Comparative Analysis of Complex Organizations, Rev. Ed. [Paperback]

Amitai Etzioniis Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and Director of the Center for Policy Research. His other books includePolitical UnificationandThe Active Society: A Theory of Societal and Political Processes.Chapter 1

COMPLIANCE AS A COMPARATIVE BASE

A DEFINITION OF COMPLIANCE

Compliance is universal, existing in all social units. It is a major element of the relationship between those who have power and those over whom they exercise it (Simmel, 1896). Despite its universality, it has been chosen as a base for this comparative study because it is a central element of organizational structure. The emphasis on compliance within the organization differentiates the latter from other types of social units. Characteristics of organizations such as their specificity, size, complexity and effectiveness each enhances the need for compliance. And in turn, compliance is systematically related to many central organizational variables.

Compliancerefers both to a relation in which an actor behaves in accordance with a directive supported by another actor's power, and to the orientation of the subordinated actor to the power applied.

Bysupportedwe mean that those who have power manipulate means which they command in such a manner that certain other actors find following the directive rewarding, while not following it incurs deprivations. In this sense, compliance relations are asymmetric (or vertical ). But it is not assumed that the subordinates have no power, only that they have less.

The power-means,manipulated to support the directives, include physical, material, and symbolic rewards and deprivations. Organizations tend to allocate these means systematically and strive to ensure that they will be used in conformity with the organizational norms.

Theorientation of the subordinated actorcan be characterized as positive (commitment) or negative (alienatl&