Differentiation, Integration, and Performance in the Three Environments

Before exploring how well the organizations in the container and food industries met the requirements of their environments, and how they compared with the plastics organizations described earlier, we shall briefly describe the four organizations investigated in this phase of the study and their relative performance. 1. Container and Food Organizations and Their Performance

The Process of Conflict Resolution in the Container Organizations

1. Integrative Devices Only the low-performing container organization had a formal integrating unit. This department, which reported to the general manager, had as its assigned function the integration of sales requirements and production capacity at the organization’s several plants. In addition, the responsibility for scheduling decisions involving any one plant had been assigned to

Conflict Resolution in the Food Organizations

The two food organizations also differed in the extent to which they met the determinants of effective resolution of interdepartmental conflict. In beginning a discussion of these differences, we should re-emphasize the point made in the last chapter, that the low-performing food organization was rapidly improving its performance. As we compare it here with

High-performing Organizations: Organizational States and Environmental Demands

In each industry, as we have seen, the high-performing or- ganization came nearer meeting the demands of its environment than its less effective competitors. The most successful organizations tended to maintain states of differentiation and integration consistent with the diversity of the parts of the environment and the required interdependence of these parts. As

High-performing Organizations: Integrative Devices

Each of these high-performing organizations used a different combination of devices for achieving integration. As the reader will recall, the plastics organization had established a special department, one of whose primary activities was the integration of effort among the basic functional units (Table VI-1). In addition, this organization had an elaborate set of permanent

High-performing Organizations: Comparison of Effec¬tive Conflict-Resolving Practices

Because of differences in the demands of each environment and the related differences in integrative devices, each of these high-performing organizations had developed some dif-ferent procedures and practices for resolving interdepartmental conflict. However, certain important determinants of effective conflict resolution prevailed in all three organizations. We shall first examine the differences, then explore the

Summary Comparison of the High-Performing Organizations

The plastics organization, which functioned in the most dynamic and diverse of the three environments, was consequently most highly differentiated of the three high-performing organizations. Since this condition could create major problems in maintaining the required state of integration, this organization, as we have seen, had developed an elaborate set of formal devices (both

A Contingency Theory of Organizations

From this comparison we have seen that it is possible to understand the differences in the internal states and processes of these three effective organizations on the basis of the dif-ferences in their external environments. This, along with the comparison between the high performers and the other organizations in each environment, has provided us

Classical Organizational Theory

The classical writers usually start their reasoning by using examples of very primitive organizations. One favorite, for instance, involves a man who wants to move a stone that is too heavy for him. So, of course, he arranges to secure the temporary services of a second or third man by offering a reward. When

Human Relations Theory

The human relations theorists approached the study of or- ganizations by calling attention to “the seamy side of progress,” to use Mayo’s apt phrase. The early writers in the 1930s were concerned with the many signs that modern industrial organizations were generating some undesirable human consequences as well as a vast flow of goods

Contingency Studies Emphasizing Environmental and Task Variables

In a broad way all of the six studies we will now examine attempt to throw more light on how organizations must vary if they are to cope effectively with different environmental circumstances. We will be interested in seeing how the results of these studies fit with our own findings. We will begin by

Other Types of Contingency Studies

1. Resolution Another major theme of our research is the process of conflict resolution and the relation between states of differentiation and states of integration. Is there a comparable body of related research in this area? The answer is yes and no. Yes, there is a rich and growing literature on the dynamics of

A Contingency Theory

We have sought to move beyond the picture presented in the preceding chapter of the strengths and limitations of the kind of organization theory most managers are still using—a disjointed combination of classical and human relations theories. By examining and relating some selected modem studies, we have tried to illuminate the prospects of a

Contingency Theory: Applying the Differentiation and Integration Approach

As organizations undertake more complex tasks, they tend to complicate internally by differentiating new organization units. This process can readily be traced historically in many organizations. Spencer long ago noted this phenomenon in his analogy between social and biological systems: A social organism is like an individual organism in these essential traits; that it

Contingency Theory: Applying Conflict-Resolution Findings

As we pointed out earlier, one traditional way organizations have resolved conflicts is by referring them up the line to the first superior shared by both disputants. This is the way the classical theorists assumed that all integration would be achieved. As organizations have undertaken more complex tasks in more heterogeneous environments, this procedure

Contingency Theory: Implications for the Selection of Discrete Management Practices

In referring to discrete management practices, we have in mind such things as payment systems, control systems, man- power selection, placement and promotion systems. This study’s most general implication for the choice of such man- agement practices is that it be made with thoughtful attention to the task and environment of the organizational unit

Contingency Theory: Implications for Designing Multi-Industry and Multinational Companies

In this study we have not directly addressed the particular organizational issues raised by the added complexity of operating either in a number of different industries or in a number of different national cultures. In the past few years, however, these issues have become of vital concern to an increasing number of organizations. Therefore,

Contingency Theory: Implications for the Process of Organizational Growth and Change

Another major question that was not directly addressed in this study is the issue of organizational growth and change. Healthy organizations are always under pressure to grow. This pressure may come from outside the system, in the form of requests to undertake new or expanded tasks, or it may come from inside, from members

Contingency Theory: Environmental Trends – Faster Change and Greater Heterogeneity

The vast majority of serious commentators on the subject are agreed that the rate of scientific advance is increasing. While a few voices question this, there is no doubt about the growth rate of the numbers of people doing scientific work and about the proliferation of areas in which man is exploring the unknown.

Contingency Theory: Implications for the Form and Size of Viable Organizations

If our projection of environmental trends proves accurate, the viable organization of the future will need to establish and integrate the work of organization units that can cope with even more varied sub-environments. The differentiation of these units will be more extreme. Concurrently, the problems of integration will be more complex. Great ingenuity will