Organizations as political coalitions: A behavioral view of the goal formation process

Within the contemporary theory of formal organization, much is said of the importance of organizational goals. I t has been noted, for example, that goals are instrumental in defining the organization in i t s environment so as to establ ish legi t imacy, to provide for the coordination of diverse subunits, and to establ ish the standards for performance evaluation (17). When reading the l i t e r a t u r e on goal formation, one is impressed with two factors. F i rs t , everyone agrees that to accurately understand organizational processes, one must recognize the importance of goals. Second, although goals are un iversa l ly accepted as basic to organization and management, l i t t l e at tent ion has been directed toward a systematic theory of goal formation. Thus, on one hand, we concede the importance of goals while on the other hand we do l i t t l e to explain how they come into being. In th is paper an attempt w i l l be made to examine and expand one view of organizational goal formation. This view is labeled the po l i t i ca l theory because of the way in which goals are said to emerge. The thesis is not new. I t is hoped, however, that the process w i l l provide some perspectives that are seldom scrut inized with any degree of seriousness.