1. A POSSIBILITY THEOREM ON DYNAMIC ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH.
- Author
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Welty, Gordon and Beradino, Alfred
- Subjects
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ORGANIZATIONAL research , *ORGANIZATIONAL sociology , *INDUSTRIAL management , *ORGANIZATIONAL behavior , *SOCIAL problems , *EXPERIMENTAL design , *ANALYSIS of variance , *STATISTICAL hypothesis testing - Abstract
The article presents information on a possibility theorem on dynamic organizational research. This discussion of the problems of rigorous research in the dynamic organizational context is specifically methodological, addressing itself to the demonstration of possibility by indirect proofs. For illustrative purposes, the authors concern themselves with organization seeking to effect resolution of social problems. Although research has more frequently addressed itself to these particular organizations in the guise of action research, it is not to be assumed that this restricts the general applicability of the findings. While experimental designs are frequently used in research within an organization, for example, in industrial research applications, designs are rarely applied to the study of an organization and its management. Scholar James L. Price has pointed out that rigorous research designs are virtually unknown in the study of organizations. Scholar Stanely E. Seashore, in his discussion of problems and prospects of the utilization of rigorous designs, points out that the five or ten attempts to use designs reported in the literature are primitive, pioneering ventures. It is not difficult to explain why the organizational researcher has tended to case studies and anecdotal evidence. The universe of organizations is ill defined; the number of units accessible to an investigator is small.
- Published
- 1971