Developing an Organization Design Approach That Takes Unintended Consequences into Consideration

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The findings of this research are twofold. First, this research has been a methodological development of my prior research on epistemology of organizational reality. In the book, entitled Toward an Action Theory of Management, the author argued that we should look at business organizations and their environments as a system of actions rather than that of variables. Project Number 14530138 aimed at developing this viewpoint in the field of organization design. In addition, the project also aimed at obtaining a new perspective on organization design that takes into consideration unintended consequences of organization members, which is the central feature of social system of actions. Some of the important findings are as follows.(1)The situation that organization members perceive their organizations as "too heavy" in order for them to coordinate with each other would be exacerbated if an organization designer emphasizes structural empowerment, even though it would be a "natural" response … More to that situation. What would be needed in that situation may be re-centralization of authority.(2)Liaison officer may be a hazardous organizational device when two interdependent departments are in need of coordination. Two departments, being coordinated by a self-interested coordinator who positions himself (herself) in between the two conflicting parties, are likely to be much worse off.(3)Emphasizing rule enforcement after a serious organizational accident and crime may be detrimental to the organization's flexibility and its healthy development afterwards. Rule may drive itself and evolve into too much complicated rule systems.All of these findings are derived from the organizational reality that prevailed in the Japanese companies in recent ten years. This realistic aspect is the second important point of this research. Recent reorganizations of the Japanese companies lacked insights into the unintended consequences of intendedly rational organizational change, and have exacerbated many organizational problems. Less