Strategies of Administrative Control and Organizational Effectiveness

Abstract

The results of a comparative study of thirty manufacturing firms in India indicated that the most effective organizations tended to choose a unidimensional strategy of administrative control. This strategy consisted of the use of formalized procedures to control decentralized decision-making with respect to both human and material resources. The least effective firms chose a similar strategy of control, however they emphasized mainly those procedures involving the control of material resources and tended to neglect their human resources in this respect. These results are interpreted as evidence in favor of normative theory of administrative control in organizations. The most effective strategy for maintaining indirect control over a decentralized decision-making process appears to be one which effectively integrates the rational material resource controls with the more intangible human resource control mechanisms.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

ARGYRIS, CHRIS (1973). Some limits of rational man organization theory . Public Administration Review, (May/June, 1973), pp. 253-267 .

CHAPLE, E. D. and SAYLES, E. R. (1961). The measure of management. New York: McGraw-Hill . p. 78-78.

CHILD, JOHN (1972). Organization structure and strategies of control: A replication of the Aston study . Administrative Science Quarterly, 17: 163-177 .

CHILD, JOHN (1973). Strategies of control and organizational behavior . Administrative Science Quarterly, 18: 1-17 .

HALL, RICHARD H. (1963). The concept of bureaucracy: An empirical assessment . American Journal of Sociology, 69: 32-40 .

KOONTZ, HAROLD , and O'DONNELL, CYRIL (1972). Principles of management: An analysis of managerial functions. New York: McGraw-Hill .

LAWRENCE, PAUL R. and LORSCH, J. W. (1969). Organization and environment. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin .

MARCH, JAMES G. and HERBERT, A. SIMON (1958). Organizations. New York: John Wiley .

MERTON, ROBERT K. (1940). Bureaucratic structure and personality . Social Forces, 17: 560-568 .

10.

NEGANDHI, A. R. and REIMANN, B. C. (1972). Task environment, decentralization and organizational effectiveness . Hum. Relat., 26: 203-214 .

11.

NEGANDHI, ANANT R. and PRASAD , (1971). Comparative management. New York: Appleton Century Crofts .

12.

PUGH, D. S. , HICKSON, D. J. , HININGS, C. R. and TURNER, C. (1968). Dimensions of organization structure . Administrative Science Quarterly, 13: 65-105 .

13.

REIMANN, BERNARD C. (1973). On the dimensions of bureaucratic structure: An empirical reappraisal . Administrative Science Quarterly, 18: 462-476 .

14.

TANNENBAUM, ARNOLD S. (1968). Control in organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill .