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Page 1: Complex Organizations: A Sociological Reader.by Amitai Etzioni

Complex Organizations: A Sociological Reader. by Amitai EtzioniReview by: E. William NolandSocial Forces, Vol. 40, No. 4 (May, 1962), pp. 371-372Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2573895 .

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Page 2: Complex Organizations: A Sociological Reader.by Amitai Etzioni

BOOK REVIEWS COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS: A SOCIOLOGICAL READER.

By Amitai Etzioni. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961. 497 pp. $6.75.

As the subtitle of this publication reveals, this is a collection of readings on complex organizations, a subject currently receiving burgeoning emphasis by sociologists. Of the 39 articles used, 6 are appearing for the first time. The remaining 33 are equally divided between reproductions or adaptations of journal ar- ticles and adaptations of parts of books (including symposia volumes, university research studies, and monographs). Most of the articles chosen by Editor Etzioni are by sociologists we have come to identify with this special focus. To play the game of suggesting other articles which would have been more appropri- ate than some which were chosen would hardly be worth the effort, for one can see little more than the general outlines of the criteria of choice used and would, therefore, run risks in speculating on specifics. From among the many evaluative criteria which ap- parently are used from time to time to review this type of book, I shall choose two: (1) quality and ap- propriateness of articles chosen; and (2) quality of job done by the editor in introducing and tying them together. So chockful of ramifications to the study of complex organization and so valuable a source book of ideas which need expanding and coordinating into a definitive effort is this work that the criteria of qual- ity and appropriateness of the articles chosen can be handled well only by a brief comment on each.

The first of the seven parts into which the book is divided addresses itself to theories of organization. In the eight articles which fall here we find discussions of the relationship of the legal mode of authority to bureaucratic organization; organizations as systems of cooperation; organizations as both adaptive and cooperative systems; how policy, allocative and coor- dination decisions are employed as mechanisms to implement the goals of an organization; "trained incapacity" and dysfunctionality of discipline and im- personal treatment of clients in bureaucracy; an or- ganization as a system in which inducements are ex- changed for contributions; the folly of regarding bureaucracy as inevitably bad; and the convergence of Max Weber's and C. I. Barnard's formulations on the nature of organizational effectiveness and systems of authority.

Of the four articles in Part 2, "Organizational The- ory Applied," one brings human relations theory up to date, another criticizes Elton Mayo, another de- fends Mayo, and the last, by Editor Etzioni himself, equates industrial sociology with the study of eco- nomic organizations.

The third section treats organizational goals-how they are arrived at and changed; conditions under which they are neglected or substituted for; and the mutual dependence of goal alteration, organizational structure, and environment. Here the National Founda- tion for Infantile Paralysis is used as an example of

organizational goal succession; the adult education system illustrates the vulnerability of organizations to the values which underpin them; two prison systems, one treatment-oriented and the other custodially- oriented, handle quite differently an unstated insti- tutional goal, the protection of inmates; and goal selection is seen as dependent upon the organization- environment nexus and as a function of four forms of organizational interaction-competition, bargaining, co-optation, and coalition.

Part 4, "Organizational Structures," consists of seven articles describing as many types of organiza- tions. Etzioni presents the articles in the order of "increasing degree of commitment required from lower participants for effective operation of the or- ganization." From low commitment to high commit- ment fall, in order, the prison, the military establish- ment, industrial plants, the trade union, the mental hospital, the public school, and religious organizations. In the prison, there is "corruption of authority" (the opposite of degree of commitment) because the guard finds himself incapable of playing his theoretical role of impersonal enforcer of the rules; the military is seen as moving in the direction of less domination and more manipulation; the industrial plant (three are discussed) is examined in terms of factors conducing to line-staff competition and conflict; the trade union is pictured as slowly becoming bureaucratized; factors making a mental hospital an effective therapeutic com- munity are examined; the various defenses and types of secrecy the public school teacher must employ to preserve a semblance of authority and combat paren- tal intrusion are discussed; and an examination of variations in organizational dimensions of the ecclesia, the sect, the denomination, and the cult, is made.

Six articles on important types of complex organiza- tion in our modern society compose the next section. Here the Civil Service is seen as a bureaucracy which theoretically maintains a neutral position under changes in political power but actually blocks change that appears to be a threat to its security and legiti- macy; equilibrium between bureaucracy and environ- ment is put into tripartite typology: where the bureauc- racy is autonomous and distinct; when it displaces service goals with those of power by extending tenta- cles into different areas of social life; and when it "falls prey"-loses its autonomy and has its goals minimized-to groups around it; conditions under which the public and a government bureaucracy interact constructively, in a fashion making for social and political integration, are examined; conflict is viewed as a fundamental social process, which, when properly institutionalized, becomes manageable and, indeed, eufunctional; the participation of business leaders in community activities is described as being motivated more by the personal needs of these men than by their concern for the public relations payoff it might have for their companies; and total institu- tions (of which five major types are discussed) are

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Page 3: Complex Organizations: A Sociological Reader.by Amitai Etzioni

372 SOCIAL FORCES

examined in terms of mortification processes, adapta- tion alignments, a staff supposedly committed to humane standards and to the creation of a proper moral climate, and as organizations within which "societies" form (somewhat in contrast to the or- ganization-within-society focus of the other articles of this section).

