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Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design

Developing Theory for Application

  • Book
  • © 1998

Overview

Authors:
  1. Richard M. Burton

    1. The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, USA

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Børge Obel

    1. Department of Management, Odense University, Odense, Denmark

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Develops the multi contingency theory for organizational design – the fit of environment, strategy, technology, size, organizational climate and leadership style with the organizational configuration, decentralization, information system and the managerial incentives
  • Is unique together with the OrgCon diagnosis and design program, as complementary hands on tools for learning about and applying a deeper and practical theory for diagnosis and design

Part of the book series: Information and Organization Design Series (INOD, volume 4)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 1-40

  3. Describing the Organization for Design Purposes

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 41-82

  4. Management and Leadership Style

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 83-110

  5. Organizational Climate

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 111-144

  6. Size and Skill Capabilities

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 145-164

  7. The Environment

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 165-210

  8. Technology

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 211-240

  9. Strategy

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 241-279

  10. Organizational Design: A Synthesis

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 281-345

  11. Using the Organizational Consultant

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 347-355

  12. Using Publicly-Available Information for Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design

    • Starling D. Hunter III
    Pages 357-398

  13. Oticon

    • Mikael Søndergaard, Dorthe Døjbak
    Pages 399-437

  14. Sample Cases and Exercises

    • Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel
    Pages 439-461

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 463-480
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Keywords

About this book

We will not repeat our preface discussion from the first edition. Here we only add some new comments: • a note to the reader and user, • changes in the book and the Organizational Consultant (OrgCon), and, • our thanks to the many individuals who have contributed critically to this venture, read and reviewed the book, contributed chapters and cases, and similarly used and critiqued the OrgCon. For the reader, there are two very contrasting approaches to reading this book and learning about organizational design. The more traditional ap­ proach is to read the book, and then use the OrgCon on cases and applica­ tions. The second approach is to begin with the OrgCon software and only examine the book as you find it helpful. Which approach is better? It is your choice, not ours. In our experience, students in organizational design prefer to start with the OrgCon and a case, rather than with the book itself. Readers who have more background in organization theory and design usually examine the book first. We have tried to write the book so that it can serve both as a reference and an integrated presentation.

Reviews

"The first edition of Burton and Obel's Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design offered the first ever synthesis of the entire contingency theory literature into a lucid and coherent teaching framework. At the same time, the methodology for organizational diagnosis and design captured in the Organizational Consultant software provided a uniquely valuable new teaching, learning, and consulting tool.
The second edition of this modern classic in organization design extends the scope of the first edition by adding a whole new section on organizational climate, and one on analyzing companies organizations using publicly available data. The Organization Consultant has been rewritten for Windows and significantly enhanced. Teaching organizational design with this book and software package was exceptionally easy, enjoyable and fruitful, so that my teaching evaluations for this class reached an all-time high!" (Class: Designing Project and Company Organizations
Instructor: Raymond E. Levitt, Professor of Construction Engineering and Management, School of Engineering, Stanford University)
"I have been teaching organization theory in the business school for some years; the students have great difficulty with the concepts and their meaning for them as future managers. Based upon the Burton and Obel book and ORGCON software, I have developed a pedagogy which excites the students about organizational design and gives them a structure for understanding the basic concepts in organization theory. I begin the course with a Danish company prospectus which provides a lot of information about the company. In small teams, the students develop the data inputs for the ORGCON software. They are asked to operationalize organization theory concepts in a managerial design context. Thereafter, the integration of theory and application is quite normal and they are able to focus on the complex problems of design choice and organizational change for implementation." (Torkild Jorgensen, The Aarhus School of Business)

Authors and Affiliations

  • The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, USA

    Richard M. Burton

  • Department of Management, Odense University, Odense, Denmark

    Børge Obel

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design

  • Book Subtitle: Developing Theory for Application

  • Authors: Richard M. Burton, Børge Obel

  • Series Title: Information and Organization Design Series

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0021-2

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4684-0021-2Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 1568-2668

  • Edition Number: 2

  • Number of Pages: 504

  • Topics: Management, Organization, IT in Business

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