Organizational structure characteristics’ influences on international purchasing performance in different purchasing locations

This study contributes to the understanding of how firms should structure their purchasing organization to improve their performance. While the research into structural characteristics’ impacts on purchasing performance is evolving, it is still incomplete, especially concerning the contingencies on different purchasing environments. Drawing on ideas from the organizational information processing and contingency approaches as well as the international business literature, the present study proposes a model in which three key organizational structure characteristics – centralization, standardization, and specialization – are associated with purchasing performance. This study posits that the relationships are contingent on a purchasing location’s formal and informal institutional context. Based on a sample of 195 German manufacturers, the model is empirically tested using structural equation modeling. The findings support the relevance of organizational structure characteristics for international purchasing and firm performance and they also support the notion that the effects are contingent on the purchasing location’s institutional context.     

COMPUTER USE AND STRUCTURAL CONTROL: A STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN ENTERPRISES

This article investigates underlying relationships between the extent of use of computers and dimensions of organization structure. Empirical tests on a sample of 149 Australian work-units show strong associations between computer use and structural characteristics. Specifically, greater computer use is found to be related to less centralization and greater formalization and departmentalization. Further tests show that these associations are to some extent moderated by size. However, this moderating effect is most apparent in small organizations for formalization and departmentalization while the relationships involving centralization are more prominent in larger work-units. Factor analysis led to the diagnosis of two major types of computer use (i.e., informational and operational use). Tests on these categorized effects and the factor-analysed structural dimensions revealed that: (1) the effects on centralization are more strongly explained by the impact of operational use on the ‘centralization of operational decisions’ sub-measure and that of informational use on ‘financial decisions’; (2) formalization and departmentalization are found to be most strongly influenced by greater informational use. Here again, significant relationships were found between sub-measures, the most important of which is the relationship involving the informational factor of formalization with the informational use of computers and the relationship between departmentalization of core functions and the operational use of computing technology.     

Organizational Size, Structure, and Efficiency: A Test of a Blau-Hage Model

A bstract . Combining the work of Peter Blau and Jerald Hage regarding organizational characteristics and efficiency, a correlational model was constructed consisting of testable propositions relating organizational size, complexity, stratification, formalization, centralization , and two measures of efficiency. The model was also extended to include hierarchical levels, after vertical and horizontal measures of complexity were separated. Following an extensive review of the literature, both official and self-reported data from one type of economic organization ( 104 savings and loan associations in New York State ) were employed to test the propositions in a profit-oriented context. While we findings demonstrate limited support for the model in this special type to economic organization (five of thirteen propositions were fully or partly supported by the analysis), a further classification and comparison of studies reviewed, according to the type of organization under study, suggests that a unified theory encompassing both economic and non-economic organizations is feasible.     

基于企业不同发展阶段的组织结构状态演化规律研究

本文以揭示中国制造企业不同发展阶段的组织结构状态演化规律为研究主题,采用多案例比较分析方法,从组织结构的专门化、规范化、集权化三个状态维度,探索企业在从小到大的发展过程中,组织结构状态的具体变化。根据研究发现,在企业从单一企业初创、拓展到集团化发展、集团资本运营的过程中,企业的组织结构将从由生产经营类部门组成逐步发展到由战略规划、投资管理、人力财务、监督管理类部门组成,各类职能的规范化次序遵循由业务类到职能类到文化与战略投资类的规律,而在权力关系上,则遵循从高度集权到部分分权、以分权为主的规律。     

ENVIRONMENT, ORGANIZATION AND EFFECTIVENESS: A BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH[1]

Answers to the question of what makes an organization effective have proved elusive despite more than 20 years of intensive theorizing and research. Yet the search for answers, which gained momentum with Lawrence and Lorsch's (1969) Organization and Environment, clearly has had salutary effects on students of organizations and their work. This paper offers an approach to analysing organizations explicitly based on two of those benefits. The first is the shift toward a more dynamic orientation for explaining organizational configurations and outcomes. The second is the identification of strategic decisionmaking as the key link between organizational environment, structures, and effectiveness. By merging these two, we construct a biographical approach to the study of organizations. This approach sees organizations as evolving through time in response to, or in anticipation of, both external and internal forces. We view effectiveness as the outcome of a variety of decisions taken by one or more groups of organizational actors - elites or coalitions - in the context of bounded rationalities and environmental and structural constraints. So decision processes underpin observed configurations of environmental and structural features and link these configurations to effectiveness. An organization's biography - the pattern of its evolution - can be conceptualized as a succession of decisions and their consequences, with some decisions having a major long-term influence on the direction taken by the organization and its effectiveness, while others have but an incremental influence. This article is an initial effort to make concrete our ideas. The opening section discusses organizational decision-making and organizational effectiveness. This is the core of our approach: a basis for categorizing organizational decisions and in particular for singling out those which can be regarded as strategic. It is our contention that significant decisions vary across organizations and that it will embrace rather than ignore history and context. And ultimately, it will enhance our understanding of organizational effectiveness.     

