Some Reflections on the Variability of Development and Organizational Structures

Most of the papers seem to center around several common basic theoretical themes or problems. One is the extent to which the classical Weberian model of bureaucracy is appropriate for understanding the great variety of forms of organization in societies in general and in developing societies in particular. Second is the degree to which organizations built according to the Weberian model are most conducive to bringing about developmental change, modernization, or development-however these terms may be conceived or defined. These two concerns or problems tend to converge around a common analytical focus; namely, how the structure of development organizations can best be understood in terms of their interaction with their broader environment. Both the problems and the analytical focus are not new; they represent a continuation of some of the topics which have been dominant for some time in the theory of organizations. Thus in the analysis of the applicability of the pure Weberian model for the understanding of various organizations, they follow the works of Stinchombe, Udy, and Etzioni. These workers have shown that the extent to which a formal organization develops