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This paper has a dual purpose: to build a conceptual approach to authoritative relations in organizations that permits a reasonable interpretation of existing research; and to encourage significant future research. Its focus is upon several concepts common in the study of authority, which are often treated as being more or less mutually exclusive but which may also be usefully considered as interacting overlays of authoritative relations. Thus, in this paper authoritative relations are conceived as "integrative," that is, as having "traditional," "functional," and "behavioral" component overlays. In the application of the integrative conceptual approach illustrated here, the crucial issue is the increase of the congruence of the several overlays so that they substantially reinforce one another. The relevant literature is sampled, both to illustrate applied techniques and to sketch an organization structure appropriate for increasing the congruence of the several overlays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain has become much more than simply a fintech technology, and is enabling and inspiring new conversations around politics, governance, organization, institutions and power structures. I published an attempt to start a rigorous academic treatment of ideology in the blockchain space through my master's thesis titled Toward a Political Sociology of Blockchain at Queen's University. Since then, there have been continued rich discussions around politics and experimentation in line with the ideals of the blockchain movement. Examples include discussion of blockchain governance as a social contract, discussion of social scalability and how this enables us to organize, forums such as etherean.org, and movements such as RadicalxChange.org and the concept of Liberal Radicalism. Some of these movements have been started by similar actors in the blockchain space: Vitalik Buterin of the Ethereum project co-authored the paper on Liberal Radicalism which is deeply intertwined with RadicalxChange and the ethos of decentralization, and Lane Rettig is an Ethereum core developer and launched Etherean.org to be a non-maximalist community-based discussion of social aspects and implications around the emerging technology. While the cryptocurrency markets trended downward throughout 2018, there have been strong social indicators of a more mature system though increased interdisciplinary participation and development around the technology as well as increased interest by the public sector for use cases such as records keeping and identity solutions. I expand upon some of the concepts discussed in my thesis, and provide further evidence for the particular observations based on additional events I attended and took part in through late 2018 and early 2019. Primarily, additional evidence is taken from my attendance at both the ETHDenver and RadicalxChange conferences. I further develop some of the ideas and connections between the community that has emerged around blockchain technology, and the more recent adaptations in the political sphere, as well as implications of new forms of social organization allowed through the use of such technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research on integration and regulation in organizations is based upon concerns we share about the way organizations adapt or, rather, fail to adapt in our society. We have observed situations in many kinds of organizations where most people are aware that values are not being served, concerns are not being met and issues are not being resolved, but where either no action is taken or, if it is, it fails to achieve desired results. We call these situations social deadlocks and our long-term normative interest is to see whether they can be broken.[1] Although this paper is addressed to methodological aspects of our work, we hope to demonstrate how the design of our research project and the concepts and methods we use are guided by these concerns. Starting with a very brief outline of three of the cases, we then identify a number of common themes and concepts as the key research interests. Some of the problems of pursuing these interests are raised in terms of problems of definition, the collection of evidence and of inference. We argue that attempts to deal with these problems lead us to adopt a particular focus, design and approach for research. The paper then moves to a description of our methods and to some of the problems of analysis and explanation associated with the contextualist style of research we have adopted. Finally, we go back to the cases to demonstrate how our concepts and theories are refined by the research process, which is essentially a dialectic between emergent and imposed frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the office of theoretical investigation," said scholar Willard Gibbs, "to give the form in which the results of experiment may be expressed." If he had put "observation" for "experiment," Gibbs would have stated the purpose of the present paper. It is to provide one form in which may be ex- pressed what one knows about social organization. Please note, at the beginning, that more than one form is possible and that, in a limited space, the one suggested here can only be sketched out. The elements of social behavior. The present paper presupposes the direct observation of social behavior. It asks the devastating questions: Looking at the actions of men with eyes innocent of the usual preconceptions what does one see? What a simple classification can one start from in this field of fact? Attempting to answer, it sets up, as components of the conceptual scheme, individuals and three elements or determinants of the behavior of individuals in groups, which will be called operation, sentiment, and interaction.

