Authority Structure and Organizational Effectiveness

An important factor in the ability of an organization to achieve its goals is its authority structure. If goals and authority structure are incompatible, goals may be modified to the extent that means become parts of the goals themselves. Several organizational assumptions, such as that staff authority is generally subordinated to authority, are analyzed in different kinds of organizations to show that, in practice, they must be modified according to the major goals of the organization. In professional organizations, for example, traditional staff and concepts must be reversed, since the staff experts are carrying out the major goal activity, while the line plays a service role.' Amitai Etzioni is instructor in the Department of Sociology, Columbia University.