Organizational Choices and General Management Influence Networks in Divisionalized Companies

Abstract

This paper describes the development of an empirical taxonomy for identifying key choices faced by managers in organizing and reorganizing divisionalized companies. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, the results indicate that divisionalized organizations represent a diverse family of institutional arrangements differing from one another in terms of divisional self-containment, extent of divisionalization, and complexity of coordinative devices. General management influence networks are affected but not fully determined by different combinations of these organizational choices.