Developing an Organization Design Approach That Takes Unintended Consequences into Consideration

这项研究的发现有两个方面。首先，这项研究是我之前对组织现实的认识论研究的方法论发展。在这本名为《走向管理的行动理论》的书中，作者认为，我们应该将商业组织及其环境视为一个行动系统，而不是变量系统。项目编号14530138旨在在组织设计领域发展这一观点。此外，该项目还旨在获得一种新的组织设计观点，考虑到组织成员的意外后果，这是社会行动系统的核心特征。一些重要的发现如下：(1)如果组织设计者强调结构赋权，那么组织成员认为他们的组织为了彼此之间的协调而“过于沉重”的情况将会加剧，即使这将是一种“自然”的反应…更多的是关于这种情况。在这种情况下，可能需要重新集中权力。(2)当两个相互依赖的部门需要协调时，联络官可能是一个危险的组织工具。两个部门由一位自私自利的协调者协调，将自己置于冲突双方之间，情况可能会糟糕得多。(3)在发生严重组织事故和犯罪后强调规则执行可能不利于组织的灵活性和后来的健康发展。规则可能会自我驱动，演变为过于复杂的规则系统。所有这些发现都源于近十年来在日本公司中盛行的组织现实。这一现实方面是本研究的第二个重点。最近日本公司的重组缺乏对强烈理性的组织变革的意外后果的洞察力，并加剧了许多组织问题。较少

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