Organizational Theory: Exploring Paradigm Wars

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: EXPLORING PARADIGM WARS
ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: EXPLORING PARADIGM WARS
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1ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: EXPLORING PARADIGM WARS
The essay is focused towards exploring various theories and concepts related to
Organizational actions. Organizational theories refer to bodies of knowledge that tend to explain
the approaches through which various enterprises function, glow, develop and expand. The
theories tend to compete with one another towards determining the best possible operational
actions of organizations. The essay will specifically focus on comparing the strategic choice
theories and the determinist theories to develop better understanding of organizational actions.
Strategic choice theories focus on leadership of the organization. Determinist theory asserts that
the market controls itself to great extents. The comparison of the two theories are to be made in
order to understand which theory helps in positively enhancing the role of managers in
determining organizational progress.
Through systematic analysis of the subject matter in the following paragraphs the study is
focused towards evaluating the theories to find the best possible theoretical framework to
understand organizational actions. The study is structured systematically in order to define the
topic and subsequently provide evidence, analysis and implications through structured
paragraphs. The implications generated from the entire study would be provided as a conclusion
to the essay. The important theories to be considered in light of the strategic choice and the
determinist theories are the resource dependency theory, institutional theory and population
ecology.
Strategic choice theory focuses on improving the role of leadership towards effectively
leading organizational success.
Strategic choice theory focuses much on the role of the leadership in determining the
organizational performances in the corporate scenarios. On the other hand determinist theories

2ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: EXPLORING PARADIGM WARS
are more focused towards the external factors that control organizational functioning to a great
extent. Essential analysis of the strategic choice theory reveals that is based much on the
essential publics and stakeholders that are connected with an organization. The theory brought a
change in the outlook that was created by the previous theories that were based on the notions
that organizations tend to work as per their external environments. Recent empirical researches
have spoken greatly in favor of the strategic choice theory. According to Pisano (2017) the
implementation effectiveness of the theory of strategic choice is based on the dynamic
capabilities of the organization. These dynamic capabilities are in turn based on the continuum
that rang between highly general purposes to greatly market specific purposes. Hence, the ability
of organizations to maintain dynamic capabilities can determine the degree of effectiveness
concerning their organizational functioning. Other empirical researches of the present times point
to the fact that the leadership effectiveness of organizations can determine relative success even
in times of great external pressure. Transformational leadership is a type of leadership that have
helped organizations keep up with productivity at times that were unfavorable in terms of
external market and other global factors. It is found that organizations are increasingly being
developed considering the capabilities of the people are working within the enterprise rather than
the external factors that tend to govern the organizational environments. The theory considers the
responses of the individual towards the everyday disputes that arise in the organizational
environment. Organizations are increasingly influencing the external environments rather than
getting affected by the external factors (Reed & Burrell, 2019). Brand value, brand promotion,
image building and other similar aspects are being increasingly used to change the external
environments. The implications point towards the increasing significance of the strategic choice
theory in view of the present condition of the corporate world.

3ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: EXPLORING PARADIGM WARS
The manager can provide essential insights into how jobs can be allocated to the various
departments. The management also reviews the performance frameworks of the employees and
evaluates core competencies.
Resource dependency theory significantly governs the prospects for effective resource
allocation and utilization or resources in organizational contexts.
Resource dependence theory is based on how the external resources determine the
behavior of the organization. The important arguments that are provided in support of the
resource dependency theory are: 1. Organizations have to rely on resources, 2. the resource
originate from the organizational environment, 3. Resources are also utilized by other
organizations, 4. One organization’s required resources tend to be in the hands of the other
organization, 5. Resources determine the power of other organizations, 6. Organizations hence,
tend to rely on each other, 7. Power and resource utilization is directly linked. 8. Hence, power
can be said to be situational and related to the mutual wellbeing of organizations
(Mombourquette & Sproule, 2019). Resource dependency theory suggest that organizations are
to a great extent affected by the state of the available external resources. Empirical literatures on
the topic suggest that resources need to be effectively utilized in order for organizations to run
effectively. In the existing corporate scenarios competing for resources have become more
evident. This has also been attributed to the more limited amount of available resources in the
current organizational environments. A marked trend in the present organizational environments
is the fact that organizations are now more focused towards environmental aspects that are
connected with resource utilization. Stakeholder theory is becoming more important in guiding
the resource utilization patterns of the present corporate organizations. Organizations are paying
more heed to stakeholder engagement towards the effective management of the resources. It is