STRATEGIC CHOICE: A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

The problem of which organization structure is most appropriate for current business conditions has perplexed managers for decades. Several management theorists have proposed that modifications of the firm's structural design were in response to changes in the organization's context. Recently, Child² suggested that senior executives in the firm may have the discretion to strongly influence their organization unit's structure. This paper discusses the development of a contingency theory of structural determination which incorporates strengths of past theories, managerial discretion, fourteen dimensions of structure, and organizational effectiveness. It also reports on preliminary research which supports the importance of managerial discretion in the structural determination process.     

Decision-making in organizations: when to delegate and whom to delegate

A production process involves a principal and two privately informed agents. Production requires coordinated decision making. It might be carried in a centralized organization or through delegated contracting in a hierarchical structure. We compare the performance of different organizational structures when renegotiation of initial contracts is possible. We show that delegated contracting always dominates centralization if the downstream contract between the agents is observable. Contracting (resp. control) should be delegated to the agent with the least (resp. most) important information. If downstream contracts are not observable, we obtain a tradeoff between centralization and delegation.     

客户知识管理能力对新产品开发绩效影响的实证研究

本研究分析客户知识管理能力（CKMC）对新产品开发绩效（NPD绩效）的影响,讨论产品创新程度的调节作用,并探索组织文化和组织结构的驱动作用,提出CKMC对NPD绩效影响的概念模型。最后以制造业为调研对象做实证分析,结果表明：客户知识管理能力对新产品开发绩效具有重要显著影响;在中国背景下,信任和合作的组织文化有助于提升客户知识管理能力和新产品开发绩效;集权化和形式化的组织结构不利于客户知识管理能力的提升,但有利于新产品开发绩效的提高;中国的制造业的产品创新能力亟待提高。     

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER SUCCESS: THE PERILS OF EXCELLENCE*

This article examines how past performance influences the way an organization evolves, makes decisions, and adapts to its environment. It argues that compared to other periods of history, those that follow a lengthy interval of success will reveal companies that are especially apt to: (1) exhibit inertia in many aspects of structure and strategy-making process; (2) pursue immoderation, that is, adopt extreme process orientations; (3) manifest inattention, that is, reduce intelligence gathering and information processing activity; and (4) demonstrate insularity by failing to adapt to changes in the environment. an empirical analysis of the long-term histories of 36 companies provides tentative support for these notions.     

What are the programs in planning, programming, budgeting?

As organizations of all kinds grow larger, more diverse and more decentralized, they come to share a common error … that of unrealistic, imbalanced long-range planning. The application of program budgeting and systems analysis to this problem can establish realistic goals and more balanced and nearly optimal programs.

In order to adapt the theories of planning-programming-budgeting systems to an educational organization, certain technical decisions must be made concerning program structure. For a multi-campus university such as the University of California, the question became one of projecting future resource and monetary requirements in such form that key policy decisions affecting resource requirements were readily apparent and that programmed requirements were translatable into budget categories. The base projections are the numbers of students by level and discipline. From these, resource and dollar requirements are assessed with regard to faculty, support (instructional equipment and supplies), capital outlay, plant maintenance and operation, and libraries. Those areas not based on student projections include organized research and public service. General administration projections are based on total expenditures. This breakdown provides a working structure from which to make finer allocations according to individual campus needs.

Another technical consideration is the determination of the degree of centralization of decision-making. Program budgeting makes possible a higher degree of centralization but is consistent with any degree which is appropriate in the circumstances. The objective at the University of California is the progressive decentralization to the individual campuses not only of operating authority, but also of much initiative in planning. There are constraints, such as a dollar ceiling related to a specific student enrollment, but these do not prevent experimentation and diversity. The university-wide program model can serve as a standard, with allowances for advantageous transfers of funds with full understanding of their future consequences and implications, thus maintaining both local initiative and the systems approach.     

