The Horizontal Dimension in Bureaucracy

Abstract

This is a report of a study of management behavior in three comparable companies.' The quantitative and qualitative importance of horizontal relationships (i.e. between manager and manager at roughly the same level) is established through interaction process analysis. Further data illustrating that managers in equivalent positions but in different companies take the same stands on various controversial issues are interpreted as indicating that reality problems and dilemmas facing the organization, not only politics and information channels, determine management behavior. The nature of these dilemmas and their effect on the intraorganizational balance of power is examined. Henry A. Landsberger is associate professor, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.