A Concept of Organizational Ecology

Eric Trist
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Eric Trist: Management and Behavioral Science Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. This paper is “based on an invited address presented to the three Melbourne Universities, 19 July 1976, and sponsored by the Department of Psychology (University of Melbourne), the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (Monash University) and the Department of Sociology (La Trobe University). Some details of the case material included on that occasion have been omitted.

Australian Journal of Management, 1977, vol. 2, issue 2, 161-175

Abstract: This paper introduces a concept of organizational ecology. This refers to the organizational field created by a number of organizations, whose interrelations compose a system at the level of the field as a whole. The overall field becomes the object of inquiry, not the single organization as related to its organization-set. The emergence of organizational ecology from earlier organization theory is traced and illustrated from empirical studies. Its relevance to the task of institution-building, in a world in which the environment has become exceedingly complex and more interdependent, is argued.

Keywords: BUREAUCRACY; JACKSON REPORT; MULTI-ORGANIZATION; ORGANIZATIONAL ECOLOGY; ORGANIZATIONAL FIELD; ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY; POST-INDUSTRIAL; TURBULENCE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1977
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ausman:v:2:y:1977:i:2:p:161-175

DOI: 10.1177/031289627700200205

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