Essay instructions Exploring the Paradigm Wars in Organisation Theory The field of organisation theory is characterised as a fragmented body of knowledge, with many competing theories to explain...

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Essay instructions



Exploring the Paradigm Wars in Organisation Theory





The field of organisation theory is characterised as a fragmented body of knowledge, with many competing theories to explain organisational action.


Your task is to critically analyse the contribution that strategic choice and determinist theories (Resource Dependency Theory; Institutional Theory; Population Ecology) make to our understanding of organisational action. Which perspective do you find most compelling - strategic choice or determinism? Explain your reasoning.




Detailed instructions:


Write an essay-style response to this question, referring to the current academic literature on this topic.You may find this resource onEssay Writinghelpful.


This essay is a critical review of the influential ideas about the role of managers in shaping organsational outcomes. Most critical essays follow this type of structure:



Introduction



  • Open the essay with a short introduction to the area.

  • Provide a response to the essay question.

  • Provide a summary or 'road map' of your essay (a very brief outline of what you will discuss)



Main body


The main body of your essay will consist of paragraphs, which are akin to building blocks in the construction of your argument. Ensure that you:



  • develop a discussion, informed by the key academics in the field, which answers the essay question

  • demonstrate your knowledge of the field

  • offer exposition and evidence to develop your arguments. Evidence will be the references to seminal works and key empirical studies

  • use relevant examples and authoritative quotes - however only use quotes for effect. Excessive quoting does not demonstrate your understanding of the field.

  • if your question has multiple parts, consider using subheadings to break up the text into a logical structure.


When structuring your paragraphs, remember that a paragraph is a related group of sentences that develops one main idea. Each paragraph should contain:



  • a topic sentence that states the main idea to be discussed

  • supporting sentences, which explain and develop the point that you're making

  • evidence - your points should be supported by evidence from your readings

  • analysis - analyse and interpret the evidence. Consider the implications, significance and impact of what you have been discussing, and conclude the paragraph with a critical conclusion you have drawn from the evidence.



Conclusion


In the conclusion, you need to:



  • restate your response to the essay question

  • summarise the main points

  • finish with a broad statement about the implications of the topic for practice.

  • ensure you don't introduce any new information into the conclusion.

Answered Same DayOct 27, 2019MGT5MPTLa Trobe University

Answer To: Essay instructions Exploring the Paradigm Wars in Organisation Theory The field of organisation...

David answered on Nov 30 2019
135 Votes
The contribution made by strategic choice and determinist theories towards an individual’s understanding about organizational action
The concept of strategy is highly based upon the causality or view that events hold both causes as well as effects. According to Kane (2002), strategies are formulated precisely by the firms as they are considered as being an important factor for their survival and performance. Moreover
, the chronicles encompass a range of chance occurrences that are an outstanding subsidising aspect towards company outcome. Also, the public segment offers resourceful information linked with corporate fall, arising from unpreventable elements competition, demographic changes, interest rate changes, globalisation and lastly, government policies (Powell, 2002). There is no doubt in the fact that all three factors i.e. choice, determinism and chance are significant and business outcome shows a trait of each. According to Burgelman (2002) irrespective of the way in which corporate actors feel during the formation of strategic decisions, as well as also related to the degree to which their independence has been diluted or overlooked, it’s coherent of upholding that they in practicality devise free choices (Burgelman, 2002).
The choices are openly put across by corporate actors as they believe that the overall progress of events can be impacted by them. Moreover, the choice must be considered of being liberally developed in principle. Companies are quite aware of their dependence towards factors of which there exist almost no or low control (Powell, 2003). It has been observed that strategies appear like a result of interfaces among diverse impacts of choices devised by way of several, in some cases unrelated actors. In contradiction to action’s dichotomous conduct in which causal backdrop as well as choice is basically focused in turn and there is no presence of chance, their interrelationship is chiefly grounded upon four different aspects. These aspects are further assessed again as elucidations from the viewpoints. Further, the below figure 1 clearly conceptualizes the link through which three factors i.e. chance, choice and causal backdrop come together when developing any strategy.
The figure above throws light upon four different aspects. Firstly, strategic choice is highly dependent upon causality that strategies encompass impacts and causes. Apart from this, the significance associated with causal backdrop ascertains that it remains in the middle of the framework (Aspect 1). Moreover, it is considered as being a vital position not just for strategic choice but for effectively utilizing chance coincidence also (Aspect 4). Additionally, it is highly believed that choice alone is not sufficient for ensuring effective strategy development (Aspect 3). Going ahead, it has been observed that chance and choice leave some traces on causal backdrop as this backdrop mirrors preceding chance along with choices concurrences. Further, strategic choice and chance exist with respect to competence considering which chance coincidence could put across new likelihoods for impending choices (Aspect 2).
Apart from all this, one can take into consideration strategic unavoidability in case when causal background is sufficient for forming decisions linked with some particular upshot. Moreover, there are basically few claims revolving around strategy allowance. First of all, with respect to social settings and suitable sources, strategic choice could just be indeterminate (Burgelman, 2002). The same is applicable in case of chance coincidence. While, such kind of causal backdrop throw light upon the raw resources required for making choice, one also requires commitment and deliberation (Kane, 2002). Additionally, it has been observed that there is good amount of explanation revolving around the actuality that organizational actors hold slightest independence with regard to choice. During such conditions the theoretical stance proves to be quite supportive in putting forward a reasonably appropriate theory of choice, which greatly ascertains the authentication of the experiences of choice. According to Powell (2003), there is evidence that...
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