Organizational Configurations: Cohesion, Change, and Prediction
研究组织构型（战略、结构与环境的组合）的凝聚力、动态变化及预测意义，提出构型受内部相互依赖关系约束，变化存在惯性，分类应先于预测。
Recent studies have argued that the variety of organizational forms is limited and that certain common organizational configurations-alignments among strategy, structure and environment-occur with remarkable frequency and account-for a very significant fraction of organizations. This has been demonstrated empirically. The purpose of this paper is to probe into the cohesion, dynamics, and predictive implications of configurations. Ten propositions are derived by analyzing some representative configurations. It is proposed that the constrained variety and cohesion of configurations are caused by the interdependent, robust, cyclical, and reciprocal relationships among their parts. It is also argued that configurations vary in their first-order changes, but that all resist second-order changes, that is, changes in the direction of evolution. This makes them prone to long periods of momentum punctuated by brief periods of revolution. Finally, configurations are shown to vary in their internal relationships so that classification must precede prediction in organizational analysis. This suggests a middle range approach to paradigm development.