Lecture 1:
Contingency Approach in organization theory:
● Characteristics of management & organization depend on task environment and related
contingency factors
Contingency Factors:
● A contingency is a circumstance or condition that may or may not apply
● Be aware of the danger of “cultural attribution”
● When looking for the influence of differences in institutional/cultural environment, always
control for differences in:
➔ Organization size; age
➔ Industry; technology
➔ Etc
● Two strategies for dealing with contingency factors in empirical research: inclusion of
control variables and matching of samples
Contingency Factors:
● Explaining differences in management & organization between countries:
, ➔
Contingency Factors:
,Contingency Factors:
● Strategy of “matched samples”
➔ Select narrow, but comparable subjects in the cultures to be compared
➔ Draw conclusions from this comparison regarding differences between the cultures in
general
➔ Assumption: differences between the narrow samples are representative for the general
differences
What is Globalization?
● A qualitative shift towards a global economic system that is no longer based on
autonomous national economies but on a consolidated global marketplace for
production, distribution, and consumption (Holm and Sorensen, 1995)
➔ The national economies become less important
What is globalization?
● Globalization was a process which has been going on for some time:
➔ Initially links were local in a small scale society, the distances which were covered by
these links were very small
➔ Later we see early stage empires between 3500 BC and 490 BC before christs where
regional links developed
, ➔ During the next stage, we saw the development of continental links, trade links that link
all European countries together
➔ The next stage would be intercontinental links, including opening up the routes overseas
from Europe to America
➔ Following that, global trade routes were developed across the globe
What is globalization?
● In the near future, it will no tmake any difference, whether you are located in Tilburg, the
Netherlands or any other part of the globe
● The relevance of geographic location would become minimized:
➔ There are a number of arguments suggesting this is not the case
What is globalization?
Contingency Approach in organization theory:
● Characteristics of management & organization depend on task environment and related
contingency factors
Contingency Factors:
● A contingency is a circumstance or condition that may or may not apply
● Be aware of the danger of “cultural attribution”
● When looking for the influence of differences in institutional/cultural environment, always
control for differences in:
➔ Organization size; age
➔ Industry; technology
➔ Etc
● Two strategies for dealing with contingency factors in empirical research: inclusion of
control variables and matching of samples
Contingency Factors:
● Explaining differences in management & organization between countries:
, ➔
Contingency Factors:
,Contingency Factors:
● Strategy of “matched samples”
➔ Select narrow, but comparable subjects in the cultures to be compared
➔ Draw conclusions from this comparison regarding differences between the cultures in
general
➔ Assumption: differences between the narrow samples are representative for the general
differences
What is Globalization?
● A qualitative shift towards a global economic system that is no longer based on
autonomous national economies but on a consolidated global marketplace for
production, distribution, and consumption (Holm and Sorensen, 1995)
➔ The national economies become less important
What is globalization?
● Globalization was a process which has been going on for some time:
➔ Initially links were local in a small scale society, the distances which were covered by
these links were very small
➔ Later we see early stage empires between 3500 BC and 490 BC before christs where
regional links developed
, ➔ During the next stage, we saw the development of continental links, trade links that link
all European countries together
➔ The next stage would be intercontinental links, including opening up the routes overseas
from Europe to America
➔ Following that, global trade routes were developed across the globe
What is globalization?
● In the near future, it will no tmake any difference, whether you are located in Tilburg, the
Netherlands or any other part of the globe
● The relevance of geographic location would become minimized:
➔ There are a number of arguments suggesting this is not the case
What is globalization?
