The Concept of "Coalition" in Organization Theory and Research

This paper provides an historical review of coalitions in organizations and presents key issues that must be confronted if research on coalitions is to contribute to an understanding of intraorganizational dynamics. Included are: an explicit definition of a coalition within an organization, consideration of how the organizational context differs from the contexts of previous coalition research, a specification of the process that leads to coalitions, and a discussion of the impact of coalitions.