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Reports procedures used to draw a sample of & collect data on a national probability sample of work establishments for the 1991 National Organizations Study, which surveyed 1,427 US organizations. Probability proportionate size sampling was employed, asking respondents to the General Social Survey to name the establishments for which they & their spouses work; 927 establishments were selected, & data were collected on the individual organizations. The final sample of 727 represents a statistically valid sample of all types, ages, & sizes of work organizations. Moreover, this methodological design has the added advantage of being flexibly adaptable to many variations & extensions that may be appropriate for different research needs. 6 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix. D. M. Smith

This article reports sampling and data collection procedures for a national sample of work organizations. The sampling unit was establishments, which were drawn with probability proportionate to size. About half of the establishments were parts of larger organizations. Data were collected from 52% of the establishments that fell into the sample and from 64.5% of eligible establishments for which adequate identifying information exisited. The current sample is based on the 1991 NORC General Society Survey. In connection with a 15-minute module on experiences with employers, respondents were asked to give the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of their employers and the employers of their spouses. The information was transmitted to the Survey Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, from which telephone interviews were conducted with informants on the sampled establishments. This article discusses results of the data collection process, including success of requests for nominations and the disposition of interview attempts with establishments. It concludes with suggestions for improvements in data collection procedures.

Concludes an edited Vol of 16 Chpts that analyzes aspects of US organizations using data from the 1991 National Organizations Study. Results generally indicate that larger establishments are more complex than smaller establishments, exhibiting greater differentiation, decentralization, formal job descriptions, & lower administrative intensity. It is suggested that the analyses presented in this Vol may be extended in a variety of ways, eg, there is a need to obtain multiple informants within organizations to better test social psychological theories about employee motives, beliefs, & behaviors. Further, longitudinal research that provides more than a cross-sectional snapshot of organizations would be helpful in identifying large-scale historical changes, institutional development, & ecological dynamics. Finally, future research might map the environments of organizations in greater detail to produce a better picture of interorganizational networks. D. M. Smith

Introduces an edited Vol of 16 Chpts that reviews data collected by the 1991 National Organizations Study on the structures & human resource practices of US organizations. The history of theorizing organizational structures in the post-WWII period is traced, from the structural approaches that dominated until the early 1970s through the efforts in the 1980s & 1990s to establish linkages between organizations & wider stratification processes. Issues raised include the increasing formalization of employment relations, the notion of the high-performance work organization, & various human resource practices & policies (eg, staffing practices, job training, & compensation). New employment relations (eg, subcontracting), gender segregation, & male-female differences in organizational commitment are also considered. D. M. Smith