Changing Organizations: Business Networks in the New Political Economy (review)

Like other recent overviews of organizational sociology, Changing Organizations is both an attempt to integrate ideas from a diverse set of theories reflecting on processes of organizational change and an (implicit) intellectual biography of the author. Knoke provides a brief introduction to five macro-level frameworks — including organizational ecology, institutional theory, resource dependence, transaction cost economics, and network analysis — and then considers how they apply to contemporary dynamics affecting businesses and nonprofits — ranging from corporate downsizing and strategic alliances to changes in corporate governance. The text is structured loosely around the idea that organizational network theory can serve as a metaframework, an opportunity for "weaving together the varied theoretical stands in organization studies." In this respect, Knoke seeks to leverage his own background as an eminent scholar of political networks (see Knoke, Political Networks: The Structural Perspective. Cambridge University Press, 1990; Laumann and Knoke, The Organizational State: A Perspective on the Social Organization of National Energy and Health Policy Domains. University of Wisconsin Press, 1987) to tame the tangled jungle of organizational analysis.

Characterized in this fashion, the success of the book is likely to hinge on two factors. First, how well does it appeal to its intended target audience: advanced undergraduates and graduate students seeking their first exposure to organization studies? Given the book's provocative (and numerous) substantive examples, parsimony in presenting theoretical frameworks, and straightforward writing style, it addresses a clear demand for accessible texts on the topic. Moreover, by linking micro-level changes observed in individual organizations to macro-level implications for the political economy as a whole, Knoke ensures that students will not miss the proverbial forest for the trees. The presentation of aggregated empirical data throughout the text reinforces this connection and gives students a sense of the rich research possibilities in organization studies.

Another criterion of the book's success is the "meta-framework" of organizational network analysis that it advances. Knoke argues that network analysis — as a framework for understanding formal organizations — is the least developed of the five perspectives he reviews, but that it also holds the most promise. How well, then, does the book integrate its insights around a coherent network approach and, in the process, provide perspective on Knoke's own research program? Here the evidence is more mixed. While the book has some thought-provoking passages on the relevance of network analysis to organizational ecology, institutional theory, and transaction cost economics (I view resource dependence theory as simply being a form of network analysis), the integration is uneven and does not always give readers a clear sense of the advantages of the network approach. The ability to span levels of analysis is one purported benefit, but in fact this feature can be claimed for contemporary ecological/demographic and institutional approaches as well. The more general problem, of course, is that organizational network analysis lacks a paradigmatic, foundational statement, along the lines offered by Hannan and Freeman (1977; "The Population Ecology of Organizations," American Journal of Sociology 82:929-64.); Meyer and Rowan (1977; "Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony," American Journal of Sociology 83:340-63); Pfeffer and Salancik (1978; The External Control of Organization: A Resource Dependence Perspective); or Williamson (1975; Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications) for the other organizational frameworks. Although this book does not generate such a paradigmatic statement, it does provide plenty of thoughtful substantive and theoretical insights for the next generation of scholars with an interest in organizational networks.