Organizational Environments and Performance

Abstract

The organizational environment is a key issue in management and organization studies (Boyd and Gove, 2006). Contingency theorists, in particular, posit a direct link between the relative ‘task difficulty’ that the environment poses and organizational outcomes (see Donaldson, 2001). In this chapter, we theorize the nature of the organizational environment in the public sector, distinguishing between its technical and institutional aspects; survey the existing quantitative evidence on the environment-performance relationship in public organizations; and empirically assess the effects of the technical and institutional environment on the achievements of local government service departments in Wales. Drawing on the Miles and Snow model, we then go on to examine the combined effects of the environment and strategic management on public service performance in subsequent chapters.