Technology and Size as Determinants of the Organizational Structure of Japanese Factories

Abstract

March 1981, volume 26 New findings highlighting the controversy over the relative importance of size (number of personnel) and technology (custom/mass production/automated) as causes of organizational structure are presented from a sample of fifty Japanese factories. We showthe effects of technology (size held constant) and of size (technology held constant), controlling for five other variables that influence structure. Only two domains of structurestructural differentiation and formalization are clearly more a function of size than of technology. Other aspects labor inputs, cybernetic complexity, costs and wages, the differentiation of management from ownership, the span of control of the chief executive, and union recognition -vary more with technology than with size. Still other components of structure vary independently of both size and technology.