Pennings, J.M.

English

Research Papers in Economics

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Organization Studies 
DOI: 10.1177/017084068400500414 
 1984; 5; 371  Organization Studies
J.M. Pennings 
  Utrecht: Het Spectrum. 552 pages
Book Reviews : C. J. Lammers: Organisaties Vergelijkenderwijs 1983,
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collected information on measurable features of all governments the world
over from the end of World War  II to the 1970s, and on this basis is able to
analyse changes in government composition, e.g. the incidence of different
forms  of  party  government, and  changes  in the  size of  governments. One  of  his
notable conclusions is that political parties have not succeeded in taking over
.  governments;  in particular, neither  the  coalition formula, nor  that of  the  single
party has proved capable of forming a durable base for many governments
outside the Western and Eastern Communist spheres (p.  123).
Though Blondel points out himself that  in  this  study he cannot treat  the
question  of  governmental  effectiveness,  it becomes  very  clear  that he  evaluates
’  the cabinet system  quite critically, finding  it well suited to the developing  party
systems  of  the 20th century, but - in spite of  all structural accommodations-
unable  to cope  with  the  full range  of  coordination and  administration  problems
Big Government faces.  By virtue  of the  same argument he  sees  certain
’ 
functional advantages in a dualistic government structure.
Whether one  accepts  his  evaluative  conclusions  or  not,  Blondel’s  book
certainly  fills  a  gap in  the  existing  literature  though  it  also  demonstrates
indirectly what  kinds  of  insights cannot  be  expected  from  such  a comprehensive
and quantifying approach.
C. J. Lammers: Organisaties Vergelijkenderwijs
1983, Utrecht: Het Spectrum. 552 pages. 
J.  M. Pennings
The Wharton School,
University of
Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia,
USA
For  the  sake  of  convenience  we  may  classify most  contributions  to organization
theory as  having either  a  dimensional or  a  typological  orientation.  Most
authors seek to disentangle and synthesize the complexities of their subject
matter by exploring patterns of relationships among  variables or dimensions
(e.g. power, effectiveness) while others establish taxonomies with profiles for
each type (e.g. mechanistic vs. organic structure). While Lammers  straddles
the two orientations, he leans quite heavily towards a typological approach.
His book documents a great deal of typological research 
-  both conceptual
(e.g. Touraine, Dore and Udy) and empirical (e.g. Tannenbaum, Burns and
Stalker and the PEP Study).  Furthermore,  in  the  concluding chapters he
provides two classification schemes which become the retroactive organizing
principle of his book. First he develops a six-fold organization typology each
with  a  distinct  profile;  secondly  he  provides  a  two-fold  typology  of  the
contributions in organization theory.
At  the outset, Lammers  employs  the metaphors  of  tree, forest and  landscape  to
categorize  contributions  to  organization  theory.  We could  extend  those
metaphors and suggest that Lammers’ book represents a cartographic atlas
providing  various maps  of the field. These maps  have been  slightly altered and
enriched with additional meaning  as a result of Lammers’  efforts to condense
and  redraw them. He  has a remarkable command  of  the literature, whether  it
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be old or new, European or American, theoretical or empirical. Unlike real
atlases this book  does not display an ethnocentric bias! Therefore, it  is not an
overstatement  to say that the book  represents a very comprehensive overview
of organization theory. Being a polyglot has enabled Lammers to be more
comprehensive than his Anglo-Saxon, German or French counterparts.
The first  chapters give  a  historic survey of the  literature  followed by two
’comparative’ chapters: one  chapter  covers  literature comparing  organizations
institutionally (e.g. religious, health care and  business  organizations);  a second
one explores literature having a process focus (e.g. Bendix, Udy,  Touraine).
The author adds his own  six-fold typology as a conclusion to the typological,
comparative voyage.  The sextet  includes  action,  traditional,  mechanistic,
organic-mechanistic, organic and cooperative types. The types differ on a
number  of  a priori attributes which Lammers  clusters into three subsets: form
attributes  (e.g.  size,  specialization),  control  attributes  (e.g.  stratification,
internal communication) and cohesiveness (e.g.  attachment, positive sanc-
tions).  Unfortunately, he dwells only a mere three pages on justifying this
typology.  Fortunately,  his  sextet  also  illustrates the  limits  of typologies as
means  of  data reduction and  synthesis. Typologies  which differ from  naturally
occurring  categories  and  which  are  complex or  cumbersome have  little
serendipity and tend to disappear into oblivion.
The short discussion of the six-fold organizational typology is  followed by
Lammers’  well-known  literature typology  of ’system’ model and  ’party’ model.
He  argues  that all literature can be reduced  to any of  these conceptual models
or ‘theoretical orientations’. Most  authors  have  a bias towards  one  or  the other.
Once in a great while there is  a rare sociologist (e.g.  Alvin Gouldner) who
succeeds in employing them jointly.
This  discussion  as well as the concluding  chapter  should  be  considered  the most
interesting because  they  give a better  exposure  to Lammers’ own  thinking. For
example he contrasts his system-party typology with the Burrell and Morgan
one. He  is quite candid  in expressing  his doubts  about  the  validity and  viability
of  their interpretive and neo-Marxist paradigms. Part of that scepticism is due
to his strong adherence to organizations as the unit of analysis. As  a result he
relegates some significant recent contributions to a footnote-like paragraph.
Those contributions include  the  ones having a  more social  psychological,
.  individual bias (e.g. Silverman or  the ignored Karl Weick) and  those that treat
organizations as elements of larger entities such as markets  or industries (e.g.
Hannan and Freeman’s population ecology).
The description of future perspectives shows likewise a bias by his acts of
commission  and  omission. Nevertheless  this description  contains  insightful and
stimulating  comments  on  the theories  of  bureaucracy  and  structural contingen-
cy and  ought  to be made  accessible to readers who  cannot  cope  with  the Dutch
language. Hopefully Lammers  will also serve us this dessert in English.
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Review of the book Organisaties vergelijkenderwijs: Ontwikkeling en relevantie van het sociologisch denken over organisaties, C.J. Lammers, 1983, 902746507X.

Review of the book Organisaties vergelijkenderwijs: Ontwikkeling en relevantie van het sociologisch denken over organisaties, C.J. Lammers, 1983, 902746507X.

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