Why the World Needs Organisational Design

We have edited two collections of articles devoted to organisational design. The first of these, "Prescriptive Models of Organizations"(2), began with a widespread search for manuscripts. Eighteen journals and newsletters announced that we were seeking manuscripts: ones prescribing properties organisations should have, or ones prescribing how to induce desirable changes in organisations. We received 47 manuscripts in response. In view of the published announcements, the most striking characteristic of these manuscripts was their irrelevance to organisational design. Only a handful paid any attention to prescriptive issues. Had we judged the manuscripts solely for their existing contents, we would have had to cancel the project. Consequently, we looked for ways the manuscripts could be made relevant to design, and we urged the authors of the more promising manuscripts to make revisions of that type. The revised manuscripts showed more relevance; but some still said nothing about prescriptive issues, and several authors tried to prescribe indirectly, without using the words should and ought to. So we asked for revisions again. And sometimes again.

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