measurement of goals when these are defined vaguely and in such a way as to protect the institution's public image. By using several methods of measuring goals we were able to achieve both a more precise definition of goals and one which showed how the goals of different levels and groups in the institution intermeshed. Second, we wish to present illustrative data demonstrating the effects of different goals on the internal structures of the organizations. Specifically, we will compare departmental structures, power balances, and staff perceptions of organizational norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population ecology model of formal organizations is used to study how adaptive maneuvers enable organizations to maintain themselves in a distribution of like organizations and, ultimately, to understand how the process of selection leads to survival and reproduction of certain types of organization and attrition of other types of organizations. Selection is readily affected by organization innovation, whether administrative or technological. This research dealt with how the steel rail may have affected the survival of 214 railroads in a fourteen-state area of the U.S. from 1860 to 1890. The findings indicate that two organizational characteristics, age of railroad and size of a rail operation, contributed more to rail survival than did technological innovation. Several methodological and theoretical issues are discussed which surround the choice of the population ecology model and the conduct of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colleague consultation in professional organizations is both important and commonplace. One consequence of consultation is that some individuals acquire more prominence than others in the work contact networks. The literature suggests that variation in prominence depends on personal characteristics, such as occupation, education, ascribed traits, and activities both inside and outside the organization. Using sociometric data for the staff members of a psychiatric hospital for children, various hypotheses dealing with the effects of personal attributes are examined. An alternative explanation is that social relations within and between organizational subunits influence the likelihood that subunit members will be prominent in the hospital-wide communication network. The analysis indicates that these subunit relations have direct effects on prominence and also mediate the effects of certain personal characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Michel's notion of the inevitable and ironic transformation of groups with egalitarian intent into groups with oligarchical practices is examined through an analysis of thirty-four role playing partisan groups. Each group is a triad with an extended shared history or a history of equality that comes with friendship. Each group differentiated itself by selecting a representative to confront another student who played the role of a university dean. In nineteen of the groups the constituents obtained a news report of the outcome of those negotiations independent of their representative's report. In the other fifteen groups the constituents had to depend on their representative's report. In those groups that relied solely on their representative's report, oligarchical interrelations emerged. This contrasts with the news report groups who maintained egalitarian relationships while developing a political standpoint toward each other, the opposition and the future. We conclude that Michels' statement on organizational oligarchy is illuminated further by a consideration of an emergent monopoly of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major criticisms of the dominant comparative structural and structural contingency approaches to organizations were examined and found to possess at least ten major limitations. These structural approaches have resulted in an emphasis on organizational efficiency, goals, consensus, statics, and constraints of the environment, size, and technology which perpetuate the status quo; but the analysis of power, change, conflicts of interest, and individual volition have been obscured. Although structural analysis has resulted in some limited abstract generalizations concerning the form of organizations, these generalizations do little to contribute to understanding organizational processes, strategic choice, and power relationships. These important aspects of organizations could be unmasked by viewing organizations as arenas of micro-individual and group interests as well as arenas through which macrosocietal, class, and multinational interests and conflicts are played out. To minimize these limitations in the analysis of organizations, triangulations of perspectives, levels of analysis, sources of data, and methodologies are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following contingency theory on a goal based model of effectiveness, an analysis of the effectiveness of 73 human service organizations was attempted. The initial measure of effectiveness was self-reports from organizational members. When these measures were compared with additional indicators of effectiveness on the same goals, dissimilar results were found. This suggested that it was fruitless to try to establish single measures of organizational effectiveness, because there are contradictions among the goals of the organizations and among the internal and external parties concerned with the organizations. A contradiction model of effectiveness is proposed which incorporates elements of the system resource and goal models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from 23 alcoholism halfway houses are analyzed to assess the relationship of four aspects of organizational size to three levels of organizational functioning. As identified by Kimberly (1976), the dimensions of size are (1) personnel, (2) inputs/ outputs, (3) physical capacity, and (4) amount of discretionary resources. The three levels of organizational analysis are (1) internal (reflecting social control issues), (2) external (organization-environment relations), and (3) socio-technical (core technology issues). The amount of discretionary resources, followed closely by personnel size, is the dimension of size most relevant to all three aspects of organizational operations. Contrary to expectations, input-volume (or number of residential clients) was related negatively both to a more differentiated internal structure and to supportive organization-environment relations. Also unexpected, client-size had little relationship to the programming or staffing aspects of the core technology. Physical capacity (number of client beds) was the least significant aspect of size for this sample of organizations. Additional analyses of size as a multi-dimensional concept and refinement in theories relating size to the structure and operations of residential service organizations are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of discrepancies between preferred and perceived control among