The Process of Fit Between the Contingency Factors of the Environment and the Structural Design Parameters

Abstract

This paper, using a sample of 150 Spanish companies of large size, aim to corroborate the postulates determined by the contingency models regarding the relationships between the organisational environment and structural design parameters. Our basic aim is to establish the different relative importance of each of the elements characterising the environment to the design parameters. The results obtained show that the first relation to be clearly observed is that between level of complexity of the environment and the degree of organicity of the structure. However, such an evident relationship is not observed between the degree of dynamism of the environment and the level of organicity. As for the relation between degree of hostility of the environment and the design parameters analysed, the contingent hypotheses that predict that the degree of centralisation of the structure increases with the hostility of the environment are confirmed.