Configurational Approaches to Organizational Analysis

The 1993 Special Research Forum on Configurations is dedicated to the proposition that configurational theory and research can significantly advance understanding of people, groups, and organizations. In this introductory essay, we define configurational approaches to organizational analysis, trace the history of configurational thinking, distinguish the contingency approach from the configurational approach, and highlight key contrihutions of the five empirical articles that make up the special research forum. Most of these articles report research conducted at the organizational level of analysis, hut we argue that the configurational perspective has unrealized potential at other levels as well and suggest some configurational approaches to revitalizing theory and research at the individual and group levels.