Mental representations of organizational structure: An investigation of the psychological underpinnings of the division of labor.
Item
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Title
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Mental representations of organizational structure: An investigation of the psychological underpinnings of the division of labor.
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Identifier
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AAI9108088
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identifier
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9108088
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Creator
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Clinchy, Ross McVicker.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Laurence J. Gould
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Date
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1990
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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, Clinical | Psychology, Industrial | Business Administration, Management
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Abstract
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The two studies reported here represent an attempt to use similarity judgments to reconstruct an individual's mental representations of the structure of relationships in the social groups of which they are a member. The rationale for the method was derived from the sociotechnical theory of organizations developed at the Tavistock Institute.;Two studies were performed. In the first, ten members of the staff of an academic health center were asked to rate the similarity of all pairs of twenty five of the senior members of the center. The resulting similarity matrix was fitted to the multidimensional scaling, hierarchical clustering, additive tree, and extended tree models. The resulting output configurations bore a strong resemblance to the formal organizational chart for the center, and the discrepancies between the reconstructions and the formal chart could be interpreted as reflecting ways in which the actual structure of relationships in the organization failed to conform to the ideal represented by the formal chart.;In the second study, similarity ratings were gathered from twelve of the members of an interdisciplinary healthcare team on all pairings of the eighteen members of the team. The resulting similarity matrix was also fitted to several of the statistical models used in the first study. The results were used to derive a set of hypotheses about the structure of relationships in the team, which were submitted to the subjects for validation and were further pursued in individual interviews. In general, the hypotheses were confirmed by the subjects, suggesting that the real structure of relationships in a group can be determined by this method.;The discussion of these studies includes a review of the procedures for applying this method and of the further studies that could be performed in order to refine the technique. It also contains a discussion of the difficulties that are encountered in attempting to draw conclusions regarding the mental representations that are presumed to govern perception and behavior in organizations.
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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.
