The open and the closed corporation as conflicting forms of organization

Abstract

Organizational change is discussed in the context of a conceptual model resting on philosophical, sociological, and anthropological foundations. Distinguishing between an open and a closed form of organization, the authors focus on two theses. The first is that organizations as societal systems are marked by the simultaneous existence of two forms of organization that are mutually exclusive in part, with the resulting combinations or mixes of the two forms having the character of a compromise. The second thesis is that these combinations or mixes of open and closed organizational elements tend to be in flux, giving organizational change a partly cyclical structure. The authors'goal is to draw on these two theses to develop the theory of organizational change and elaborate the implications that this interpretation has for organizational change in daily practice. © 1999 NTL Institute.