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New Developments in Contingency Fit Theory

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Organization Design

Abstract

The profile deviation perspective on fit (Venkatraman 1989; Drazin & Van de Ven 1985; Donaldson 2001) has been used frequently in organization design to investigate how design affects performance. Because most studies have opted for empirical profiles, its theoretical underpinnings are underdeveloped. This, in turn, may lead research to underestimate the true impact from organization design on performance. In order to address such shortcomings, we use the information ‘processing view’ (Galbraith 1973, Tushman & Nadler 1978; Burton & Obel 2004) to develop a theoretical profile. We then use this profile to consider how three currently unresolved issues concerning external vs. internal misfits, the relative importance of different misfits and asymmetric misfits may be understood and tested in terms of the profile deviation perspective.

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Klaas, P., Lauridsen, J., Håkonsson, D.D. (2006). New Developments in Contingency Fit Theory. In: Burton, R.M., Håkonsson, D.D., Eriksen, B., Snow, C.C. (eds) Organization Design. Information and Organization Design Series, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-34173-0_8

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