THE IMPACT OF MARKET STRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON JOB AUTONOMY: AN INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS.
Item
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Title
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THE IMPACT OF MARKET STRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON JOB AUTONOMY: AN INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS.
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Identifier
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AAI8023691
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identifier
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8023691
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Creator
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BRIDWELL, LAWRENCE GAIL.
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Contributor
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Mahmoud A. Wahba | Sidney I. Lirtzman
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Date
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1980
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Industrial
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Abstract
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Within one large industrial corporation, the interaction among several environmental and organizational variables was examined. The variables included market structure (industrial concentration), rate of sales growth, technology, bureaucratic attitudes, job satisfaction, and job autonomy. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 402 employees encompassing four divisions in rapidly growing industries, and four divisions in stable growth industries. The sample was subdivided into professional and non-professional categories, and analyzed by the business functions of manufacturing, engineering, marketing and accounting.;This study recommends that contingency theory be revised to include job autonomy as a major theoretical and empirical variable. The use of the terms mechanistic and organic, which emphasizes either high or low overall organizational structure, is too simplistic and does not adequately deal with the paradox of high structuring of activities and high job autonomy which can exist in rapidly growing industries with advanced technology. This study proposes that the mechanistic/organic dichotomy be expanded into a four category system by simultaneously using organizational structuring of activities and employee job autonomy as classification criteria. The four recommended categories, classical/administrative (high structuring of activities, low job autonomy), neo-scientific ( high structure, high job autonomy), organic (low structure, high job autonomy), and entrepreneurial (low structure, low job autonomy) have several theoretical and empirical advantages, particularly when integrated with environmental analysis.;Industrial concentration and the rate of sales growth were used as the basis for analyzing environments. A crucial environmental factor appears to be whether a rapidly growing market is oligopolistic or very competitive. Apparently high structured firms avoid risky situations and instead prefer more predictable markets where they have, or can systematically develop, a strong market position. The organizational implication is that organic or entrepreneurial organizations will be prevalent in highly competitive turbulent industries, whereas neo-scientific organizations will seek out favorable rapid growth situations that have the potential for high market share. In analyzing how neo-scientific companies adapt themselves to rapid growth markets, job autonomy is a very important factor. The evidence in this study showed that manufacturing, engineering and marketing professionals in rapidly growing industries had significantly greater employee job autonomy than their counterparts in stable growth markets, even though structuring of activities was higher in the rapidly growing divisions. By using point bi-serial correlations, this study established a clear link between rapid sales growth and job autonomy for those employees most closely associated with providing products to the customer. The rate of sales growth had minimal impact on other employees who had less decision-making involvement with the external environment. Thus, the results appear to offer some support for J. D. Thompson's postulation that the managerial level will vary its structure depending on the environment, but that the technical core of an organization will be relatively shielded from environmental effects.;The emergence within this study of job autonomy as a crucial theoretical and empirical variable strongly suggests the need for more job autonomy research with an emphasis on both extensive methodological refinement and empirical analysis of the specific interaction among types of jobs, bureaucratic attitudes, job satisfaction, and job autonomy.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Business
