System Size and Structural Differentiation in Military Organizations: Testing a Baseline Model of the Division of Labor

The relationship between organizational size and occupational differentiation is examined in thirty-seven units of the United States Coast Guard, broken down into three subtypes of operating systems. This relationship is examined in light of two distinctions for structural differentiation and is tested against a probabilistic model of differentiation based upon system size. A strong positive relationship is found between size and number of occupations, but a strong negative relationship is found between size and internal specialization. The relationship between size and differentiation does not differ significantly from what would be expected on the basis of a random differentiation process in two of the three types of military systems, and does not depart markedly in a third type. It is suggested that differentiation in these systems in determined by a variety of countervailing forces, some pressuring the system toward increased heterogeneity and others pressuring the system toward homogeneity in occupational structure. Two specific variables are suggested for future analysis.