Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

   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

    PDF

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.

• Top Management
• complexity
• information processing
• learning
• management
• organization
• organizations
• software
• strategy

"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)

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

  Richard M. Burton

• Department of Management, Odense University, Odense, Denmark

  Børge Obel

Policies and ethics