1932
0
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Annual Review of Sociology
  4. Volume 30, 2004
  5. Article

Annual Review of Sociology

Volume 30, 2004

Reflections on a Half-Century of Organizational Sociology

Abstract

For the past half-century, the study of organizations has been an active area within sociology. I provide an overview of the emergence of this specialty during the second half of the twentieth century, its relation to the larger field of organization studies, and the important theoretical advances associated with the adoption of an open system framework during the 1960s. Among the recent trends I describe are changes in our conceptions of organization boundaries, strategies, and controls, and the beginning of a shift from an entity-based to a process-based view of organization. Evidence of success—the number of sociologists now employed in professional schools—simultaneously raises concerns about the source of future organizational sociologists.

Keyword(s): boundaries, bureaucracy, open systems theory, organization structure, organization studies
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110644
2004-08-11
2025-04-20
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/so/30/1/annurev.soc.30.012703.110644.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110644&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Albrow M. 1997. The Global Age: State and Society Beyond Modernity Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  2. Aldrich HE. 1992. Incommensurable paradigms? Vital signs from three perspectives. In Rethinking Organization: New Directions in Organization Theory and Analysis ed. M Reed, M Hughes pp. 17–45 London/Newbury Park, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  3. Aldrich HE. 1999. Organizations Evolving London/Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  4. Arensberg CM. 1951. Behavior and organization: industrial studies. In Social Psychology at the Crossroads ed. JH Rohrer, M Sherif pp. 324–52 New York: Harper [Google Scholar]
  5. Augier M, March JG, Sullivan BN. 2003. The evolution of a research community: organization studies in anglophone North America, 1945–2000 Work. Pap., Sch. Educ. Stanford Univ [Google Scholar]
  6. Barnard CI. 1938. The Functions of the Executive Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  7. Baron JN, Bielby WT. 1980. Bringing the firms back in: stratification, segmentation, and the organization of work. Am. Sociol. Rev. 45:737–65 [Google Scholar]
  8. Baum JAC. 1996. Organizational ecology. In Handbook of Organization Studies ed. SP Clegg, C Hardy, W Nord pp. 77–114 London/Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  9. Baum JAC. Singh JV. ed 1994. Evolutionary Dynamics of Organizations New York/Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  10. Berger PL, Luckmann T. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality New York: Doubleday [Google Scholar]
  11. Bidwell C, Kasarda JD. 1985. The Organization and Its Ecosystem: A Theory of Structuring in Organizations Greenwich, CT: JAI [Google Scholar]
  12. Blau JR. 1996. Organizations as overlapping jurisdictions: restoring reason in organizational accounts. Admin. Sci. Q. 41:172–79 [Google Scholar]
  13. Blau PM. 1955. The Dynamics of Bureaucracy Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  14. Blau PM, Schoenherr RA. 1971. The Structure of Organizations New York: Basic Books [Google Scholar]
  15. Blau PM, Scott WR. 1962/2003. Formal Organizations: A Comparative Approach San Francisco: Chandler/Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  16. Boli J. Thomas GM. eds 1999. Constructing World Culture: International Nongovernmental Organizations since 1875 Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  17. Buckley W. 1967. Sociology and Modern Systems Theory Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall [Google Scholar]
  18. Burt RS. 1983. Corporate Profits and Cooptation New York: Academic [Google Scholar]
  19. Campbell JL. Hollingsworth JR. Lindberg LN. eds 1991. Governance of the American Economy New York: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  20. Carroll GR, Hannan MT. 2000. The Demography of Corporations and Industries Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  21. Chandler AD Jr. 1977. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  22. Coase RH. 1937. The nature of the firm. Economica 4:386–405 [Google Scholar]
  23. Coleman JS. 1974. Power and the Structure of Society New York: Norton [Google Scholar]
  24. Cyert RM, March JG. 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall [Google Scholar]
