(Note) Thompson (1962) Domains of Organized Action
(Note) Thompson (1962) Domains of Organized Action
Domain consensus --> Exchange relationship between domain and task environment --> Decision of domain
There is exchange relationship between organization and its task environment. Three main categories of typically exchanged elements: 1. Business opportunities: Referral of cases, clients, or patients 2. Labor service: giving or receiving of labor services encompassing the use of volunteers, lent personnel, and offering of instruction to personnel of other organizations 3. Other resources: Sending or receiving of resources other than labor services, including funds, equipment, case and technical information Domain consensus o Enables us to deal with operational goals (Perrow, 1961a) without 2 challenges of operational goals (1) imputing to the organization the human quality of motivation and (2) assuming a "group mind" <both are about individual goals or motives> o Defines a set of expectations both for members of an organization and for others with whom they interact, about what the organization will and will not do.
ELAINE CHEN
Note on Thompson, J. 1962. Domains of organized action. # EXCHANGE AND POWER/DEPENDENCE IN AND AMONG ORGANIZATIONS
ELAINE CHEN
Note on Thompson, J. 1962. Domains of organized action. # EXCHANGE AND POWER/DEPENDENCE IN AND AMONG ORGANIZATIONS Three different degrees of cooperation and commitment Contracting: the negotiation of an agreement for the exchange of performances in the future Contractual agreement may rest on (1) faith and belief that the other will perform in order to maintain a reputation or prestige (Prop.2) or (2) institutional patterns whereby third parties can be depended upon to evaluate fulfillment of obligations and assess penalties for failure <e.g., legal>(Macaulay, 1961) Coopting: the process of absorbing new elements into the leadership or policy-determining structure of an organization as a means of averting threats to its stability or existence (Selznick, 1949) Increase the certainty of future support A more constraining form of cooperation than contracting (may exert influence on other aspects of the organization) Coalescing: a combination or joint venture with another organization or organizations in the environment. May be unstable/have a stated terminal point A even more constraining form of cooperation than coopting (requires a commitment to future join decision making) Refined Proposition 3: o Proposition 3a: When support capacity is concentrated and balanced against concentrated demands the organizations involved will attempt to handle their dependence through contracting. o Proposition 3b: When support capacity is concentrated but demand dispersed, the weaker organizations will attempt to handle its dependence through coopting. o Proposition 3c: When support capacity is concentrated and balanced against concentrated demands, but the power achieved through contracting is inadequate, the organizations involved will attempt to coalesce. o
Defense of Domain
o Proposition 4: The more sectors in which the organization subject to rationality norms is constrained, the more power the organization will seek over remaining sectors of its task environment. Proposition 5: The organization facing many constraints and unable to achieve power in other sectors of its task environment will seek to enlarge the task environment.
ELAINE CHEN