Organizational form, population dynamics, and institutional change: the founding patterns of voluntary organizations

Article Abstract:

Questions related to founding are of central importance to the study of organizations. Recent research in organizational ecology has suggested that ecological dynamics - previous foundings, disbandings, and the number of organizations alive - influence founding levels. Major changes in institutional environments also influence new foundings and can alter ecological dynamics. This study investigated whether the relationship between foundings, population dynamics, and institutional changes in a population of voluntary social service organizations differed for specialist (single-domain) and generalist (multiple-domain) organizations. Results generally showed that both ecological dynamics and institutional changes have stronger influences on specialists than generalists. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Organizational change, Social services, Social service, Institution management

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Technology, size, and organizational structure: a reexamination of the Okayama study data

Article Abstract:

A 1981 study of the effects of size and technology on organizational structure, known as the Okayama study, which used data compiled from 50 Japanese factories, concluded that technology has a greater impact on corporate structure than does size. This paper reexamines the data from the 1981 study and attempts to correct some methodological errors. Latent-variable structural models are used to check the validity of the dependent and independent variables used in the original research, and to reduce specification errors. The review of the data uncovers several areas of invalid measurement, which calls the findings of the original study into question.

Human resource management, Technological innovations, Corporate culture, Organizational effectiveness, Corporate size

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Performance, slack, and risk taking in organizational decision making

Article Abstract:

The connection between risk management as applied to decision making and organizational performance is examined. An advanced model is provided which shows that the direct relationship, which is governed by performance which does not meet minimum levels, is negative, but that the decision - performance relationship will be mediated by organizational slack and decentralization, and turned positive. The model experiment for the cross-sectional survey of companies shows overall support for the model. The results will affect those theories which view change as stemming from stable organizational processes.

Methods, Decision-making, Decision making, Management, Risk management

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