The Culture-Free Context of Organization Structure: A Tri-National Comparison

In data in standard form on seventy manufacturing organizations in three countries, consistent relationships are found between variables of organization context or `task environment' (size, dependence, technology) and measures of structure (Formalization, Specialization, Autonomy). These support the hypothesis that relationships will be stable across societies. Even though culturally shaped variations may occur in some features of organizations, contextual constraints or pressures will persist. Simply stated, if Indian organizations were found to be less formalized than American ones, bigger Indian units would still be more formalized than smaller Indian units.