Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality

Meyer and Scott are among the leading proponents of the environmental view of organizational theory, which sees organizational structures as primarily determined by environment as opposed to technology. The authors' view and their approach is demonstrated here in a collection of essays, that consider the place of organizations within a wider institutional structure, paying particular attention to educational systems and medical services. With reference to America's devolved federal power structure and powerful autonomous bodies they conclude that centralization and organization processes are made to operate for the sake of efficiency.