Organizational Structure, Environment and Performance: The Role of Strategic Choice
Abstract
This paper critically examines available theoretical models which have been derived from statistically established patterns of association between contextual and organizational variables. These models offer an interpretation of organizational structure as a product of primarily economic constraints which contextual variables are assumed to impose. It is argued that available models in fact attempt to explain organization at one remove by ignoring the essentially political process, whereby power-holders within organizations decide upon courses of strategic action. This `strategic choice' typically includes not only the establishment of structural forms but also the manipulation of environmental features and the choice of relevant performance standards. A theoretical re-orientation of this kind away from functional imperatives and towards a recognition of political action is developed and illustrated in the main body of the paper.
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Constraining factors, including the external environment, play an important role in shaping strategic choice.
“Strategic choice theorists have suggested that constraining factors, including the external environment, play an important role in shaping strategic choice (Child 1972).”
From The Negative Effects of Social Capital in Organizations: A Review and Extension (2017) · cites this paper as Child 1972
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- Authors
- Child, J.
- Affiliations
- London Graduate School of Business Studies
- Corresponding author
- Child, John
- ORCID
- Child, John
- Venue
- Sociology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1972-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-22
- ISSN
- 0038-0385 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8684
- OpenAlex
- W2139981886
- Cited by
- 4,790
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 76 · 2025: 107 · 2024: 107 · 2023: 97 · 2022: 126 · 2021: 149 · 2020: 145 · 2019: 162 · 2018: 169 · 2017: 156 · 2016: 146 · 2015: 187 · 2014: 178 · 2013: 183 · 2012: 176
- FWCI
- 18.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management Theory and Practice
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Organizational Management and Leadership
- Keywords
- organizational structure, strategic choice, organizational performance, organizational context, contextual factors, power holders, performance standards, economic constraints
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