IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfa/journl/v4y2016i10p79-90.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

If Ever the Twain Shall Meet: Graph Theoretical Dimensions of Formal and Informal Organization Structure

Author

Listed:
  • Starling Hunter

Abstract

Formal and informal organization structure have been described as ¡°opposing poles of a duality¡±¡ªone which has yet to be fully resolved. The aim of this paper is to detail an approach to treating both structures in a comparable way, an approach that explicitly recognizes core and underlying commonalties. Two distinct analytical strategies are employed to this end. The first involves a detailed comparison and contrast of selected and relevant structural dimensions drawn from the two research streams. The second strategy involves the application of these dimensions to the study of network graphs of both the formal and informal structures of the same organization at the same point in time.

Suggested Citation

  • Starling Hunter, 2016. "If Ever the Twain Shall Meet: Graph Theoretical Dimensions of Formal and Informal Organization Structure," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(10), pages 79-90, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfa:journl:v:4:y:2016:i:10:p:79-90
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/1872/1995
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/1872
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Bolton & Mathias Dewatripont, 1994. "The Firm as a Communication Network," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 809-839.
    2. Barry R. Armandi & Edgar W. Mills, 1985. "Bureaucratic and Personalized Strategies for Efficiency and Organization An Investigation of Structures and Efficiency in a Set of 104 Profit‐seeking Firms," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 261-277, July.
    3. Ranjay Gulati & Phanish Puranam, 2009. "Renewal Through Reorganization: The Value of Inconsistencies Between Formal and Informal Organization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 422-440, April.
    4. Lex Donaldson, 1987. "Strategy And Structural Adjustment To Regain Fit And Performance: In Defence Of Contingency Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 1-24, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Starling David Hunter & Henrik Bentzen & Jan Taug, 2020. "On the “missing link” between formal organization and informal social structure," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Gaddis Ross, 2014. "An Agency Theory of the Division of Managerial Labor," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 494-508, April.
    2. Olga Lucía Anzola Morales & Diego Armando Marín Idárraga & Juan Carlos Cuartas Marín, 2017. "Fundamentación teórica de la cultura, la estructura y la estrategia de la organización. Referentes para el análisis y diseño organizacional," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Administración de Empresas, edition 1, number 45, August.
    3. Tobias Kretschmer & Christoph Dehne, 2020. "Organisationsstruktur und Führungsstil nach Akquisitionen – eine empirische Untersuchung [Organizational Structure and Leadership Style after Acquisitions – an Empirical Study]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 72(4), pages 479-512, December.
    4. Han, Shaojie & Su, Jingqin & Lyu, Yibo & Liu, Qing, 2022. "How do business incubators govern incubation relationships with different new ventures?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Li, Xu & Vermeulen, Freek, 2021. "High risk, low return (and vice versa): the effect of product innovation on firm performance in a transition economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120268, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Patrick Legros & Andrew F. Newman & Eugenio Proto, 2014. "Smithian Growth through Creative Organization," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(5), pages 796-811, December.
    7. Barry Eichengreen and Fabio Ghironi., 1997. "European Monetary Unification and International Monetary Cooperation," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C97-091, University of California at Berkeley.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Claire Lelarge & John Van Reenen & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2007. "Technology, Information, and the Decentralization of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1759-1799.
    9. Sudip Datta & Mai Iskandar-Datta, 2014. "Upper-echelon executive human capital and compensation: Generalist vs specialist skills," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1853-1866, December.
    10. Carolina Rojas-Córdova & Amanda J. Williamson & Julio A. Pertuze & Gustavo Calvo, 2023. "Why one strategy does not fit all: a systematic review on exploration–exploitation in different organizational archetypes," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2251-2295, October.
    11. Dennis J. Snower & Alessio J. G. Brown & Christian Merkl, 2009. "Globalization and the Welfare State: A Review of Hans-Werner Sinn's Can Germany Be Saved?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 136-158, March.
    12. repec:cep:stieop:49 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Nicholas Bloom & Luis Garicano & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2014. "The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2859-2885, December.
    14. Oriana Bandiera & Renata Lemos & Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun, 2018. "Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(5), pages 1605-1653.
    15. , & , M. & ,, 2013. "Hierarchical cheap talk," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 8(1), January.
    16. Àlex Arenas & Antonio Cabrales & Leon Danon & Albert Díaz-Guilera & Roger Guimerà & Fernando Vega-Redondo, 2010. "Optimal information transmission in organizations: search and congestion," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 14(1), pages 75-93, March.
    17. Nathalie Greenan & Emmanuelle Walkowiak, 2005. "Informatique, organisation du travail et interactions sociales," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 387(1), pages 35-63.
    18. Jeremy C. Stein, 2002. "Information Production and Capital Allocation: Decentralized versus Hierarchical Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 1891-1921, October.
    19. Patrick Spieth & Svenja Meissner Née Schuchert, 2018. "Business Model Innovation Alliances: How To Open Business Models For Cooperation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-26, May.
    20. Dupouet, Olivier & Yildizoglu, Murat, 2006. "Organizational performance in hierarchies and communities of practice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 668-690, December.
    21. repec:awi:wpaper:0421 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Andrea Patacconi, 2009. "Coordination and delay in hierarchies," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(1), pages 190-208, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    organization structure; organization design; network analysis; social network analysis; organizational network analysis; hierarchy; decentralization; centralization; division of labor; span of control;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rfa:journl:v:4:y:2016:i:10:p:79-90. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Redfame publishing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.