Environment and Complexity of Organizations

Interaction among and unification of people are the very agents that create an organization. An organization can only exist if it exchanges individuals, information, or material resources with the environment permanently surrounding it. Many organizational scientists have recognized that the environment plays a significant but not absolute role in the origin and evolution of organizations (see, e.g., Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967; Meyer & Scott, 1983; Pfeffer & Salanick, 1978). Although every organization continually feels the influence of the environment, it can preserve integrity (invariability of behavior) through four natural operators:

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