Organizations Evolving

'Howard Aldrich and Martin Ruef's tour de force shows us how the evolutionary approach can explain change not only in organizational populations, but within sectors and within organizations. Aldrich and Ruef display an astonishing command of the management literature, using vivid illustrations from cutting edge research to show how the processes of variation, selection, retention, and struggle operate within organizations and across them. A lucid and engaging book that should appeal both to the newcomer to organization theory and to the old pro' - Frank Dobbin, Harvard UniversityA keenly anticipated Second Edition of an award winning classic, Organizations Evolving presents a sophisticated evolutionary view of key organizational paradigms that will give readers a unified understanding of modern organizations.This Second Edition is an up-to-date survey of the literature, as well as an overview of the new developments across organization studies. It contains new sections on organizational forms, community evolution and methods for studying organizations at multiple levels.The field of organization studies contains many contending paradigms that often puzzle and perplex students. This book is a stunning synthesis of the major organizational paradigms under the umbrella of organizational theory. Scholars and students will find it an excellent guide to the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches, as well as an outstanding review of the best recent empirical research on organizations.The book includes many helpful features, such as:- Review questions and exercises that will consolidate reader's learning- A methodological appendix that assesses common research methods- Engaging cases that bring principles and concepts to lifeThis Second Edition is a rich resource for study, discussion and debate amongst organizational scholars and postgraduate students of organizations.

Howard E. Aldrich is Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Martin Ruef is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Princeton University

List of Tables and Figures	p. vi
Preface to the Second Edition	p. viii
Preface to the First Edition	p. xi
Introduction and Themes	p. 1
Our goals for this book	p. 3
Organizations: an overview	p. 4
Plan of the book	p. 11
Study questions	p. 15
Exercises	p. 15
The Evolutionary Approach	p. 16
Evolutionary processes	p. 16
Research illustration 2.1: The evolution of bureaucracy	p. 27
Research design in evolutionary analysis	p. 28
Conclusions	p. 32
Study questions	p. 33
Exercises	p. 33
How the Evolutionary Approach Relates to Other Approaches	p. 34
The ecological approach	p. 35
The institutional approach	p. 39
The interpretive approach	p. 43
The organizational learning approach	p. 47
The resource dependence approach	p. 50
The transaction cost economizing approach	p. 54
Summary: the six perspectives	p. 58
Conclusions	p. 59
Study questions	p. 60
Exercise	p. 60
Entrepreneurs and the Emergence of New Organizations	p. 61
Disputes over the definition of entrepreneurship	p. 62
Nascent entrepreneurs and innovation	p. 65
The social network context	p. 68
Research illustration 4.1: The structure of founding teams	p. 74
Knowledge: types, origins, and uses	p. 75
Employees, capital, and other resources	p. 83
Conclusions	p. 90
Study questions	p. 91
Exercise	p. 91
Organizational Boundaries	p. 92
Boundary crossing is a way of life: matching organizations and members	p. 93
Two models of organizational coherence: users and supporters	p. 93
Constructing members	p. 95
Evolution of organizational role structures	p. 102
Organizational reward and control systems	p. 106
Conclusions	p. 112
Study questions	p. 113
Exercise	p. 113
Organizational Forms	p. 114
Views of organizational forms	p. 114
Research illustration 6.1: Routines as a foundation for organizational forms	p. 116
Organizational forms and the interdependence of members' schemata	p. 117
Construction's consequences: organizational culture	p. 122
Conclusions	p. 130
Study questions	p. 131
Exercises	p. 131
Organizational Transformation	p. 132
Explaining transformation at the organizational level	p. 133
Evolutionary explanations at the organizational level	p. 138
Examining the three dimensions of transformation	p. 142
The extent of member participation in transformation activities	p. 151
Consequences of transformation	p. 155
Conclusions	p. 157
Study questions	p. 158
Exercise	p. 158
Organizations and Social Change	p. 159
The life cycle metaphor: developmental and stage models	p. 159
Non life cycle models: teleological and dialectical	p. 162
Three components of an historical framework	p. 163
Research illustration 8.1: Elite recruitment and social change in China	p. 168
Conclusions	p. 177
Study questions	p. 178
Exercise	p. 178
Emergence of New Populations of Organizations	p. 179
Definitions: populations, learning, and legitimacy	p. 180
Forms of learning and legitimacy	p. 184
Cognitive strategies	p. 187
Sociopolitical legitimacy strategies	p. 198
Conclusions	p. 205
Study questions	p. 207
Exercises	p. 207
Reproducing Populations: Foundings and Disbandings	p. 208
Definitions: rates of organizational foundings and disbandings	p. 209
Intra-population conditions	p. 212
Density dependence	p. 214
Facilitating effects of increasing density	p. 215
Inhibiting effects of increasing density	p. 220
Lagged effects	p. 220
Segregating processes	p. 223
Carrying capacity	p. 229
Research illustration 10.1: Population processes and legislative outcomes	p. 237
Conclusions	p. 238
Study questions	p. 239
Exercises	p. 239
Community Evolution	p. 240
Definitions: changing conception of community	p. 241
Relations between populations	p. 243
How do organizational communities form?	p. 250
Legitimacy and collective action	p. 258
Conclusions	p. 265
Study questions	p. 266
Exercises	p. 266
Research Design and Evolutionary Analysis	p. 267
Overview of research illustrations	p. 267
Strengths and weaknesses of non-experimental research designs	p. 269
References	p. 271
Author Index	p. 317
Subject Index	p. 325
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Organizations Evolving

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