"Until the mid-1970s, the prominent approach in organization and management theory emphasized adaptive change in organizations. In this view, as environments change, leaders or dominant coalitions in organizations alter appropriate organizational features to realign their fit to environmental demands (e.g. Lawrence and Lorsch 1967; Thompson 1967; Child 1972; Chandler 1977; Pfeffer and Salancik 1978; Porter 1980; Rumelt 1986). Since then, an approach to studying organizational change that places more emphasis on environmental selection processes, introduced at about that time (Aldrich and Pfeffer 1976; Hannan and Freeman 1977; Aldrich 1979; McKelvey 1982), has become increasingly influential. The stream of research on ecological perspectives of organizational change has generated tremendous excitement, controversy and debate in the community of organization and management theory scholars. Inspired by the question, Why are there so many kinds of organizations?"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Joel A. C. Baum, "Organizational ecology." in: ed. Studying Organization: Theory and Method (1999): 71-108. p. 71; lead paragraph
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Contingency_theory
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Contingency theory
12 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Contingency theory →
Related Quotes
"There is no one best way to organize... Any way of organizing is not equally effective."
"Organizational forms — specific configurations of goals, boundaries, and activities — are the elements selected by en…"
"Within organization studies, contingency theory has provided a coherent paradigm for the analysis of the structure of…"
"Contingency theory is an outgrowth of systems theory. This approach essentially argues that the decision-making style…"
"March and Simon's work reflects a key concern with the issue of inducing contributions from organizational members an…"
"Contingency theorists suggest that we can best proceed by appointing 'the right people' to the job we have in mind, a…"
"This article [entitled A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations (1967)], was one of three independen…"
"Organizational theorists, at least since the pioneering work of Burns and Stalker, 1961 and Joan Woodward, 1965 and o…"
"Contingency Theory is not a theory at all, in the conventional sense of theory as a well-developed set of interrelate…"
"Contingency theory is guided by the general orienting hypothesis that organizations whose internal features best matc…"