Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Organizational
ARTICLE PRESENTATION
22-Feb-13
Background
This article contradicts an article published in the previous issue whose author were Sutton and DAunno. They outlined the result that declining financial resources and a decreasing workforce has same effect on organization structure. The author focuses on the main point of contention i.e. falsity of two main assumptions made in the previous article.
22-Feb-13 Academy Of Management Review 10-4
First Model
Decrease In financial resources
Increase in the mechanistic nature of organization ( standard operating procedures, greater job standardization, centralization of authority and decreased job autonomy)
22-Feb-13 Academy Of Management Review 10-5
Second Model
Decrease in workforce size
22-Feb-13
Contention
The last model is valid only in short run not in long run. Financial resources decline and personnel decline have different effects on organizational structure and thus these effects can be untangled.
22-Feb-13
Assumptions
Structural change is symmetrical during organizational growth and decline Work force decline reduces coordination and control needs.
22-Feb-13
22-Feb-13
Reversing the direction of an independent variable, such as organizational growth, may or may not produce a reversal in a dependent variable connected with it. Downs pointed out that a decline in a bureaucracy's volume of work is rarely accompanied by a proportional decrease in the control structure or the number of administrators.
22-Feb-13 Academy Of Management Review 10-10
Assumption 2
According to Sutton and D'Aunno's This was the assumption that work force decline reduces needs for coordination and control. Sutton and D'Aunno view the level of work force size as critical.
22-Feb-13
Contradiction
According to past research reasons why work force decline may not reduce coordination and control but may, infact,increase them . Author give three reasons for that on the basis of experience.
22-Feb-13
First Reason
According to author first reason most decreases in work force size, or "downsizings, take place through layoffs. To justify their view he gave some examples from past research and case studies.
22-Feb-13 Academy Of Management Review 10-13
22-Feb-13
Second Reason
Second reason why work force decline may increase, rather than lower, coordination requirements has to do with internal activities other than management of mass layoffs Author give some examples from the studies of Tsouderos and Ford.
22-Feb-13
Third Reason
Third reason why work force reduction may explain coordination needs has to do with inter organizational linkages.
22-Feb-13
work force reduction may be in the direction of more mechanistic, rather than less mechanistic, organizational structures. Effects of work force reduction and reduction in financial resources are different and can be untangled.
22-Feb-13 Academy Of Management Review 10-17
22-Feb-13