Technology and Structure: The Concrete, Abstract, and Activity Systems of Organizations

Attempts by organizational researchers to conceptualize and explicate the concepts of technology and structure have been subject to inconsistencies and misspecifications. These problems stem from the absence of an integrative framework that considers these concepts simultaneously. Such a framework is developed here, rooted both in the theoretical work on technology and structure and in systems theory. This framework specifies the qualitatively different components that constitute technology in organizations, the hierarchical arrangement of these components, and the nature of organizational structuring. The components considered are those associated with the concrete (living and nonliving), the abstract, and the activity systems that characterize organizations. These system components are integrated into a model of technology and structure. Implications of this model for the management of technological and structural change are discussed.

[1]  Richard J. Tersine,et al.  Production/operations management: Concepts, structure, and analysis , 1980 .

[2]  R. Billings,et al.  The impact of a change in technology on job characteristics: a quasi-experiment. , 1977, Administrative science quarterly.

[3]  M. Moch,et al.  Structure and organizational resource allocation. , 1976, Administrative science quarterly.

[4]  B. S. Georgopoulos.  Hospital organization research : review and source book , 1975 .

[5]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  Assessment of Technology In Organizations: Closed versus Open Systems Approach , 1979 .

[6]  B. S. Georgopoulos,et al.  Organization Research on Health Institutions. , 1975 .

[7]  D. Rousseau.  Characteristics of Departments, Positions, and Individuals: Contexts for Attitudes and Behavior. , 1978 .

[8]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  A Task Contingent Model of Work-Unit Structure. , 1974 .

[9]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  Developing an interdisciplinary science of organizations , 1979 .

[10]  R. Duncan.  Characteristics of Organizational Environments and Perceived Environmental Uncertainty. , 1972 .

[11]  J. G. Miller.  Living systems. , 1972, Currents in modern biology.

[12]  L. Porter,et al.  Communication in Organizations. , 1972 .

[13]  J. Ellul,et al.  The Technological Order , 1962 .

[14]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  Developing an interdisciplinary science of organizations , 1979 .

[15]  Alex Bavelas.  A Mathematical Model for Group Structures , 1948 .

[16]  P. Wright.  The Social Psychology of Organizations, (2nd Ed): Daniel Katz and Robert L. Kahn New York: Wiley, 1978, 838 pp. , 1979 .

[17]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The Sciences of the Artificial , 1970 .

[18]  G. Miller,et al.  Plans and the structure of behavior , 1960 .

[19]  Joan C. Woodward.  Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice , 1966 .

[20]  J. Child,et al.  Technology, Size, and Organization Structure , 1972 .

[21]  Allan P. Jones,et al.  Organizational structure: a review of structural dimensions and their conceptual relationships with individual attitudes and behavior , 1976 .

[22]  Amitai Etzioni,et al.  A Comparative Analysis of Complex Organizations. , 1962 .

[23]  R. A. Cooke,et al.  Problems of Complex Systems: A Model of System Problem Solving Applied to Schools , 1981 .

[24]  C. Perrow.  A FRAMEWORK FOR THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONS , 1967 .

[25]  S. Ranson.  The Structuring of Organizational Structures. , 1980 .

[26]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action , 1967 .

[27]  J. Inkson,et al.  Organization Context and Structure: An Abbreviated Replication. , 1970 .

[28]  Chris Argyris,et al.  Interpersonal competence and organizational effectiveness , 1962 .

[29]  Cyril P. Morgan,et al.  Organization Theory: A Macro Perspective for Management , 1978 .

[30]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Organization and environment , 1967 .

[31]  Bernard C. Reimann,et al.  Dimensions of Organizational Technology and Structure: An Exploratory Study , 1977 .

[32]  D. Hickson.  A Convergence in Organization Theory , 1966 .

[33]  M. Tushman.  Special Boundary Roles in the Innovation Process. , 1977 .

[34]  Albert H. Rubenstein,et al.  Integration and utilization of management science activities in organizations. , 1968 .

[35]  D. Pugh,et al.  Dimensions of Organization Structure , 1968 .

[36]  C. Hulin,et al.  Studying organizational attitudes from individual and organizational frames of reference , 1972 .

[37]  Howard Hunt Pattee,et al.  Hierarchy Theory: The Challenge of Complex Systems , 1973 .

[38]  G. G. Stanfield.  Technology and Organization Structure as Theoretical Categories , 1976 .

[39]  Donald Gerwin,et al.  The Comparative Analysis of Structure and Technology: A Critical Appraisal , 1979 .

[40]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The Structuring of Organizations , 1979 .

[41]  Peter M. Blau,et al.  Presidential Address: Parameters of Social Structure , 1974 .

[42]  H. Simon,et al.  The Organization of Complex Systems , 1977 .

[43]  Richard H. Hall,et al.  Organizations: Structure and process , 1977 .

[44]  Andrew Dunsire.  Implementation in a bureaucracy , 1978 .

[45]  David A. Tansik,et al.  The Customer Contact Model for Organization Design , 1983 .

[46]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Innovations and organizations , 2020, Organizational Innovation.

[47]  A. Battersby.  Plans and the Structure of Behavior , 1968 .