  25. Czarniawska B. 1997. Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity Chicago/London: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  26. Dalton M. 1959. Men Who Manage New York: Wiley [Google Scholar]
  27. Davis GF. 1994. The corporate elite and the politics of corporate control. In Current Perspectives in Social Theory ed. C Prendergast, JD Knottnerus Suppl. 1215–39 Greenwich, CT: JAI [Google Scholar]
  28. Davis GF. McAdam D. Scott WR. Zald MN. eds 2004. Social Movements and Organizational Theory New York: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  29. Dezalay Y, Garth BG. 1996. Dealing in Virtue: International Commercial Arbitration and the Construction of a Transnational Legal Order Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  30. DiMaggio PJ. 1994. Culture and economy. See Smelser & Swedberg 1994 pp. 17–57 [Google Scholar]
  31. DiMaggio PJ. ed 2001. The Twenty-First-Century Firm: Changing Economic Organization in International Perspective Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  32. DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. Am. Sociol. Rev. 48:147–60 [Google Scholar]
  33. Donaldson L. 2001. The Contingency Theory of Organizations London/Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  34. Edelman LB, Suchman MC. 1997. The legal environment of organizations. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 23:479–515 [Google Scholar]
  35. Emerson RM. 1962. Power-dependence relations. Am. Sociol. Rev. 27:31–40 [Google Scholar]
  36. Emery FE. 1959. Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems London: Tavistock [Google Scholar]
  37. Emirbayer M. 1997. Manifesto for a relational sociology. Am. J. Sociol. 103:962–1023 [Google Scholar]
  38. Evan WM. 1966. The organization set: toward a theory of interorganizational relations. In Approaches to Organizational Design ed. JD Thompson pp. 173–88 Pittsburgh: Univ. Pittsburgh Press [Google Scholar]
  39. Fayol H. 1919/1949. General and Industrial Management London: Pitman [Google Scholar]
  40. Fligstein N. 1990. The Transformation of Corporate Control Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  41. Fligstein N. 2001. The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  42. Galaskiewicz J, Bielefeld W. 1998. Nonprofit Organizations in an Age of Uncertainty: A Study of Organizational Change New York: Aldine de Gruyter [Google Scholar]
  43. Galbraith JR. 1973. Designing Complex Organizations Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley [Google Scholar]
  44. Giddens A. 1979. Central Problems in Social Theory Berkeley/Los Angeles: Univ. Calif. Press [Google Scholar]
  45. Gouldner AW. 1954. Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy Glencoe, IL: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  46. Gouldner AW. 1959. Organizational analysis. In Sociology Today ed. RK Merton, L Broom, LS Cottrell Jr pp. 400–28 New York: Basic Books [Google Scholar]
  47. Granovetter M. 1985. Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. Am. J. Sociol. 91:481–510 [Google Scholar]
  48. Hannan MT, Freeman J. 1977. The population ecology of organizations. Am. J. Sociol. 82:929–64 [Google Scholar]
  49. Hannan MT, Freeman J. 1989. Organizational Ecology Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  50. Harrison B. 1994. Lean and Mean: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power in the Age of Flexibility New York: Basic Books [Google Scholar]
  51. Haveman HA. 2000. The future of organizational sociology: forging ties among paradigms. Contemp. Sociol. 29:476–86 [Google Scholar]
  52. Hawley A. 1950. Human Ecology New York: Ronald [Google Scholar]
  53. Hinings CR, Greenwood R. 2002. Disconnect and consequences in organization theory. Admin. Sci. Q. 47:411–21 [Google Scholar]
  54. Hoffman AW. 1997. From Heresy to Dogma: An Institutional History of Corporate Environmentalism San Francisco: New Lexington [Google Scholar]
  55. Holm P. 1995. The dynamics of institutionalization: transformation processes in Norwegian fisheries. Admin. Sci. Q. 40:398–422 [Google Scholar]
  56. Jensen MC, Meckling WH. 1976. Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs, and ownership structure”. J. Financ. Econ. 3:305–60 [Google Scholar]
  57. Kalleberg AL, Knoke D, Marsden PV, Spaeth JL. 1996. Organizations in America: Analyzing their Structures and Human Resource Practices London/Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  58. Kanter RM, Stein BA, Jick TD. 1992. The Challenge of Organizational Change: How Companies Experience It and Leaders Guide It New York: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  59. Katz D, Kahn RL. 1966. The Social Psychology of Organizations New York: Wiley [Google Scholar]
