15.342J | Fall 2004 | Graduate

Organizations and Environments

Readings

LEC # TOPICS READINGS
I. Organizations and Organization Theory
1 Organizations: Definitions, Evolution, and Current Developments Perrow, C. “A Society of Organizations.” Theory and Society 20 (1991): 725-762.

Powell, W. “The Capitalist Firm in the 21st century: Emerging Patterns.” In The Twenty-first Century Firm, Edited by P. DiMaggio, 34-68.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0691058512.

2 Organization Theory: Historical, Conceptual and Occupational Trends Barley, S., and G. Kunda. “Design and Devotion: Surges of Rational and Normative Ideologies of Control in Managerial Discourse.” Administrative Science Quarterly 37 (1992): 363-399.

Barley, S., and G. Kunda. “Bringing Work Back in.” Organization Science 12 (2001): 76-95.

Guillen, M. Chapter 2 in Models of Management: Work, Authority and Organization in a Comparative Perspective, 30-90. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. ISBN: 0226310361.

Pfeffer, J.  Chapter 1 in New Directions for Organization Theory, 3-24. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.  ISBN: 0195114345

Shenhav, Y. “From Chaos to Systems: The Engineering Foundations of Organization Theory, 1879-1932.” Administrative Science Quarterly 40 (1995): 557-585.

3 Debating Contemporary Organization Theory Latour, B. Chapter 1 in Science in Action, 21-62.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0674792912.

Theory and Theorizing

Sutton, R., and B. Staw. “What Theory is Not.” Administrative Science Quarterly 40 (1995): 371-384.

Weick, K. “What Theory is Not, Theorizing is.” Administrative Science Quarterly 40 (1995): 385-390.

DiMaggio, P. “Comments on “What theory is not.” Administrative Science Quarterly 40 (1995): 391-397.

Pluralism and its Discontents

Pfeffer, J. “Barriers to the Advance of Organizational Science: Paradigm Development as a Dependent Variable.” Academy of Management Review 18 (1993): 599-620.

van Maanen, J. “Style as Theory.” Organization Science 6 (1995): 133-143.

Pfeffer, J. “Mortality, Reproducibility, and the Persistence of Styles of Theory.” Organization Science 6 (1995): 681-686.

Van Maanen, J. “Fear and Loathing in Organization Studies.” Organization Science 6 (1995): 687-692.

II. Main Contemporary Conceptual Frameworks
4 Structural Contingency and Resource Dependence Theories Structural Contingency Theory

Galbraith, J. Chapters 1 and 2 in Designing Complex Organizations, 1-21. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1973. ISBN: 0201025590.

Lawrence, P., and J. Lorsch. “Differentiation and Integration in Complex Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 12 (1967): 1-47.

Thompson, J.  Chapters 1-6 in Organizations in Action, 3-82. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. ISBN: 0070643806.

Resource Dependence Theory

Emerson, R. “Power-Dependence Relations.” American Sociological Review 27 (1962): 31-41.

Pfeffer, J., and G. Salancik.  Chapters 1, 3, 7 in The External Control of Organizations, 1-22, 39-61, 143-187. New York: Harper & Row, 1978. ISBN: 0060451939.

5 Social Network Analysis Burt, R. Chapter 1 in Structural Holes, 8-49. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. ISBN: 067484372X.

Granovetter, M. “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 78 (1973): 1360-1380.

Granovetter, M. “Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness.” American Journal of Sociology 91 (1985): 481-510.

Uzzi, B. “The Sources and Consequences of Embeddedness for the Economic Performance of Organizations: The Network Effect.” American Sociological Review 61 (1996): 674-698.

6 New Institutionalism Barley, S., and P. Tolbert. “Institutionalization and Structuration: Studying the Links between Action and Institution.” Organization Studies 18 (1997): 93-117.

DiMaggio, P., and W. Powell. “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields.” American Sociological Review 48 (1983): 147-160.

Meyer, J., and B. Rowan. “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony.” American Journal of Sociology 83 (1977): 340-363.

Mizruchi, M., and L. Fein. “The Social Construction of Organizational Knowledge: A Study of the Uses of Coercive, Mimetic, and Normative Isomorphism.” Administrative Science Quartely 44 (1999): 653-683.

Tolbert, P., and L. Zucker. “Institutional Sources of Change in the Formal Structure of Organizations: The Diffusion of Civil Service Reform, 1880-1935.” Administrative Science Quarterly 28 (1983): 22-39.

7 Organizational Ecology Hannan, M., and J. Freeman. “The Population Ecology of Organizations.” American Journal of Sociology 82 (1977): 929-964.

Hannan, M., and J. Freeman. Chapters 1-2 in Organizational Ecology, 3-44. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. ISBN: 0674643488.

Haveman, H. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Organizational Change and Performance Under Conditions of Fundamental Environmental Transformation.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 37 (1992): 48-75.

Stinchcombe, A. “Social Structure and Organizations.” In Handbook of Organizations, 142-193_._ Edited by J. March. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1965. ISBN: 082408215X. [Focus on pp. 142-169.]

Sorensen, J. “The Ecology of Organizational Demography: Managerial Tenure Distributions and Organizational Competition.” Industrial and Corporate Change 8 (1999): 713-744.

III. Technology and Professions
8 Technology in the Workplace Barley, S. “Technology as an Occasion for Structuring: Evidence from Observations of CT Scanners and the Social Order of Radiology Departments.” Administrative Science Quarterly 31 (1986): 78-108.

Bechky, B. “Object Lessons: Workplace Artifacts as Representations of Occupational Jurisdiction.” American Journal of Sociology 109 (2003): 720-752.

Orlikowski, W. “Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations.” Organization Science 11 (2000): 404-428.

Rosenkopf, L., and M. Tushman. “The Coevolution of Technology and Organization.” In Evolutionary Dynamics of Organizations. Edited by J. Baum and J. Singh, 403-424. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN: 0195085841.

Yates, J. Chapter 2 in Control through Communication, 21-64. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. ISBN: 080183757X.

9 Professional Work  
IV. Students’ Projects
10 Class Presentation and Discussion of Students’ Term-Papers  
11 Class Presentation and Discussion of Students’ Term-Papers (cont.)  

Course Info

As Taught In
Fall 2004
Level