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 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]

The evidence on current developments in work organization suggests that the outcome is often one of `conflicted collaboration', where there is simultaneous interdependence and disconnection resulting in both coercive and collaborative experiences for workers. It is argued here that analysis and explanation of these findings requires engagement with both the active role of agency and the social structures of capitalist development. These analyses must also locate the workplace in wider social contexts. A critical realist approach to understanding hegemony offers considerable potential in this endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up the current discussion and disagreement among ethnomethodologists and conversation analysts concerning how conversation analysis should address questions of "social structure." It also discusses the question of whether conversation analysis can address questions concerning the organisation of "work" as developed in the "studies of work" program of ethnomethodologists. Five different types of ethnomethodological and conversation analytic studies are delineated in order to show that, although they differ in problem selection and formulation, methodological preference and foci, they are not incompatible but complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to impressions that might be obtained from the literature on technology and structure, there is not a great deal of reliable evidence that the social structure of organizations is strongly affected by technology. The present research finds a very weak relationship between technological manageability and subordinate participation in decision making. When the conceptualization of technology is expanded to include more than manageability, a moderate relationship with participativeness emerges. No support is found for the hypothesis that the effectiveness of an organization is determined by the consonance between its technology and its social structure. Technology and structure are both multidimensional concepts that cannot be expected to be related in a simple manner. Future research on the determinants of most dimensions of social structure in organizations should probably emphasize independent variables other than technological characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The baseline model of Mayhew et al. (1972) which generates Blau's (1970) two major theoretical propositions relating size and structural differentiation in formal organizations is shown to be based on an assumption which limits the model's applicability to only hierarchical organizations. An alternative baseline model is developed which does not make this assumption and which fails to yield Blau's second proposition as a logical consequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend Fine's (2003) model of 'peopled ethnography' for studying small groups to the study of larger social units, including organizations and communities. While studies of small groups often recognize the presence of macro-level social structures, they typically treat these as backdrops to the interaction scene which constrain and enable group life, not as units of analysis in their own right. Yet small groups are embedded in and help constitute larger units of analysis, such as organizations and communities. We argue that studies of these larger social structures can be extended beyond ethnographic observation of the interactions that help comprise them, making peopled ethnography applicable to units of analysis larger than the small group. We offer illustrative examples of organizational and community ethnographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image of dead person returning to life was the most ancient source of irrational fear (i.e. fear not caused by objective menace) appeared in culture. This conclusion is argued with empirical data from archeology and ethnography. Fear has been expressed in funeral rites, the tying of extremities, burning and dismemberment of dead bodies, and ritual cannibalism (compensatory necrophilia) etc. At the same time, it was attended by effective care for helpless cripples, which seems to descend to the Lower Paleolithic as well. Dread of posthumous revenge played a decisive regulative role at the earliest stage of anthropogenesis, as the disparity between artificial weapons (the tools) and natural aggression-retention mechanisms (the instincts) became self-destructive. In the new conditions, individuals with normal animal mind were doomed to catastrophe. Those hominid groups proved viable, in which mystical fear, a product of unnaturally developed imagination, bounded lethal conflicts among kinsmen. The phobias corresponded to the psycho-nervous system's“strategic pathology”; that was a condition for early hominids’ self-preservation. As a result, a causal connection between instrumental potential, cultural regulation quality and social sustainability (the techno-humanitarian balance law) was formed, which has been a mechanism of social selection for all of human history and prehistory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantive field of research in sociology and social psychology is invoked in a characterization of a speech exchange system: the interview. One answer given by a candidate interviewed for a teaching post is considered in order: (1) to provide for the interview as interactionally achieved in the organization of speech exchange: and (2) to show that sequential structures constitute an "interviews orthodoxy" and are used by interviewers to then constitute the intelligibility of the attribution of personal characteristics to a candidate. In the