CHAPTER 6
Design in Context
The original version of this book identified a set of conditions—called contingency, or situational, factors—that drive the design elements to take one shape or another.43 These include the age and size of the organization, the technical system used in its operations, the complexity, dynamism, and hostility of its external environment, and the power relationships that pervade it. The following propositions describe these relationships.
Age and Size
The age of an organization and its size play key roles in the design of its structure.
• The older an organization, the more formalized its behavior. As an organization ages, it tends to repeat its behaviors, which thus become more predictable and therefore more amenable ...
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