church members are investigated in terms of amount and distribution of control. For each dimension of control, three categories of respondents are identified: those who preferred a greater amount or wider distribution of control than they perceived to exist within their churches (deficit); those whose preferred and perceived control scores were identical (balance); and those who preferred a lesser amount or more concentrated distribution of control in their churches than they perceived to exist (surplus). For both amount and distribution of control, a perceived deficit is more common than a surplus. Respondents experiencing discrepancies in either direction are more dissatisfied and alienated than those with a balance in desired and perceived organizational control. A deficit is associated with more dissatisfaction (but not necessarily more alienation) than a surplus. Subsample comparisons show these findings hold for both officers and non-officers. Regression analyses show that discrepancies regarding organizational control are important even after other aspects of control have been introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic study of the sociology of organizations is almost absent in both the classical and modern Marxist traditions. Although some recent studies in the Marxist tradition show considerable promise, the field has been dominated by the Weberian perspective. The development of new theory should be informed by the Marxian concepts of (a) labor theory of value, (b) the forces and relations of production, (c) historical development of capitalism, and (d) class structure and class struggle. Bourgeois organizational theory has some serious deficiencies, but there is much of value that can be subsumed under the broader rubric of Marxist political economy. The potential for a Marxist theory of bureaucracy is explored in an examination of managerial strategies to minimize external uncertainties in a monopoly capitalist system, and internal uncertainties arising from the work force. Strategies for controlling the work force include the division of labor, organizational hierarchy, rules and procedures, the uses of secrecy and hoarding of knowledge, and the maintenance of ethnic and sexual divisions in the work force. Further research is needed on (a) differentiating capital accumulation and social control strategies, (b) comparisons between workers in the state and corporate sectors, (c) comparisons between work organization under full range of socialist economies and those in capitalist economies in both manufacturing and government and (d) alternatives for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational change may be considered as analogous to scientific change. Kuhn's analysis of scientific activities as paradigm guided is applied to an organizational framework to suggest that organizational activities may be understood in the same fashion. This perspective is briefly applied to the current controversy in health care. Research attention is directed toward the use of knowledge in organizational activities and in health care in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between organizational size and the proportional size of the administrative component. The hypothesis is that organizational size is directly related to the difference between the relative sizes of the clerical and managerial components-the clerical ratio minus the managerial ratio. The data, drawn from general hospitals, show that the managerial component and organizational size are negatively related, and that organizational size and the relative size of the clerical component are not related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Max WEBER utilized the ideal-type in various ways. One of them was in his analysis of bureaucracy as a form of social organization. Generally, he stated that the bureaucratic type of administration is "from a purely technical point of view, capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency and is in this sense formally the most rational known means of carrying out imperative control over human beings." More specifically, he stated the following characteristics of the ideal-type of bureaucracy: (1) It consists of a formation of offices with each office having a specified "span of control," and specified duties and responsibilities. (2) The offices are organized into a hierarchy with each lower office under the control and supervision of the next higher one. (3) Operations are governed by a system of rules and consist of the application of these rules to particular cases. (4) Each office is occupied by an official who conducts himself in a spirit of formalistic impersonality. (5) The occupancy of an office is based on technical competency, and the hierarchy is a career line for the office occupant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students of organizations, whether with applied or more basic research interests, have had difficulty with the concept of organizational purpose or goal. The problems with purpose are identified by three questions, of which the most basic is: "What is organizational purpose?" In most organizations there is a coherence of, a direction to, and an order in activities such that the organizations are or appear to be explicable in terms of some goal. Organizational purpose is postulated as the phenomenon that provides this order, direction, and coherence. However, there is little agreement as to the nature of this phenomenon. Some would assert that it is found in or as a product of the motives and purposes of the members. Others would assert that it is much more clearly an organizational phenomenon, citing as supporting evidence the continuity through time of the same order and direction in activities despite changes in personnel. The second question, "What data identify purpose?" must be answered as a prerequisite for research whether or not we can agree on a theoretical answer to the first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal organizations, as well as individual practitioners, are important agents of professional service. Yet, despite the attention which has been given to the relations between clients and free professionals, relations between clients and client-serving organizations largely remain to be explored. Since the form of the professional client relationship has significant effects on the behavior of the free professional, presumably it has an equally marked impact upon the structures and activities of client-serving organizations. Our purpose here is to suggest what some of these effects may be. We have chosen to analyze effects upon authority structures and control within the staff, assuming that these structures have a central, strategic position vis-`-vis other attributes of organization. We shall attend especially to the effects of variations in the form of the organization-client relationship. The analysis begun here could be extended profitably to a number of other organizational characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]