Two models are presented to explain the relationship between size of organizations and percentage of staff personnel. (Author)

Synthesizes much of the literature on technology and size relative to the two dependent variables that appear to be most alike: structural differentiation and complexity. The better test of a direct causal effect is to examine relationships between rates of change in these variables, not associations between levels. (Author/IRT)

Literature concerning relationships among structural attributes of organizations and literature focusing on the adoption of innovations are integrated, and a model of innovation adoption is tested against data gathered in a nationwide survey of United States hospitals. (Author)

This article proposes some specific new guidelines for organizational taxonimizing that deliberately circumvent the problems of previous attempts, discusses the problem of selecting subgrouping dimensions for the formation of a taxonomy of organizations and proposes one possible set of such dimensions. (Author)

Qualitative methods and data are likely to be most useful in the assessment of environmental attributes and less appropriate where participants' interpretations of environments are to be measured. The determination of the appropriateness of quantitative and qualitative methods should be made on the basis of what is being measured. (Author/IRT)

Uses a control-loss model to explore the effects of multiple channels in formal organizations, and presents an argument for the superior control properties of dual hierarchies. Two variant forms of multiple hierarchies are considered. (Author)

The structure underlying "unstructured" processes is described in terms of 12 elements: 3 central phases, 3 sets of supporting routines, and 6 sets of dynamic factors. (Author/IRT)

Focuses on the perceptions of top managers in four industries (plastics, semiconductors, automotives, and air transportation) who examined relationships among strategy, distinctive competence, and organizational performance. (Author/IRT)

Proposes that the social contract analogy for organizations is superior to the analogy with organisms, which fails to provide a satisfactory picture of organizational reality, entails suspicious implications for organizational change, and impedes organizational inquiry. (Author/IRT)

Discusses seven basic themes that underlie the author's "direct research" activities. These themes include reliance on research based on description and induction instead of prescription and deduction, and the measurement of many elements in real settings, supported by anecdote, instead of few variables in perceptual terms from a…

Heavy prior reliance on self-report has excluded crucial populations from organizational inquiry, postponed cross-checking of propositions, inflated the apparent consequentiality of minor irritations in the workplace, and imposed a homogeneity of method that raises the prospect that the findings of the field are method-specific. (Author)

Using educational organizations as a case in point, it is argued that the concept of loose coupling incorporates a surprising number of disparate observations about organizations, suggests novel functions, creates stubborn problems for methodologists, and generates intriguing questions for scholars. (Author)

This paper develops a conceptual model of the crisis-decision process, focusing on links susceptible to emergence of pathologies, and proposes preventive measures to increase the coping abilities of decision units. (Author)

This research examines the following hypotheses: (1) that members of organizations with low power have one of four ways of balancing power as a preferred power-balancing style, (2) that such styles have biographical correlates, and (3) that certain styles will be overrepresented in organizations. (Author)