IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v5y2015i4p2158244015611185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants? Exploring Consensus on the Validity Status of Mintzberg’s Configuration Theory After a Negative Test

Author

Listed:
  • Tommy Krabberød

Abstract

This article explores the degree of consensus on the validity status of Mintzberg’s configuration theory following a test in which the theory was refuted. The 218 articles that have cited the award-winning article by Doty, Glick, and Huber, and 89 articles and 12 books published by Mintzberg after the test, are reviewed. None of the reviewed articles contained any discussion about the implications for Mintzberg’s theory. It is then discussed whether the test was exhaustive and whether the lack of debate should be interpreted as tacit agreement with Doty et al. Normative aspects of a silent research community are also discussed. It is argued that it has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the test is exhaustive and that there are sociological explanations for the lack of debate other than “silence implies agreement.†Finally, it is argued that it would have been fruitful if the test had stirred debate.

Suggested Citation

  • Tommy Krabberød, 2015. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants? Exploring Consensus on the Validity Status of Mintzberg’s Configuration Theory After a Negative Test," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(4), pages 21582440156, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:4:p:2158244015611185
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244015611185
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244015611185
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244015611185?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan W. Rivkin & Nicolaj Siggelkow, 2003. "Balancing Search and Stability: Interdependencies Among Elements of Organizational Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(3), pages 290-311, March.
    2. Nickerson, Jack A & Zenger, Todd R, 1999. "Comment: Dynamically Engineering Bureaucracy," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 47-55, April.
    3. Jack A. Nickerson & Todd R. Zenger, 2002. "Being Efficiently Fickle: A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Choice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(5), pages 547-566, October.
    4. Joris Meijaard & Maryse Brand & Marco Mosselman, 2005. "Organizational Structure and Performance in Dutch small Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 83-96, August.
    5. Thomas W. Ferratt & Ritu Agarwal & Carol V. Brown & Jo Ellen Moore, 2005. "IT Human Resource Management Configurations and IT Turnover: Theoretical Synthesis and Empirical Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 237-255, September.
    6. Reeves, Terrie C. & Duncan, W. Jack & Ginter, Peter M., 2003. "Strategic configurations in health services organizations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 31-43, January.
    7. Christoph Zott & Raphael Amit, 2008. "The fit between product market strategy and business model: implications for firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 1-26, January.
    8. Hill, Susan A. & Birkinshaw, Julian, 2008. "Strategy-organization configurations in corporate venture units: Impact on performance and survival," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 423-444, July.
    9. Kingshuk K. Sinha & Andrew H. Van de Ven, 2005. "Designing Work Within and Between Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 389-408, August.
    10. Jae-Nam Lee & Shaila M. Miranda & Yong-Mi Kim, 2004. "IT Outsourcing Strategies: Universalistic, Contingency, and Configurational Explanations of Success," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 110-131, June.
    11. Mike W. Peng & Justin Tan & Tony W. Tong, 2004. "Ownership Types and Strategic Groups in an Emerging Economy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1105-1129, November.
    12. Gerdin, Jonas, 2005. "Management accounting system design in manufacturing departments: an empirical investigation using a multiple contingencies approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 99-126, February.
    13. G. Tyge Payne, 2006. "Examining Configurations and Firm Performance in a Suboptimal Equifinality Context," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(6), pages 756-770, December.
    14. P Naudé & S Henneberg & Z Jiang, 2010. "Varying routes to the top: identifying different strategies in the MBA marketplace," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(8), pages 1193-1206, August.
    15. Valéry Bezençon & Sam Blili, 2009. "Fair Trade Managerial Practices: Strategy, Organisation and Engagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 95-113, November.
    16. Liette Lapointe & Suzanne Rivard, 2007. "A Triple Take on Information System Implementation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    17. Omar A. El Sawy & Arvind Malhotra & YoungKi Park & Paul A. Pavlou, 2010. "Research Commentary ---Seeking the Configurations of Digital Ecodynamics: It Takes Three to Tango," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 835-848, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Thomas W. Ferratt & Jayesh Prasad & Harvey G. Enns, 2012. "Synergy and Its Limits in Managing Information Technology Professionals," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1175-1194, December.
    2. Jose P. Arrieta & Yash R. Shrestha, 2022. "On the strategic value of equifinal choice," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(2), pages 37-45, June.
    3. Daniel A. Levinthal & Maciej Workiewicz, 2018. "When Two Bosses Are Better Than One: Nearly Decomposable Systems and Organizational Adaptation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 207-224, April.
    4. Luigi Mosca & Martina Gianecchini & Diego Campagnolo, 2021. "Organizational life cycle models: a design perspective," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 10(1), pages 3-18, March.
    5. Gomes, Paulo J. & Silva, Graça Miranda & Sarkis, Joseph, 2020. "Exploring the relationship between quality ambidexterity and sustainable production," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    6. Ennen, Edgar & Richter, Ansgar, 2009. "The Whole Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts - Or Is It? A Review of the Empirical Literature on Complementarities in Organizations," MPRA Paper 15666, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Vikas A. Aggarwal & Brian Wu, 2015. "Organizational Constraints to Adaptation: Intrafirm Asymmetry in the Locus of Coordination," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 218-238, February.
    8. Cha Li & Felipe A. Csaszar, 2019. "Government as Landscape Designer: A Behavioral View of Industrial Policy," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 175-192, September.
    9. Shuwaikh, Fatima & Brintte, Souad & Khemiri, Sabrina, 2022. "The impact of dynamic ambidexterity on the performance of organizations: Evidence from corporate venture capital investing in North America," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 991-1009.
    10. Abdelghani Es-Sajjade & Terry Wilkins, 2017. "Design, Perception and Behavior in the Innovation Era: Revisiting the Concept of Interdependence," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 6(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt & Nathan R. Furr & Christopher B. Bingham, 2010. "CROSSROADS---Microfoundations of Performance: Balancing Efficiency and Flexibility in Dynamic Environments," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(6), pages 1263-1273, December.
    12. Sebastian Raisch & Julian Birkinshaw & Gilbert Probst & Michael L. Tushman, 2009. "Organizational Ambidexterity: Balancing Exploitation and Exploration for Sustained Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 685-695, August.
    13. Simona Gentile-Lüdecke & Rui Torres de Oliveira & Justin Paul, 2020. "Does organizational structure facilitate inbound and outbound open innovation in SMEs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1091-1112, December.
    14. Sangyoon Yi & Thorbjørn Knudsen & Markus C. Becker, 2016. "Inertia in Routines: A Hidden Source of Organizational Variation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 782-800, June.
    15. Yue Maggie Zhou, 2013. "Designing for Complexity: Using Divisions and Hierarchy to Manage Complex Tasks," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 339-355, April.
    16. Sharda, Kirti & Chatterjee Leena, 2009. "Configurations of Business Process Outsourcing Firms and Organizational Performance," IIMA Working Papers WP2009-12-02, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    17. Aspara, Jaakko & Tikkanen, Henrikki, 2013. "Creating novel consumer value vs. capturing value: Strategic emphases and financial performance implications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 593-602.
    18. 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.
    19. Oberoi, Poonam & Patel, Chirag & Haon, Christophe, 2017. "Technology sourcing for website personalization and social media marketing: A study of e-retailing industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 10-23.
    20. David Bedford & Mikko Sandelin, 2015. "Investigating management control configurations using qualitative comparative analysis: an overview and guidelines for application," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 5-26, April.

    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:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:4:p:2158244015611185. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.