The sixth section deals with organizational change. In one article, two government agencies are discussed in terms of conditions under which internal changes, necessary for the maintenance of equilibrium, take place; in another the life-history of an organization is seen as consisting of three phases-the selection of a social base, building the institutional core, and for- malization; the need for careful planning and training of personnel for advancement is seen as the sine qua non of effective bureaucratic succession; the impor- tance of new communication patterns as underpinning for the authority structure when a prison changes from an authoritarian structure to one that is liberal is described; and a quantitative model for this qualita- tive report on prison change is displayed.

The last section consists of five articles on ways of studying organizational change. One treats the logical and methodological differences between the properties of individuals and social units. Another points up how survey methods can be employed to study organ- izational interrelationships, through contextual analy- sis, pair analysis, partitioning into cliques, and de- termination of boundaries of homogeneity. The third article in this section provides a detailed description of how matrix techniques of sociometric analysis can be applied to separate primary group members from those who are not, to determine the structural niche of such primary groups as well as individuals, and to de- scribe relationships between and among groups. It is a method for studying the effects on individuals of their position in a structure, and relationships between the goals and structure of parts of organizations. In another article is found a discussion of the relevance of laboratory experimentation to the understanding of the functioning of forml organizations, a comparison of research in both settings in terms of duration, size, institutionalization and involvement, and a four-part typology of experimental groups based on degree of formalization, differentiation, integration through strictly defined subordination, and complexity. In the last article in this section is found a Festinger matrix being used to analyze formal relations in an organization, especially those of advice and command, and to "bring to life" the traditional organizational chart in such a fashion as to describe precisely and prepare for use as variables various positions in the organization.

Some readers likely will quarrel with Etzioni over his introduction to Part Four, "Organizational Struc- tures," where he claims to have chosen and presented articles in order of "increasing degree of commitment required from lower participants for the effective oper- ation of the organization." I am not sure that greater commitment is required by members of a labor union than by workers in industry; it might be true "on the average," but to generalize to all unions and to all industries, which Etzioni appears to be doing,

seems inadvisable. The task of describing in a few sentences the content of an article, which Etzioni has done at the beginning of each section, is difficult at best, but in places what he has omitted doubtless will be considered by some to have an importance equal to or even greater than that which he has in- cluded. (e.g., Blau's "The Dynamics of Bureaucracy"; Levenson's "Bureaucratic Succession"). Discussion of the Zelditch-Hopkins article, "Laboratory Experi- ments with Organizations," is hard to find in Etzioni's introduction to the section in which it falls.

Editor Etzioni's view of industrial sociology as a part of organizational sociology and as a study of economic organizations only is logically and refresh- ingly handled. His typology of levels or points of view from which organizations can be studied-(1) as social units, and as they relate to (2) other organizations or collectivities, (3) personality and culture, and (4) their environment-is neat. He discusses the first two of these in detail; would that he had not neglected (indeed, practically ignored) the last two.

The research oriented sociologist will find the last section, on methodology, the most valuable; the average sociologist is likely to find it the least familiar to him and the most challenging.

In light of the present "state of the arts" relative to the study and understanding of complex organiza- tions, a book of readings such as this one makes a substantial contribution. Etzioni writes well and dis- plays good knowledge of the scope of such a sociologi- cal focus. Now it remains for him or someone else to author a broadly-based and well-integrated book on the subject.

E. WILLIAM NOLAND University of North Carolina

THE ADOLESCENT SOCIETY: THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE

TEENAGER AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION. By James S. Coleman. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1961. 368 pp.

I consider this book to be a brilliant, magnificent, trail-blazing piece of work. The criticisms I have are hardly worth mentioning, and appear at the end. Probably its enduring impact will rest in its creative analysis and presentation of data more than in the precise substance of its content. It is as fine a display of virtuosity in data-analysis as I know anything about.

The data concern the high school populations of 10 high schools in the greater Chicago area. Their com- munities range in size from 1,000 to Chicago's 3 mil- lion (although the only Chicago school included is parochial). There are 5 small town schools, 2 small city schools, and 2 suburban schools, in addition to the Catholic school. The schools themselves range in student population from 169 to 1935. Data were se- cured via questionnaire from the high school students (at two points in time: fall and spring), the teachers, and parents. The present report alludes only occa- sionally to the latter sources; virtually all of the analy- sis is of data supplied by the students themselves.

The study's premise is that American society has within it a set of small teen-age societies which focus teen-age interests and attitudes on matters that may be far removed from adult responsibilities; that the

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