Formalization and the organizational life cycle
Article Abstract:
The theoretical importance of formalization has often been obscured in empirical investigation. This article discusses two outcomes of formalization: administrative efficiency, and influence. As formalization contributes to administrative efficiency, it also bestows upon the administrator power and influence. While some theoretical attention has been paid to the efficiency theme, influence has been largely ignored. The article suggests that formalization as code, as channel, and as standard can be best understood in the context of the organizational life cycle. Formalization (as efficiency) is likely to contribute to effectiveness early in an organization's history. Later in the life cycle, however, formalization (as influence) may contribute to organizational ineffectiveness and decline. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Management Studies
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0022-2380
Year: 1987
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Managers' prototypes of financial firms
Article Abstract:
Like most experience, people endow organizations with meaning. Meaning-giving has been explained as a categorization process of matching stimuli against prototypes. This study explores the applicability of such a view to organizations by focusing on a central component of the perspective - prototypes. A phenomenological design is used to uncover the content of organizational prototypes. Data collected from a sample of managers in the financial industry demonstrate the utility of the prototype notion, indicating that further exploration is warranted of how organizations are categorized. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Management Studies
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0022-2380
Year: 1986
User Contributions:
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