Decision-makers in organizations use dimensions implicitly or explicitly to sort strategic issues. This article compares the dimensions implied by three literatures and dimensions generated by an empirical study. While some similarities are identified, there are striking differences between what the literature assumes and what dimensions decision-makers in the NY/NJ Port Authority use to sort issues. Implications for theories of decision-making and interpretation in organizations are discussed.

This research explores managerial perceptions of organizational effectiveness and whether they have similarities with perceptions of academics, and with the competing values model of organizational effectiveness (Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983). The results suggest that the same values organize the patterning of effectiveness criteria in a cohesion-based solution for managers and academics. Yet, this cohesion model has inadequate explanatory power for managers' perceptions and shows no relationship with either their experience or organizational preferences. In contrast, a conflict-based solution provides adequate explanatory power for managers and relates to their experience and to organizational preferences. If managers play any part in influencing effectiveness in organizations, then incorporating their views into models of organizational effectiveness is therefore likely to improve our understanding of organizational functioning.

The model of bureaucratic control is an enduring part of modern organizational theory. This study draws on almost four decades of empirical research in assessing the general validity of the model. Meta-analytical techniques are used for estimating the general relationships among key aspects of bureaucratic control, removing the effects of statistical artefacts and exploring the relative persistence of the model. The results provide substantial support for the model of bureaucratic control. The average correlation among the structural variables is .54. Overall, the paper concludes that there are reasons to see the bureaucratic model of control as generalizable and of continuing relevance to discussions of organizational structures.

Like most experience, people endow organizations with meaning. Meaninggiving has been explained as a categorization process of matching stimuli against prototypes. This study explores the applicability of such a view to organizations by focusing on a central component of the perspective -prototypes. A phenomenological design is used to uncover the content of organizational prototypes. Data collected from a sample of managers in the financial industry demonstrate the utility of the prototype notion, indicating that further exploration is warranted of how organizations are categorized.

This paper presents a model of the implementation process for dedicated packages and describes a research project to test the model undertaken with the cooperation of a major computer vendor. Data were collected from 78 individuals in 18 firms using the package and from the package vendor. The results of the study offer some support for the model along with suggestions for package implementation for both the customer and package vendor.