course of so doing, two further points emerge as worths of future investigation: (1) there is a seriousness to suggesting that the systematic investigation of a speech exchange system in itself may he a method for addressing the aspects of social structure; and (2) an indication is given of what it would take to warrantably invoke a social context as relevant for human conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on the organized sources of network ties and on the social structural determinants of association are synthesized to produce several hypotheses about homophily. These hypotheses are tested with data on 304 face-to-face groups from 10 communities. We find that friends are more similar on status dimensions than chance and that this homophily is produced both by the restricted opportunity structure offered by the group and by homophilous chokes made within the group. Organizational heterogeneity leads to substantially greater dyadic status distance within the organization, while organization size consistently reduces dyadic status distance. At a given level of diversity, a larger group will permit more homophilous friendship pairing. However, correlated status dimensions create little reduction in dyadic social distance. In general, homogeneity within groups is the overwhelming determinant of homophily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the influence of Anthony Giddens on recent work in management studies, especially the contribution of his structurationist perspective to understanding managerial agency. A citation analysis and discussion of prominent exponents such as Ranson et al. (1980), Andrew Pettigrew and Hugh Willmott, concludes that Giddens' influence is substantial but lopsided. Giddens' concern for the intersection and tension between different social systems has been particularly neglected. Drawing on the insights of current 'institutionalist' studies of societal influences on organizations, the article builds a structurationist account of managerial agency that is founded on the contradictions within and between different social systems. The article ends by considering the implications of this structurationist account for current concerns with managerial leadership, organizational symbolism and strategic choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to discuss the Barnard-Simon model with reference to its usefulness in providing theoretical insights into participation in community action organizations. The article is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the Barnard-Simon model and its theoretical relevance for community action organizations. The second part explores several theoretical ideas about participation, organizational viability, and the relative importance of certain classes of variables in community action organizations. The actual development of an organization is the source of data for that discussion. The third part is devoted to the discussion of general implications. The community action organization is rooted in many of the human failings of formal social organizations. The Barnard-Simon model has more immediate and direct behavioral implications, therefore, for this type of organization. The Barnard-Simon model postulates an organization as a coalition of participants or group of participants.

This article deals with the programmatic exploration of the concept of organizational control. The series of studies presented has been concerned in part with the development of a more adequate conceptualization of organizational control. This series has moved from the study of specific supervisor-subordinate relationships to the development of a general schema describing the broader pattern of control in the organization. An attempt has been made in these studies to discover the uniquely organizational dimensions of control.

In this study the influence system in the Negro sub-community of "Pacific City" is related to other dimensions of the sub-community's social structure. The influential Negroes and Negro organizations were identified with a similar research design to that employed by Floyd Hunter in his study of "Regional City". This procedure provides a basis for comparing the findings of the two studies. The data indicate that the Negro leaders were primarily concerned with issues of an inter-racial nature. Their sub-community lacked large scale business and industrial organizations, and, consequently, no genuine power structure had developed. The investigation suggests the fruitfulness of a typological approach to the analysis of community influence systems. Use of such an approach would be most effective if carried out within the framework of a comparative research design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a study' by a participant observer carried out in 1966 in a new airport in Great Britain. The object was to observe the behavior of the general hands at the airport in relation to the emergence of a social organization. The author worked for a period of twelve weeks as a general hand at a new municipal airport. The old airport serving this particular area had needed replacing and accordingly a new one was planned and developed. The change-over occurred smoothly with the new airport beaconing operational just as the old airport closed down. The system of 'general hands' was a particularly interesting aspect of the new airport's organization. Various methods of municipal airport staffing had been studied by the Airport Director who was responsible for the planning and implementation of a staffing structure. The system adopted meant that the manual workers were organized on the basis that there would be no specific categories of workers; rather that everyone would be utilized in all job categories.