ON ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN: FROM A LINEAR PROGRAMMING POINT OF VIEW

This paper analyses the impact of different organizational structures on the coordination problem of the multilevel organization. The two basic structures analysed is the U-form and the M-form within the framework of a price-directive coordination mechanism. Issues such as vertical and horizontal decomposition, the length of the planning period, the level of aggregation, etc., are discussed. The basis for the analysis is results from decomposing of linear programming models. ¹ 1 This research was supported by a grant from Staten Samfundsvidenskabelige Forskningsråd, Denmark, and the paper has benefited from discussions with Art Kuhn and Rich Burton.
     

New evidence on absenteeism and presenteeism

This paper draws from two separate but complementary theories, namely social exchange theory and social identity theory, as a means of understanding the organizational antecedents of organizational commitment. Its purpose is to study the connections between the characteristics of work in the organization (a source of perceived organizational support), the characteristics of the organization (reflected in perceived external prestige), organizational commitment and turnover intentions. We test our assumption using a sample of 249 managers and a longitudinal design. The results show that perceived organizational support and perceived prestige are differently influenced by the characteristics of and in the organization. This suggests that the characteristics of the firm, reflected in the notion of perceived external prestige, play a complementary role to the characteristics of work in the organization, reflected in perceived organizational support, in shaping organizational commitment and turnover intentions.     

Supply organizations in North America: A 24 year perspective on roles and responsibilities 1987–2011

The recent completion of a major survey of 249 large North American supply organizations in 2011 permits a longitudinal perspective on supply roles and responsibilities over a 24 year period. The latest survey complements three earlier CAPS studies in 1987, 1995 and 2003, thereby providing a valuable opportunity to examine trends and changes over time. Data was collected from 112 firms that responded in 2003 and 2011, which included 53 firms that responded in 1995, 2003 and 2011 and 24 firms that responded to all four surveys. Major areas of investigation included supply organizational structure, purchase category and supply chain responsibilities, supply involvement in major corporate activities, teams, and CPO reporting line, title and background. Findings indicate that the pace of organizational change remains high, which can represent significant challenges for supply executives. Cluster analysis was used to assess the relationship between supply organizational changes and firm performance. Firms in the “underperforming” category more frequently changed their supply organizational structure, and these changes were more likely directed towards greater centralization, compared to the “growing” and “profitable” clusters. Findings provide important implications for supply executives and opportunities for future research are also identified.     

Empowering leadership: leading people to be present through affective organizational commitment?*

Abstract

This study tested a mediation model in which empowering leadership was negatively related to three withdrawal behaviors: lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intention, with affective organizational commitment as a mediator. With 294 full‐time US employees, results from structural equation modeling indicated that empowering leader behaviors at one time were positively related to estimates of affective organizational commitment at a second time, which in turn was negatively related to absenteeism and turnover intention at a final time. Additionally, no significant direct effect was found between empowering leadership and withdrawal behaviors, further supporting the mediation model. However, neither empowering leadership nor affective commitment influenced followers' lateness. Empowering leadership, which provides employees with autonomy and developmental support, may have a favorable effect on employees' decisions to attend and stay in the organization, as well as their affective reaction to the organization in the form of psychological commitment. This study extended prior research models by examining a full range of withdrawal behaviors in relation to empowering leadership and showed that commitment may explain why empowering leader behaviors can affect employees' retention decisions.     

STRATEGIES OF EXPANSION AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN FIRMS 1

Summary The pace of change of the last ten years has challenged the traditional management processes to the point that the key organizational question is no longer to fit new strategies into available organizational patterns but instead to fit the organizational structure to the kind of problems to be faced. However, the intricacy of strategic and structural difficulties is often such that the appraisal of organizational inadequacies may prove difficult: symptoms may be wrongly considered as problems which may in turn be over-or understated so that corrective measures may well be inappropriate. This is why the saying‘When in trouble, reoganize!’is of little practicability. The lack of organizational planning in framing responses to structural problems will more and more make adjustments necessary. In our attempts to define the nature of organizational changes which are likely to occur within business firms in the future, we shall isolate the stragetic decisions related to corporate expansion on a transnational, trans-continental and eventually on an intercontinental scale. We shall start by analysing present organizational patterns — as they reflect decisions made in the past regarding current strategies — and we shall try to outline some possible structural developments as they may be required by the implementation of future strategies.     

