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Many contingency researchers have argued that organizations must tailor their structures and decision making processes to fit the demands of their external environments–the exigencies of their markets. They claim, for example, that uncertain environments–those with high degrees of change and unpredictability in technology and in customer and competitor behavior–require more delegation of authority to highly trained specialists and quicker, more responsive decision making. However, such experts usually favor a slower, more analytical approach. Here, internal and external requirements appear to be inconsistent. These and similar inconsistencies indicate that the alignment among structural and process variables needed for good environmental fit seems sometimes to violate the dictates of internal consistency. It is reasonable, therefore, to expect that where such inconsistencies occur, organizations will choose between achieving internal match and external match: firms that closely match the demands of their environment will lack internal complementarity, and vice versa. The empirical research reported here demonstrates exactly this: organizations that achieve the best fit with environmental uncertainty have the weakest linkages among structural and process variables. An exploratory taxonomy supports these results. However, internal and external fit are not always incompatible. We found, for example, that fit with environmental diversity did not have any implications for internal fit. One of the implications of this research is that managers may have to perform their adaptive tasks sequentially striving for a harmonious alignment among their internal variables in order to achieve smooth functioning, but periodically disrupting this harmony to adjust to a changing environment.

Recent studies have argued that the variety of organizational forms is limited and that certain common organizational configurations-alignments among strategy, structure and environment-occur with remarkable frequency and account-for a very significant fraction of organizations. This has been demonstrated empirically. The purpose of this paper is to probe into the cohesion, dynamics, and predictive implications of configurations. Ten propositions are derived by analyzing some representative configurations. It is proposed that the constrained variety and cohesion of configurations are caused by the interdependent, robust, cyclical, and reciprocal relationships among their parts. It is also argued that configurations vary in their first-order changes, but that all resist second-order changes, that is, changes in the direction of evolution. This makes them prone to long periods of momentum punctuated by brief periods of revolution. Finally, configurations are shown to vary in their internal relationships so that classification must precede prediction in organizational analysis. This suggests a middle range approach to paradigm development.

The relationships between Porter's (1980) business strategies and the process of strategy making are investigated. The complexity of a strategy is shown to be associated with the intensity of information processing and managerial interaction used in its development and implementation. Porter's strategy of innovative differentiation related significantly to information processing, interaction, and assertiveness in strategy making, especially among the most profitable firms, cost leadership had very few notable associations with decision making, and focus strategies related inversely to information processing.

This article attempts to expand and clarify the discussions in the literature on complexity theory applied to accounting via two central assertions:(a) affecting the cognitive conceptual level of an individual through the financial reporting system can be accomplished not only by varying the immediate information load, but also, in the long run, by modifying the types of information and the mode of user‐system interface. In other words, a properly designed accounting information system can have developmental cognitive effects in both the short and long run.(b) attempting to maximize the conceptual level of the decision maker is not always desirable. In certain types of environments, a high conceptual level actually impedes appropriate decision making. Therefore, the appropriate conceptual level must be related to the type of decision being made as well as to the type of decision maker.

AbstractThis paper examines some sources of strategic simplicity: the tendency of strategies to focus on a few competitive tactics or methods. Simple strategies can be contrasted with those that are comprehensive and multifaceted. An empirical study of four Canadian industries revealed that environmental uncertainty and environmental scanning are both negatively related to simplicity. This supports a functional rationale that more comprehensive strategies are demanded by uncertain environments, and that scanning helps managers design such strategies. It also supports a cognitive rationale that uncertainty and scanning help combat tunnel vision and broaden managerial mental models. However, uncertainty and scanning were also found to interact negatively in their impact on simplicity: paradoxically, scanning is especially likely to reduce simplicity if the environment is stable, and uncertainty is especially likely to reduce simplicity in the absence of scanning. This finding is difficult to interpret using a functional rationale. Managerial responses thus may be quasi‐rational in that seemingly functional main effects appear less so upon exploration of the interaction effects and performance implications.RésuméCette recherche examine quelques sources de simplicité stratégique: la tendance des stratégies de se concentrer sur quelques tactiques ou méthodes compétitives. Les stratégies simples peuvent ětre comparées aux stratégies exhaustives et complexes. Une étude empirique de quatre industries canadiennes révèle que l'incertitude et l'exploration environnementales sont toutes deux reliées de façon négative à la simplicité. Cela appuie une argumentation selon laquelle certains environnements requièrent des stratégies plus exhaustives et l'exploration aide les administrateurs à concevoir de telles stratégies. Cela suppose également un résultat antérieur qui veut que l'incertitude et l'exploration aident à contrer la vision simpliste et à élargir les schémas conceptuels des gestionnaires. Toutefois, nous avons démontré que l'incertitude et l'exploration interagissent de façon négative par rapport à leur impact sur la simplicité: de façon paradoxale, l'exploration semble particulièrement apte à réduire la simplicité lorsque l'environnement est stable tandis que l'incertitude est plutǒt sujette à réduire la simplicité lorsque l'exploration est absente. Cette découverte est difficile à interpréter à l'aide d'une compréhension fonctionnelle des organisations. Les réponses des gestionnaires apparaissent donc quasirationnelles dans le sens où des effets principaux, fonctionnels en apparence, semblent perdre cette particularité lorsqu'on explore les effets de l'interaction et ceux de la performance.