Developing configurations of work units: the implications for differentiation and integration

Two major areas of organizational theory are considered in this thesis. The first is concerned with the development of a configuration based approach. This develops contingency theory by taking a more holistic view, . looking for patterns amongst many different aspects of organizations, rather than reducing organizations to simple bivariate relationships. Previously, this had only been used at a macro organizational level. This research extended the configurational approach and identified microconfigurations of departments or work units within organizations. The benefit of doing this is that it allows a far more detailed picture of organizations to be obtained. Variables were selected for inclusion in the micro-configurations on the basis of a detailed survey of the contingency field. Thus, the approach was used to synthesise much of the existing contingency research in organizational theory. [Continues.]