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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