The Interactive Effects of Psychological Contract Breach and Organizational Politics on Perceived Organizational Support: Evidence from Two Longitudinal Studies

We explore the effects of the social context on the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and perceived organizational support (POS) in two studies. We build on the premise that psychological contract breach (i.e. the organization's failure to fulfil the obligations employees believe they are owed) signals to employees that they are not cared for and valued by the organization (i.e. reduces POS). In support, a longitudinal study of 310 employees shows that PCB at Time 1 explains significant variance in POS at Time 2 (beyond that explained by POS at Time 1). Building on this result, we advance the argument that employees' perceptions of organizational politics serve as a heuristic for the overall benevolent or malevolent character of the organization and its agents. Accordingly, we expect that when employees perceive PCB and high levels of organizational politics, they will be more likely to hold the organization responsible for PCB and thus report lower levels of POS in response to breach. This line of reasoning received support in a second study of 146 employees which showed that perceptions of organizational politics moderate the PCB–POS relationship. Our results suggest that the social context in which psychological contract breaches occur matters and that managers should consider the organization's perceived political landscape when anticipating how employees will respond to broken promises.     

DESIGNING SIMULATORS FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

The activity of strategic management is important because it is the activity through which the structure of an organization is developed and adapted in relation to its environment. The activities within an organization are systematized within structures because they enable the organization to ensure the effectiveness of those activities, and there already exist teaching methods appropriate for training managers in the operation of such structures. Few teaching methods exist however for teaching managers about structure itself. This paper initially discusses what structure is, and then goes on to describe an approach to the support of managers' learning about structure: how structure can be related to the activities of managers, and how managers can explore the implications of adopting alternative structures within their organization. The paper puts forward symbols for describing structure. It is then shown how the symbols can be combined by a manager to describe a particular organizational context in the form of a simulator, and how the resulting design can be transformed into the form of a computer program. This enables the resulting simulator to be used by the manager to explore the implications of adopting particular structural choices as he has defined them within the organization. Finally, the nature of the teacher's role is considered when supporting the learning of managers using this approach.     

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS OF STRATEGIC COALIGNMENT: A METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Strategic coalignment - viewed in terms of internal consistency among key strategic decisions or the alignment between strategic choices and critical contingencies posed by either environmental or organizational contexts - is an important theoretical perspective in strategic management. However, extant research is characterized by both poor clarifications of the theoretical meanings of coalignment as well as inappropriate statistical modelling. This article adopts a methodological orientation to examining a general proposition of the performance implications of strategic coalignment among three generic strategy dimensions: marketing, manufacturing and administrative. Such a proposition is evaluated using three seemingly complementary perspectives of statistical modelling: (a) interactionist; (b) profile-derivation; and (c) covariation, and data collected from two hundred business units. The analysis and results generally support the proposition using two of three perspectives, thus raising critical methodological issues relating to multiple specifications of the statistical form of coalignment.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TYPES OF INNOVATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

The relationship between adoption of administrative and technical innovations over time and its impact on organizational performance was studied. A confirmatory analysis of the data from 85 public libraries showed that, over consecutive time periods, changes in the social structure, portrayed by the adoption of administrative innovations, lead to changes in the technical system, portrayed by the adoption of technical innovations. Empirical support was also provided for Daft's (1982) framework for organizational innovation that was found to be effective in separating organizations based on their performance levels.     

Global Standardization of Organizational Forms and Management Practices? What New Institutionalism and the Business‐Systems Approach Can Learn from Each Other*

abstract The debate as to the effects of globalization on organizational forms and management practices is well known. Our paper focuses on two institutionalist traditions in organization theory which make a significant contribution to this discussion: new institutionalism and the business‐systems approach. Both emphasize the adaptation of organizations to their institutional environments but come to very different conclusions as to the global standardization of organizational forms and management practices. Our paper aims to move them beyond the convergence‐divergence dichotomy to account for signs of both global standardization and continued persistence of national differences. We do so by systematically comparing the two traditions, suggesting how they can be cross‐fertilized and developing an agenda for future empirical research. We also highlight that they cannot learn from each other on the issue of agency and point to structuration theory as a way in which they can integrate agency into their accounts of the global standardization debate.