Management

Module 2

Shalom Goldberg

MGT 590 – Advanced Organizational Behavior

Prof. Naren Kodali

Aspen University

Wednesday, July 24, 2012

1. Describe the contributions to the theory of organizational structure by Peter Blau. Reveal how Argyris and Aldrich (1972) criticized Blau's research data relating to organizational size and structure. 

Many studies have indicated that organizational size is strongly associated with the three dimensions of structure, and there are logical explanations for this. As organizations grow, the need for greater specialization arises, giving rise to greater complexity. In a small organization, there often are simply not enough people to allow individuals to specialize; each member is likely to be called on to carry out a variety of tasks. As the number of members increases, specialization becomes more feasible. At the same time, increases in personnel are also likely to lead to problems of communication and coordination; specialization helps prevent duplication of effort, which is more apt to occur under these conditions, as well as the possibility that some key tasks will be neglected because of ambiguity about who’s responsible for them. As problems of communication and coordination that often accompany organizational growth mount, organizations are likely to respond by greater formalization. And finally, decision-making often becomes more complex as organizations grow, which makes delegation of such responsibilities, and hence decentralization, more desirable.

The preceding arguments about the effects of size on complexity are consistent with findings from a number of studies conducted by Peter Blau and his associates (Blau, 1968) (Blau, Decentralization in bureaucracies, 1970) (Blau P. M., 1972) (Blau P. M., The Organization of Academic Work, 1973) (Blau, Heydebrand, & Stauffer, 1966) (Blau & Schoenherr, The structure of organizations, 1971) (Klatzky, 1970) (Meyer, 1968) (Meyer, Two authority...