  60. Laumann EO, Knoke D. 1987. The Organizational State: Social Choice in National Policy Domains Madison: Univ. Wis. Press [Google Scholar]
  61. Lawrence PR, Lorsch JW. 1967. Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration Boston: Grad. Sch. Bus. Admin., Harvard Univ [Google Scholar]
  62. Lin Y. 2002. Between Politics and Markets: Firms, Competition and Institutional Change in Post-Mao China Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  63. Lincoln JR, Kalleberg AL. 1990. Culture, Control and Commitment: A Study of Work Organization and Work Attitudes in the United States and Japan Cambridge/New York: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  64. March JG, Olsen JP. 1989. Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics New York: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  65. March JG, Simon H. 1958. Organizations New York: Wiley [Google Scholar]
  66. Merton RK. 1949. Social Theory and Social Structure Glencoe, IL: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  67. Meyer JW. 1983. Conclusion: Institutionalization and the rationality of formal organization structure. See Meyer & Scott 1983 pp. 261–82 [Google Scholar]
  68. Meyer JW, Boli J, Thomas GM. 1987. Ontology and rationalization in the Western cultural account. In Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual ed. GM Thomas, JW Meyer, FO Ramirez, J Boli pp. 12–37 London/Newbury Park, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  69. Meyer JW, Rowan B. 1977. Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony. Am. J. Sociol. 83:340–63 [Google Scholar]
  70. Meyer JW, Scott WR. 1983. Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality Beverly Hills, CA/London: Sage [Google Scholar]
  71. Mills CW. 1956. The Power Elite New York: Oxford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  72. Mizruchi MS. 1982. The American Corporate Network, 1904–1974 Beverly Hills, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  73. Mizruchi MS. 1992. The Structure of Corporate Political Action Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  74. Oliver C. 1991. Strategic responses to institutional processes. Acad. Manag. Rev. 16:145–79 [Google Scholar]
  75. Orrù M, Biggart NW, Hamilton GG. 1997. The Economic Organization of East Asian Capitalism Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  76. Parsons T. 1960. Structure and Process in Modern Societies Glencoe, IL: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  77. Pedersen JS, Dobbin F. 1997. The social invention of collective actors: on the rise of organizations. Am. Behav. Sci. 40:431–43 [Google Scholar]
  78. Perrow C. 1984. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies New York: Basic Books [Google Scholar]
  79. Perrow C. 1986. Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay New York: Random House, 3rd ed. [Google Scholar]
  80. Perrow C. 1991. A society of organizations. Theory Soc. 20:725–62 [Google Scholar]
  81. Perrow C. 2002. Organizing America: Wealth, Power, and the Origins of Corporate Capitalism Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  82. Pfeffer J. 1987. A resource dependence perspective on intercorporate relations. In Intercorporate Relations: The Structural Analysis of Business ed. MS Mizruchi, M Schwartz pp. 25–55 New York: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  83. Pfeffer J, Baron JN. 1988. Taking the workers back out: recent trends in the structuring of employment. In Research in Organizational Behavior ed. BM Staw, LL Commings 10:257–303 Greenwich, CT: JAI [Google Scholar]
  84. Pfeffer J, Salancik G. 1978/2003. The External Control of Organizations New York: Harper & Row/Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  85. Powell WW. ed 1987. The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  86. Powell WW, Koput KW, Smith-Doerr L. 1996. Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: networks of learning in biotechnology. Admin. Sci. Q. 41:116–45 [Google Scholar]
  87. Pugh DS, Hickson DJ, Hinings CR, Turner C. 1969. The context of organization structures. Admin. Sci. Q. 14:91–114 [Google Scholar]
  88. Reskin B, McBrier DB, Kmec JA. 1999. The determinants and consequences of workplace sex and race composition. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 25:235–61 [Google Scholar]
  89. Roethlisberger FJ, Dickson WJ. 1939. Management and the Worker Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  90. Roy D. 1952. Quota restriction and goldbricking in a machine shop. Am. J. Sociol. 57:427–42 [Google Scholar]
