A Positivist Alternative to the Structure-Action Approach

This article expresses doubts about the structure-action approach to the study of organizations and advocates a positivist approach instead. The interest in action is spurred in part by a belief that the study of action will lead to a greater appreciation of the breadth of choice about organizational forms that is available to human actors. However, work on organizational structure reveals that it is quite highly determined by material factors, such as size and diversification, with little strategic choice. This article discusses the implica tions of determinism for theories of strategic choice, moral accountability and managerial capriciousness. The programmatic implications for organization studies are examined by contrasting the positivist with the structure-action approach. The conclusion is that the positivist approach has proved itself fruit ful, whereas the structure-action approach is infeasible. Where action-level analyses are required, they are best conducted within the framework provided by positivist analyses.

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