Administrative Science Quarterly · 1967 · 797 citations · 0 references
ManagementOrganization StudiesOrganizational BehaviorInstitutional TheoryOrganizational TheoryOrganizationsJob ComplexityOrganizational ComplexityOrganizational Decision-makingOrganizational PowerPower In Healthcare OrganizationsPower In OrganizationsDecision-making CentralizationHierarchical AuthorityHierarchical PowerOrganizational FormalizationOrganizational Power StructuresOrganizational ResourcesWorkplace Hierarchies
The research is conducted by sociology professors at the University of Wisconsin. The paper compares two methods for measuring power distribution across sixteen health and welfare organizations. The study finds that participation in decision making is strongly linked to organizational complexity and weakly to formalization, while hierarchy of authority shows weaker associations, and that centralization of resource allocation decisions also centralizes work decisions, with the two power distribution measures being highly correlated.
This paper examines two different ways of measuring the distribution of power in sixteen health and welfare orginazations. Participation in decision making about the allocation of organizational resources and the determination of organizational policy was strongly related to the degree of complexity as measured by (1) the number of occupational specialities, (2) the amount of professional training, and (3) the amount of professional activity and was weakly related to the degree of formalization as measured by the degree of job codification and the amount of rule observation. Except for rule observation, hierarchy of authority or the reliance on the chain of command for work decisions was not as strongly related to each of these measures of organizational structure. A partial correlational analysis between each measure of the distribution of power and the five structural properties indicates that participation in decision making retains an association with the first two indicators of complexity and the first indicator of formalization even when the other five variables are controlled simultaneously. The hierarchy of authority retains an association with the amount of professional activity and the amount of rule observation. At the same time, it is important to recognize that these two measures of the distribution of power are themselves strongly interrelated. When decisions about the allocation of organizational resources are centralized, then there is a centralization of work decisions as well. Professors Hage and Aiken are assistant professors of sociology at the University of Wisconsin.