Results
Title

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE CONTROL GRAPH: INFLUENCE IN A STAFF ORGANIZATION.

Authors

Williams, Lawrence K.; Hoffman, L. Richard; Mann, Floyd C.

Abstract

The article focuses on the influence of control graph in a staff organization. A new method for graphically describing the control structures of organizations has been developed. In this method control graphs are generated from the reports of members of an organization of their perceptions of the influence possessed by various levels. A number of characteristics of the control graph have been examined. The present research extends the control graph method to a study of the control structure of a staff division in a large company. The objectives were to examine: (1) the structure of influence in the division as seen by all of the respondents, (2) the congruity of perceptions of the influence structure by respondents at different organizational levels, (3) the ability of the method to differentiate among different substructures in an organization, and (4) the relationships among various components of influence and levels of satisfaction. This study has demonstrated the utility of the control graph method through an analysis of the influence structure of a staff division. Influence desired by any level was shown to be most strongly related to satisfaction with influence when compared to the discrepancy between influence-exercised and influence-received.

Subjects

ORGANIZATION; GRAPHIC methods; INFLUENCE; EMPLOYEES; CONTROL (Psychology); SATISFACTION

Publication

Social Forces, 1959, Vol 37, Issue 3, p189

ISSN

0037-7732

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.2307/2572960