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The purpose of this paper is to (a) distinguish the structural designs, and (b) examine the relationship between structure and effectiveness in American sport organizations. Formalization, centralization, and specialization were examined to determine the structural designs. Senior level administrators from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (N = 86) departments completed an electronic questionnaire. Cluster analysis was used to group departments according to the three dimensions of structure. Results demonstrated the presence of two structural designs—the Simple Structure and the Enabling Structure. MANCOVA procedures showed differences between departments in athletic achievement, but not in the education of student athletes. Discussion of the findings and future directions are presented.

This paper examines the processes of organizational adaptation and competitiveness of firms in an emerging economy (Argentina). The empirical focus of this paper concerns the determinants of organizational flexibility during the period from 1989 to 1999, when a combination of economic and political change triggered a massive change in the competitive context of indigenous firms. Two companies in the pharmaceutical industry were selected, one that was flexible (Sidus) and one that was less flexible (DER.S.A.). Longitudinal data are supplied to explore the determinants of organizational flexibility in those organizations.

This paper explores the adoption of a relationship marketing paradigm by the National Basketball Association. A contextualist framework was used to explore the context, content and processes of this change that evolved over a 17-year time period. Personal interviews were conducted with leaders of this league and over 80 documents were reviewed and content analyzed. The results of this study provide insights into relationship marketing and organizational change for sport managers.

Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.

The issue of accounting change, why and how accounting evolves through time and within specific organisational settings, has been addressed by an important body of literature. This paper aims to explain why, in processes of accounting change, organisations confronting similar environmental pressures show different outcomes of change.

Drawing on archetype theory, the paper analyses the case of two Italian local governments. Comparative case studies were carried out, reconstructing a period of 15 years.

Although confronted with similar environmental pressures, the two cases show two different patterns of accounting change, where only one case is able to finally reach radical change. Accounting change can be prompted by external stimuli, but, once the change is prompted, the outcomes of the change are explained by the dynamics of intra‐organisational conditions.

The study contributes to accounting change literature by adopting an approach (i.e. archetype theory) that overcomes some of the limitations of previous studies in explaining variations in organisational change. Through this, the authors are able to explain different outcomes and paces of accounting change and point out the intra‐organisational factors also affecting them in the presence of similar environmental pressures. A specification of the theoretical framework in a particular setting is also provided.

I. INTRODUCTION This study attempts to extend and expand previous research conducted by the Department of Marketing at Strathclyde on the adoption and diffusion of industrial products.

Two models of organizational behavior are reviewed. The apolitical model describes a relatively stable and centralized monolith, while the political model describes a potentially unstable federation of self‐interested parties. It is argued that the apolitical model is largely predicated on social and generalized exchange and forces for stability, while the political model is largely predicated on economic and dyadic exchange and forces for instability. It is further argued that the contradictions inherent in these forces help fuel evolutionary change (where the apolitical model becomes most salient), punctuated by revolutionary change (where the political model becomes most salient). Thus, the two models apply simultaneously to organizational action, suggesting that the organization can be seen as both a stable monolith and an unstable coalition.

The management accountant has played an important part in commercial/industrial life. However, this role development is of comparatively recent origin compared with the wider profession of financial accounting. Whilst the early involvement of accountants in business organisations was concerned with the financial accounting aspects of the entity, organisations became more complex. This called for a re‐adjustment by the accountant in an endeavour to meet organisational demands for information. The historical development of cost accounting has been documented by David Solomons and it is clear that the major seminal influences were;

The paper proposes a model that will enable us to go deeper into the study of organizations, bringing forth a framework that will allow us to make many propositions explicit and thus provide a contrast to the alignment theory. We test the model in the Spanish hotel industry. We have been able to identify the internal processes and behavior that fit into each strategic pattern, which go deeper into the process of putting each strategy into practice (first objective: first set of hypotheses). Furthermore, the analysis of the internal processes and behavior that bring about the different degrees of effectiveness in each strategic type makes it possible to build or maintain the complementary nature of business strategy and internal process, and guarantee its success (second objective: second and third sets of hypotheses).

This paper aims to create and validate a scale that will serve to measure the construct “organic structure”, currently of great utility for the competitive analysis of firms. On the basis of the literature, eight dimensions, corresponding to the parameters technical system, formalization, centralization, structural complexity, planning and control systems, training, information flows, and culture, form this construct. To verify the reliability and the validity of this measuring instrument we used a sample of 150 large Spanish firms.