Organizational Analogy: A Comparison of Organismic and Social Contract Models

Abstract

June 1980, volume 25 Organizations are frequently likened to biological organisms for purposes of analysis. It is argued that the organismic analogy is deficient on descriptive, normative, and heuristic grounds: that is, it fails to provide a satisfactory picture of organizational reality, entails suspicious implications for organizational change, and impedes organizational inquiry. A historical competitor, the social contract analogy, is proposed to be a superior analytic device.*