The Organizational Determinants of Industrial Toxic Pollution

这是一个关于工业组织的年龄和规模如何影响有毒污染的研究。在询问哪些组织因素解释了为什么一些制造工厂排放不成比例的毒素时，该项目借鉴了组织社会学的文献，以确定理论上与可能的污染行为相关的企业方面。一项组织研究表明，老公司和大公司最不灵活，因此也最不愿意采用改善环境的工作方式。工厂的规模和年龄可能造成“结构惯性”，限制工厂对工业技术变化的反应和管理部门对新信息的利用。另一项组织研究对这些预测提出了挑战，表明年岁较大的企业实际上是最具流动性的，因此最有能力采用无害环境的系统。这项研究表明，许多大型老牌企业最近通过将自身重组为类似网络的方式，增强了自身的流动性。通过分拆子公司、出售无利可图的部门、分包不太重要的活动以及参与合资企业，这些公司成功地创建了灵活的大规模生产系统。推而广之，在今天的“平均和精简”经济中，大型和较成熟的公司的生产系统可能最能符合环境法规。这项研究将通过环境保护署收集的有毒物质排放清单数据来检验这些关于组织规模和年龄对有毒物质排放影响的相互竞争的理论主张，重点关注大约4500家化工厂的有毒物质排放信息。该研究将为组织结构和污染行为提供新的政策相关信息。这是环境问题社会学研究的一个重要的新起点，因为它将企业的核心组织结构视为污染行为的可能来源。政策制定者意识到，“末端”污染控制对于长期可持续的经济增长来说是一个不充分的战略。通过理解污染行为的组织维度，对污染的科学理解将从“管道末端”上升到组织生活的基本核心事实。

This is a study of how the age and size of industrial organizations influence toxic pollution. In asking what organizational factors explain why some manufacturing plants emit disproportionate amounts of toxins, this project draws upon the literature in the sociology of organizations to identify aspects of businesses that are theoretically relevant to possible polluting behavior. One strand of organizational research suggests that older and larger corporations are the least flexible and therefore the least inclined to adopt environmentally improved work practices. Size and age of plant may create "structural inertia" that limit plant responsiveness to changes in industrial technology and utilization of new information by management. Another strand of organizational research challenges these predictions, suggesting that older and larger businesses are actually the most fluid and therefore the most capable of incorporating environmentally sound systems. This research suggests that many large and well established businesses have recently enhanced their fluidity by restructuring themselves to resemble networks. Through spinning off subsidiaries, selling off unprofitable divisions, subcontracting less essential activities, and participating in joint ventures, these firms have managed to create flexible mass production systems. By extension in today's "mean and lean" economy, the production systems of the large and more established companies may be most able to conform with environmental regulations. This research will test these competing theoretical claims about the effects of organizational size and age on toxic emissions with data from the Toxic Release Inventory collected by the Environmental Protection Agency, focusing on information concerning the toxic releases of approximately 4500 chemical plants. This research will provide new policy relevant information on organizational structure and polluting behavior. This is an important new departure in the sociological study of environmenta l issues, for it addresses the core organizational structure of a firm as the possible source of polluting behavior. Policy makers realize that "end-of-pipe" pollution control is an inadequate strategy for long term sustainable economic growth. By understanding the organizational dimensions of polluting behavior, scientific understanding of pollution will be moved up stream from "end-of-pipe" to basic core facts of organizational life.