The average tenure of academic department heads was found to be positively related to the level of paradigm development characterizing the department, negatively related to departmental size, and related to interactions of the level of paradigm development with the seniority mix of the faculty and with the departmental size. (Author/IRT)

Using interview and survey data from a quick-service restaurant chain and a robotics company, this paper examines the relationship between perceived departmental power and the extent to which departments might share important organizational values with top management. Preliminary results support the importance of perceived value congruity in…

Examines the effects of founding events on the evolution of subunit importance in the semiconductor industry from 1958 to 1985. Distributions of power and subunit importance represent not only influences of current conditions, but also vestiges of earlier events, including the institution's founding. Includes 55 references. (MLH)

Investigates longitudinally the relationships among coping with uncertainty, nonsubstitutability, and subunit power in nine health care clinics of three subunits each. Results show previous power position to be the main predictor of subsequent power. Includes 27 references. (MLH)

Proposes a multiple contingencies theory that simultaneously examines task and dependence effects on unit design and efficiency. The model is tested, using data from 529 work units in 60 employment security offices. Units facing conflicting contingencies are more prone to design misfit and lower performance. Includes 40 references. (MLH)

Using the human resource subunit as the focus for assessment, several core postulates of the multiple contingency model of effectiveness were examined empirically. Results supported the model's theoretical efficacy. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research and conceptual extensions to the multiple constituency model. Includes 50…

The data show that the university curriculum responded to changes in financial conditions, and that departments of stronger research reputation were less responsive than departments of weaker reputation. (Author/IRT)

Discusses Judith Hackman's article (published in "Administrative Science Quarterly," in March 1985) theorizing about how colleges and universities allocate resources among units--an important issue in an ongoing era of budget cuts and resource reallocations. Affirms the importance of departmental centrality in resource allocation and…

Examines the determinants of power and budget allocations on two campuses of a large, state university system. Faculty positions and budget allocations were a function of student enrollment and departmental power, and departmental power was related to the amount of a department's grant and contract funds as well as to its enrollment. (Author/IRT)

Results indicate that departmental characteristics, positional characteristics, and individual characteristics predict attitudes and behavior, with individual characteristics being the best predictor. By themselves, job characteristics are related most highly to departmental characteristics. (Author)

Explores the process of horizontal differentiation by examining events leading to the establishment of 30 new departments in five universities. Two types of horizontal differentiation processes--administrative and academic--were observed and each was associated with different organizational conditions. (Author/IRT)

Uses a large sample of college and university faculty to study the effects of wage inequality on satisfaction, productivity, and collaboration. Results show that increased wage dispersion within academic departments negatively affects individual faculty members' satisfaction, research productivity, and research collaboration among faculty members.…

Reviews contingency and universalistic theoretical rationales linking satisfaction and conflict to organic and mechanistic styles of structure and control. Results indicate that contingency variables are frequently as good as, or even better than, universalistic variables as predictors of satisfaction and conflict. (Author/IRT)

This research based theory suggests the concept of centrality (how closely a unit's purposes match those central to the organization) affects internal resource allocations, environmental power, institutional power, and resource negotiation strategies in colleges and universities. A figure, tables, an appendix, and 30 references are provided. (DCS)

Data from 1,805 academic departments in 303 colleges and universities were used to examine the effect of work organization on wage variation within departments. Private control, larger size, and working alone were associated with more dispersed wages; greater social contact, participative governance, and demographic homogeneity were associated…