Abstract
The present study of 295 trade salesmen in three organisations reports on the relationship between organisational shape or structure (tall, medium, and flat) to job satisfaction, anxiety-stress, and performance. The findings indicate that salesmen in flat organisations (1) perceive more satisfaction with respect to self-actualisation, and autonomy, (2) perceive lower amounts of anxiety-stress, and (3) perform more efficiently than salesmen in medium and tall organsiations.
Origin ally published in Administrative Science Quarterly, 20 (June 1975) 272–80. Reprinted by permission.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Berry B. A. and Sadler P. J., ‘Organizational Characteristics of Growing Companies’, Journal of Management Studies, 4 (1967) 204–19.
Carpenter H. H., ‘Formal Organizational Structural Factors and Perceived Job Satisfaction of Classroom Teachers’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 16 (1971) 460–5.
Carzo R., Jr. and Yanouzas J. N., ‘Effects of Flat and Tall Organization Structure’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 14 (1969) 178–91.
Chadwick-Jones J. L., Brown C. A., Nicholson N. and Sheppard C., ‘Absence Measures: their Reliability and Stability in an Industrial Setting’, Personnel Psychology, 24 (1971) 463–70.
Davis K. R. and Webster F. E., Jr., Sales Force Management, (New York: Ronald Press, 1968).
Ghiselli E. E. and Siegel J. P., ‘Leadership and Managerial Success in Tall and Flat Organization Structures’, Personnel Psychology, 25 (1972) 617–24.
Green C. N., ‘Causal Connections among Managers’ Merit Pay, Job Satisfaction, and Performance’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 58 (1973) 95–100.
Indik B., Seashore S. E. and Slesinger J., ‘Demographic Correlates of Psychological Strain’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 69 (1964) 26–38.
Jones H. R., Jr, ‘A Study of Organization Performance for Experimental Structures of Two, Three and Four Levels’, Academy of Management Journal, 12 (1969) 351–66.
Kahn R. L., Wolf D. M., Quinn R. C., Snoek D. J. and Rosenthal, R. A., Organizational Stress, (New York: Wiley, 1964).
Kotier P., Marketing Management, (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972).
Lawler E. E., III, ‘A Correlational-Causal Analysis of the Relationship Between Expectancy Attitudes and Job Performance’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 53 (1968) 462–8.
Meitzer L. and Salter J., ‘Organizational Structure and the Performance of Job Satisfaction of Physiologists’, American Sociological Review, 27 (1962) 351–62.
Newton D. A., ‘Get the Most out of your Sales Force’, Harvard Business Review, 47 (1969) 129–35.
Nunnally J. C., Psychometric Theory, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967).
Porter L. W. and Lawler, E. E., III, ‘The Effects of Tall versus Flat Organization Structures on Managerial Job Satisfaction’, Personnel Psychology, 17 (1964) 135–48.
Porter L. W. and Siegel J., ‘Relationships of Tall and Flat Organizational Structure to the Satisfactions of Foreign Managers’, Personnel Psychology, 10 (1965) 379–92.
Richardson F. L. W., Jr and Walker C. R., Human Relations in an Expanding Company, (New Haven: Labor and Management Center, Yale University, 1948).
Stanton W. J. and Buskirk R. A., Management of the Sales Force, (Homewood: Irwin, 1969).
Still R. R. and Cundiff E. W., Sales Management, (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969).
Worthy J. C., ‘Organizational Structure and Employee Morale’, American Sociological Review, 24 (1950) 169–79.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 1981 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ivancevich, J.M., Donnelly, J.H. (1981). Relation of Organisational Structure to Job Satisfaction, Anxiety-Stress and Performance. In: Gruneberg, M.M., Oborne, D.J. (eds) Psychology and Industrial Productivity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04809-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04809-0_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-27074-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-04809-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)