Critical Analysis: Strategic Choice vs Determinism in Org Theory

This essay critically analyzes the contributions of strategic choice and determinist theories (Resource Dependence Theory, Institutional Theory, and Population Ecology) to our understanding of organizational action. The essay begins by providing an overview of organization theory, highlighting the contrasting viewpoints of strategic and deterministic organizational structures. It then delves into a detailed analysis of these two perspectives, differentiating them with the help of Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), Institutional Theory (IT), and Population Ecology Theory (PET). The strategic organizational structure emphasizes innovation and differentiation, while the deterministic approach highlights the influence of market forces. RDT focuses on external resource dependence, IT on normative pressures, and PET on the impact of social and environmental factors. The essay concludes by arguing that a balanced approach, incorporating elements from both strategic choice and determinism, is crucial for organizational success in a competitive environment, emphasizing the need for adaptable management strategies and effective corporate governance.

EXPLORING THE PARADIGM WARS IN ORGANISATION THEORY
Introduction
Organisation theory may be considered to be one of the most critical aspects of business studies as
the scope of such theory includes not only internal but also the external factors of the organisation
(Cannon and Hillebrandt, 2016). The instant paper describes, in details, the various types of
organisational theory in the context of the organisational structure. The scope of the theories around
the concept of organisational structure generally provides different and radically opposite
viewpoints. As a result, the researcher gets a reasonable opportunity to explore the area with a
minute and critical analysis. The instant essay delves into the analysis of two radically different
viewpoints of the theory of organisational structure. These two theories are strategic organisational
structure theory and deterministic organisational structure theory. At the very outset of the study,
the researcher provides an overview of the study followed by the background or the purpose of this
research. In the subsequent part of the essay, the theme of the essay has been analysed and
evaluated with respect to the theoretical framework of these two theories as mentioned above. In
addition, the researcher attempts to differentiate both the theories with the help of other related
theories such as resource dependence theory (RDT), institutional theory (IT) and also the population
ecology theory (PET). Finally, the essay is wrapped up by way of providing a concluding note.
Exploring the Paradigm Wars in Organisation Theory
As mentioned previously, the organisational theory takes various shapes and forms through various
theories. Such theory may be broadly categorised as of two types namely strategic organisational
structure theory and deterministic organisational structure theory, as mentioned previously also.
The strategic organisational structure is something where it is assumed that the business may
strategise its position in the market by way of innovation, advertising and promotion, and also their
product and offering differentiation (Shields, Brown, Kaine, Dolle-Samuel, North-Samardzic,
McLean, Johns, O'Leary, Robinson and Plimmer, 2015). In other words, the growth and
sustainability of the business organisation generally do not depend on the market forces. Rather, the

