THE FACT AND CAUSES OF VARIATION IN STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

ABSTRACT As organizations adapt to changes in environmental conditions and internal needs, they often develop new structures. Research has described several diverse processes by which this development takes place (cf. Chandler, 1962; Child, 1972; Pettigrew, 1973; Sproull, et al., 1978). The only explanations provided thus far for these divergent views is methodological artefact and observer bias (Allison, 1971). In this paper, three parallel case studies are used to show that such differences are real ‐ different organizations do follow different development paths. Evidence is provided to suggest that this variation is caused by the differing structures of organizational control surrounding new structures.