27640121 the external control of organizations a resource

8/12/2019 27640121 the External Control of Organizations a Resource

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Pfeffer, Jeffrey, and Gerald R. Salancik 1978

Presented by Hila Lifshitz

Feb ! "1"

#he $%ternal &'ntr'l 'f (r)anizati'ns*+ Res'rce -eendence Persecti/e

Copyright President & Fellows of Harvard College.


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Syn'sis

c'ntin)ency the'ry ersecti/e*

Org

Environment

Res'rce deendence the'ry ersecti/e*


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ack)r'nd and intellectal herita)e

). 'he meta"uestion is not a new one* 2hat dri/es 'r)anizati'nal acti/ities and

'tc'3es4

+. ,ntellectual heritage* &'ntin)ency the'ry 5La6rence and L'rsch* they elcidate the 3echanis3 'f h'6

en/ir'n3ents inflence 'r)anizati'ns

nstitti'nalis3 5Selznick* they si3ilarly ass3e that 'r)anizati'ns are 3ainly

ab't sr/i/al and their /ie6 'f the a)ents 53ana)ers is insired by

institti'nalis3s c'ncet 'f sy3b'lic 3ana)e3ent

&'aliti'n:based c'ncetalizati'n 'f 'r)anizati'ns5 &yert and ;arch *their i3a)e

'f the internal 'r)anizati'n is a )r' 'f c'aliti'ns

Rati'nal 'r)anizati'nal ersecti/e5#ayl'r* they c'ntradict 3'st the'ries that

describe 'r)anizati'ns as rati'nal t''ls 'riented t'6ard a nified r'se


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2hat are 'r)anizati'ns4

). Organizations are coalitions serving the many interests of their participants not

organization"level goals

3Organizations are not so much concrete social entities as a process of

organizing support sufficient to continue e#istence!

3'here is no reuirement for the participants to share vested interests or

shared paramount goals... participants may come into the coalition when there

is some advantage to -e gained and leave when there is no longer any

perceived advantage3

). Organizational -oundaries are defined -y roles and -ehaviors not individuals

3,t is -ehaviors not persons that are interstructured... it is perfectly possi-le for

a person to -e -oth part of an organization and part of its environment through

different -ehaviors occurring at different times!


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H'6 d' 'r)anizati'ns sr/i/e4

). Organizations must -e awareof their conte#t what aspects of it matter and how to

adapt to it 3,t is important to recognize that organizational actions are determined -y an

enacted environment "" the organization responds to what it perceives and

believes about the world3 3'he enactment process we would argue is largely determined -y the e#isting

organizational and informational structure of the organization3

). 4ctions of an org can -e predicted in part -y the situation it faces in competing for

resources* 'he magnitude of e#change needs 'he criticality of the input or output to the org

1. 'he relative dependence of the resources is determined -y three factors* ,mportance of the resource E#tent to which the coalition has discretion over the resource5s allocation and

use

E#tent to which there are few alternatives


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2hat is the r'le 'f the 3ana)ers and 3e3bers 'f the

'r)anizati'n4

36ehaviors are freuently constrained -y situational contingencies and the individual5s effect

is relatively small3

). 7anagers have a limited role they have a small influence on their environment and can

have an impact in limited ways through their sym-olic responsive & discretionary roles

/they account for less than )89 of the variance in organizational performance0.

+. However managers do have two 2ey functions*

:ecognize these constraints and adust accordingly

;uide and control the process of manipulating the environment that constrains

organization -ehavior

). 'he role of mem-ers depends on the relative dependence of the organization on the

resources provided -y them


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-iscssi'n

Contri-ution

). 'hey -uild a dynamic view of organizations( environment /unli2e most scholars at that time

li2e Porter0

+. 'heir influence on the field is significant and has led to a shift from one e#treme of

agency theory to the other e#treme of population ecology

1. 'heir theory still offers significant e#planatory power For the last several years the most important environmental factor that has accumulated

power is the capital mar2et. 4s predicted -y their theory today more managers have a

financial -ac2ground compared to the past we had more managers with operations and

supply chain -ac2ground /


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-iscssi'n

Critic and thoughts*

).


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-iscssi'n

Critic and thoughts*

). 'heir view of the environment is indeed dynamic -ut may -enefit from neglecting the

strong separation -etween the organization and its environment /ecosystem networ2s

alliances co"optition0

27640121 the external control of organizations a resource

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