  91. Scott WR. 1977. The effectiveness of organizational effectiveness studies. In New Perspectives on Organizational Effectiveness ed. PS Goodman, JM Pennings pp. 63–95 San Francisco: Jossey-Bass [Google Scholar]
  92. Scott WR. 1996. The mandate is still being honored: in defense of Weber's disciples. Admin. Sci. Q. 41:163–71 [Google Scholar]
  93. Scott WR. 2001a. Institutions and Organizations London/Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2nd ed. [Google Scholar]
  94. Scott WR. 2001b. Organizations, overview. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences ed. NJ Smelser, PB Baltes 1610910–17 Amsterdam: Pergamon/Elsevier Sci [Google Scholar]
  95. Scott WR. 2003. Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 5th ed. [Google Scholar]
  96. Scott WR, Meyer JW. 1994. Institutional Environments and Organizations: Structural Complexity and Individualism London/Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
  97. Scott WR, Ruef M, Mendel PJ, Caronna CA. 2000. Institutional Change and Healthcare Organizations: From Professional Dominance to Managed Care Chicago/London: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  98. Selznick P. 1948. Foundations of the theory of organizations. Am. Sociol. Rev. 13:25–35 [Google Scholar]
  99. Selznick P. 1949. TVA and the Grass Roots Berkeley/Los Angeles: Univ. Calif. Press [Google Scholar]
  100. Shenhav Y. 1999. Manufacturing Rationality: The Engineering Foundations of the Management Revolution Oxford/New York: Oxford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  101. Simon H. 1945. Administrative Behavior New York: Macmillan [Google Scholar]
  102. Smelser NJ. Swedberg R. eds 1994. The Handbook of Economic Sociology Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press/New York: Russell Sage Found [Google Scholar]
  103. Smith V. 2002. Crossing the Great Divide: Worker Risks and Opportunities in the New Economy Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press/ILR Press [Google Scholar]
  104. Stark D, Bruszt L. 1998. Postsocialist Pathways Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  105. Stern RN, Barley SR. 1996. Organizations and social systems: organization theory's neglected mandate. Admin. Sci. Q. 41:146–62 [Google Scholar]
  106. Stinchcombe AL. 1965. Social structure and organizations. In Handbook of Organizations ed. JG March pp. 142–93 Chicago: Rand-McNally [Google Scholar]
  107. Taylor FJ. 1911. The Principles of Scientific Management New York: Harper [Google Scholar]
  108. Thompson JD. 1967/2003. Organizations in Action New York: McGraw-Hill/New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction [Google Scholar]
  109. Tsui AS. Lau CM. eds 2002. The Management of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China Boston: Kluwer Acad. [Google Scholar]
  110. Useem M. 1996. Investor Capitalism: How Money Managers Are Changing the Face of Corporate America New York: Basic Books [Google Scholar]
  111. Vaughan D. 1996. The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture and Deviance at NASA Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  112. von Bertalanffy L. 1956. General systems theory. In General Systems: Yearbook of the Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory ed. L von Bertalanffy, A Rapoport 11–10 Ann Arbor, MI: The Society [Google Scholar]
  113. Weber M. 1924/1968. Economy and Society: An Interpretive Sociology ed. G Roth, C Wittich New York: Bedminister [Google Scholar]
  114. Weick KE. 1969. The Social Psychology of Organizing Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley [Google Scholar]
  115. White HC. 1992. Identity and Control: A Structural Theory of Social Action Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  116. White HC, Boorman SA, Breiger RL. 1976. Social structure from multiple networks: II. Blockmodels of roles and positions. Am. J. Sociol. 81:730–80 [Google Scholar]
  117. Whitley R. Kristensen PH. eds 1997. Governance at Work: The Social Regulation of Economic Relations Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  118. Williamson OE. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications New York/London: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  119. Williamson OE. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism New York/London: Free Press [Google Scholar]
  120. Woodward J. 1958. Management and Technology London: HMSO [Google Scholar]
  121. Zukin S. 1991. Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World Berkeley/Los Angeles: Univ. Calif. Press [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110644
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error