management, if wants, may control the market forces to the tune of business requirement and hence,
place the business in the market with greater efficiency. On the other hand, deterministic
organisational structure theory attempts to establish the fact that the business and its growth and
development are largely driven by market forces. As a result, the management has very little scope
to disrupt the market by way of strategic positioning. In other words, the advocates of the theory
argue that the market forces determine the business growth to a greater extent (Coupet and
McWilliams, 2017).
Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) is a study which emphasises the importance of external
resources on the business organisation. The theory shows how the external factors may impact the
business operations and may cause disruption for the business. The basic argument as inbuilt in the
given theory may be summarised by saying that the given theory propagates the organisational
dependence on the external resources. Such resources may include the external environment and
human resources and also the infrastructure and support services. In this context, it may be noted
that the theory of economics puts emphasis on the different factors of production. It is a known fact
that a business needs different types of resources like labour, material, finance and
entrepreneurship, which may be called as a factor of production also. Among these resources, it
may happen that all the resources may not be scarce or with utmost priority. For example, a burger
outlet may not be able to be run with the supply of its principal material that is bread, Therefore, the
management of such outlet must concentrate on sourcing the bread first and prioritise such sourcing
over the other resources in terms of procurement and usage. The same approach may be followed
for every business organisation keeping in mind the concept of scarcity of resources, It is a fact that
all the resources are not in abundance and hence, there remains a risk of the scarcity of the
resources that are critical to the success of the business (Dodgson, 2018). Therefore, the
management should chalk out various countervailing strategies in order to integrate its supply chain
and business operations, both horizontally and vertically. Such an initiative should be well-
supported by an efficient management decision followed by the follow-up and control mechanism.
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On the other hand, the Institutional Theory (IT) suggests that the organisation may be influenced by
various normative pressures which compel the organisation to adopt the legitimated elements in its
operations and process. Such normative pressure may arise from the external elements or event
from within the organisation itself. In short, it may be stated that the theory asserts that the
institutional environment may robustly make an impact on the growth of formal structures in an
organization, often more profoundly than market pressures (Kholmuminov, Kholmuminov and
Wright, 2018). It may be observed that business organisations do not operate in a vacuum. Rather,
they are influenced by lots of external forces such as ISO norms, certification requirements, legal
and regulatory bindings, cultural differences, social responsibilities and so on. Consideration of all
these elements and forces, as discussed herein, are crucial for the business not only to sustain but be
there within the market and run the show for long (Schiele, Ellis, Eßig, Henke and Kull, 2015). The
theory is based on taken-for-granted social beliefs and norms which advocate the fact that the
business institution should be run considering the societal elements in the mind and hence, the
structure of the organisation should be ever-evolving and adaptive. Several researchers have argued
that IT is somewhat different from RDT in the sense that the organizational practices, norms and
cultures may be construed to be institutionalized only if they are widely accepted and used without
recourse to analysis or proof for their justification. Also, the researchers are of the opinion that such
institutionalisation may be established if they withstand challenges on instrumental grounds.
Population Ecology Theory (PET), on the other hand, is another field of social sciences that are
applicable to the study of organisational structure. The theory is based on the validation and
analysis of how different social components like biology, economics and sociology may impact the
growth of the organisation in terms of their sustainability, development and saturation and
stagnation (Eomnicki, 2018). The PET may be sub-divided in three forms namely the community,
the population and the organisation. The first level of the community may be defined to be the
functionally integrated system of interacting populations. The second level focuses on the similar
types of practices that an organisation performs and hence forms the population. Lastly, the
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organization level puts emphasis on the on the individual organizations that consider the external
forces within the system of operational manual process and organisational norms and cultures. The
primary essence of the theory lies on the fact that the management should be adaptive to the
biological and sociological elements and develop organisational culture after due consideration of
human elements and also the environmental factors of the business surrounding (Burrell and
Morgan, 2017). The researchers have also argued that the theory construes the organisation to be an
ever-evolving and dynamic concept wherein the assimilation and synchronisation of different
cultural and social elements is made possible in order to achieve common sets of goals in the long-
run (Svensson and Nikoleris, 2018). That is the reason, the business world has witnessed different
forms of organisational structure and diversity in the organisational culture. Since the adaptation
theory forms the basis of social science and business organisation is largely a part of the society, the
management is adaptive in order to run the show through sufficient efficient and long-term vision
for the attainment of organisational objectives (Brown and Pappous, 2018).
The discussion on the aforesaid three theories may establish the fact that a business organisation is
principally and majorly responsible for various resources, either internally or externally. Since not
all the resources are in abundance, there remains a significant risk of scarcity and hence, the
management may need to plan the sourcing and related planning accordingly so that resource
acquisition and utilisation is optimum. For the purpose, the management of a business organisation
may undertake several policies like joint venture, mergers and acquisition and revamping its supply
chain by collaborating with vendors and suppliers etc.
Conclusion
Based on the discussion and analysis performed in the preceding sections of the essay, it may be
construed that the business organisation is the dynamic concept and the same should sync with the
market forces and testes, preferences and demand framework of the consumer’s (Palmer, Zedler and
Falk, 2016). In order to sustain in the ever-competitive environment, the management must
formulate a suitable strategy to assess the impact of every element of a market on the business
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operation and strategies own positing accordingly so that the operation and growth of the business
may not be adversely affected by the external factors. Since the organisational theory is
considerably based on the social sciences, the PET or RDT or even IT may be assumed to be
alternative to the dominant adaptation perspective. Though there has been a debate on the adaption
versus selection criteria, it is needless to mention that an organisation evolves with the environment
and management play the key role in such a change management horizon. In this context, it may be
noted that the organisational theories provide a different and varied theoretical base for the
businesses and management should adopt the mixed method of organisational structure after
considering the pros and cons of both the methods (Angeler, Allen, Barichievy, Eason, Garmestani,
Graham, Granholm, Gunderson, Knutson, Nash and Nelson, 2016). In doing so, the business should
be positioned in full-proof in terms of externalities and market forces. Besides, the well-designed
market strategy supported by efficient corporate governance will also be needed to sustain in the
long-run. Hence, it may be concluded that the business should adopt a well-balanced mix of
apparently opposite organisational structure so that the attainment of the corporate goal is possible
in most cost and time efficient manner (Lowrey and Kim, 2016).
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