Relating the central and the local: Options for organizational structure

Although a number of valuable models of central-local relationships in the nonprofit sector have been developed, particularly in relation to federal structures, there has been a tendency to assume that in any given organizational relationship central-local structures will follow one common pattern. It is argued that wider strategies are available; central dependency along one dimension may run with greater local autonomy along another. Such mixed tight-loose structures may be of considerable importance in the "boundaryless" organizational environment of the future.