Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

technology

Conversion process

used to transform

inputs into outputs

174

Part 3: Organizing

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2.

Large-batch or mass-production technology. The product is manufactured in assembly-

line fashion by combining component parts into another part or finished product.

Examples include automobile manufacturers like Subaru, appliance makers like

Whirlpool Corporation, and electronics firms like Philips.

3.

Continuous-process technology. Raw materials are transformed to a finished product

by a series of machine or process transformations. The composition of the materials

themselves is changed. Examples include petroleum refineries like ExxonMobil and

Shell, and chemical refineries like Dow Chemical and Hoechst AG.

These forms of technology are listed in order of their assumed levels of complexity. In

other words, unit or small-batch technology is presumed to be the least complex and

continuous-process technology the most complex. Woodward found that different

configurations of organization design were associated with each technology.

Specifically, Woodward found that the two extremes (unit or small-batch and

continuous-process) tended to have very little bureaucracy, whereas the middle-range

organizations (large-batch or mass-production) were much more bureaucratic. The

large-batch and mass-production organizations also had a higher level of specialization.

31

Finally, she found that organizational success was related to the extent to which

organizations followed the typical pattern. For example, successful continuous-

process organizations tended to have less bureaucracy, whereas less successful firms

with the same technology tended to be more bureaucratic.

Environment

Environmental elements and organization design are specifically linked in a number of

ways.

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The first widely recognized analysis of environment–organization design linkages

was provided by Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker.

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Like Woodward, Burns and Stalker

worked in England. Their first step was identifying two extreme forms of organizational

environment: stable (one that remains relatively constant over time) and unstable (sub-

ject to uncertainty and rapid change). Next, they studied the designs of organizations in

each type of environment. It was no surprise that they found that organizations in stable

environments tended to have a different kind of design than organizations in unstable

environments. The two kinds of design that emerged were called mechanistic and

organic organization.

A