Academy of Management Learning & Education

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Reviews
The Practice of Organizational Diagnosis: Theory and
Methods

Journal:

Manuscript ID:

Academy of Management Learning & Education

AMLE-2014-0399-BRR

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Manuscript Type:
Submission Keywords:

Book & Resource Reviews - BY INVITATION ONLY

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Organizational Design for Learning and Change, Organizational culture and

teaching/learning process

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Academy of Management Learning & Education

Copyright Academy of Management Learning and Education

Reviews

The Practice of Organizational Diagnosis: Theory and Methods

By Clayton P. Alderfer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 532 pages, hard cover.

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Reviewed by William A. Kahn, Boston University School of Management

Clayton Alderfers The Practice of Organizational Diagnosis offers a deeply insightful

discourse on the nature of groups and organizations. The discourse contains multiple levels. On

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the surface, the volume offers a theory-informed approach to diagnosing organizations. Much
moves beneath this surface, however, as Alderfer builds an argument about the intricate

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relationship between the theory that frames and makes sense of social systems, and the methods

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by which those systems are examined and understood. This argument is embodied by the
articulation of embedded intergroup relations, as the guiding conceptual frame that brings into

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sharp relief the key properties of social systems and their influence on individual member
experiences and behaviors. Alderfer anchors the integration of embedded intergroup relations

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and diagnosis methodology in a useful historical context. The result is not simply a specific

theory and method ought to be examined by social scientists.

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understanding of that integration, but more generally, a model of how the relationship between

The chapters of the volume methodically build the layers of an argument for taking

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seriously an in-depth understanding of the theory and practice of organizational diagnosis.

Alderfer anchors his argument in the initial two chapters with an analysis of how accepted social

interviews, experiential learning methods, and surveysare by and large disconnected from

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technologies used in organizational studiesparticipant observation, individual and group

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well-developed organizational theory. The atheoretical use of these social technologies is

problematic, in that various empirical findings (anomalies) emerge that are inconsistent with
accepted theory. Alderfer carefully builds an argument about the importance of organizational
scholars adhering to scientific principlesaccounting for rather than dismissing empirical

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anomalies as noisein order to advance existing theory and the techniques by which such
theory is developed, tested, and affirmed. These initial chapters are clearly influenced by Thomas
Kuhn (1996), the leading scholar on the evolution of scientific paradigms. Indeed, Alderfer
ranges widely in constructing his argument, drawing on writings from the physical sciences,

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history, and medicine, in addition to those of organizational scholars. The author, a scholar of the
nature of science and its evolution, is passionate about making the case for the usefulness of

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theory for practice.

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Alderfer places theory at the center of the set of relations between method, data, and
ethical values that collectively guide the professional practice of organizational diagnosis. In

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Chapters 3 and 4, respectively, he looks carefully at both the historical origins and contemporary
status of organizational diagnosis. In the former, Alderfer excavates several classic studiesthe

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Bank Wiring Room investigation from the Hawthorne studies at the Western Electric Plant

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(Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939), and the American Soldier studies conducted to explore group
dynamics in military organizations (Stouffer, Suchman, DeVinney, Star & Williams, 1949)that

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foreshadowed many of the theoretical and methodological issues that remain current in the

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practice of organizational diagnosis. These studies provided early evidence for the centrality of
group dynamic forces in organizationsand the inability of researchers to fully appreciate the

dynamics. In Chapter 4, Alderfer examines how more contemporary practitioner-scholars of

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intimate relation between theory and method in diagnosing group, intergroup, and organizational

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organizational diagnosisHarry Levinson (1972), Chris Argyris (1970), and Edgar Schein
(1987)brought different sensibilities to their work, enabling them to make more explicit
connections between their diagnostic methods and the theories that guided their use of those
methods. Alderfer offers an analysis of each scholar that manages at once to be both appreciative

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of what they contributed as well as clear about what remains missing in the evolving field of
organizational diagnosis (as discussed in Chapter 5).
The core of the book involves the author making the case for embedded intergroup
relations theory as the foundation for sophisticated diagnostic techniques for groups and

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organizations. Embedded intergroup relations theory offers a complex understanding of the

interrelationships among different levels of analysis within organizations. The theory is based on

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the premise that individuals are representatives of multiple groups as well as having their own

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unique personalities, and that such group representation inevitably shapes both individual and
collective behavior. The groups that individuals represent are of two types: identity groups, such

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as race and gender, by virtue of birth and biology; and organizational groups, such as profession
and role, by virtue of choices related to type of work and hierarchical status. In line with A. K.

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Rices (1965) formulation that human relationships are fundamentally intergroup relationships,

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Alderfer develops a set of five laws that comprise embedded intergroup relations theory. These
laws focus on boundary permeability between actors and their environments, multiple group

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representation, the subjective experience of such representation by actors, tensions between

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subgroup and focal group boundaries, and parallel processes during group and intergroup

transactions. A review cannot do these laws and their interconnections justice. Suffice it to say,

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as Alderfer does, that Taken together, the five laws propose a parsimonious framework for

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understanding all human systems in terms of their group and intergroup relations (Alderfer,
2011: 136).

Alderfer uses several chapters to develop and anchor the components of embedded

intergroup relations theory. Chapter 6 is devoted to the exposition of the five laws. The chapter

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works through the logic of each law, and offers tables and an appendix to provide detail,
definition, and illustrations. Chapter 7 anchors various pieces of the theory within existing
theoretical traditions that include family systems theory, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, group
dynamics, sociotechnical theory, sociology, social psychology, and the occasional forays into the

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physical sciences and history. Alderfer ranges widely across fields and disciplines, developing
interconnecting themes that are intriguing, densely interwoven, and, at times, brilliant. Alderfer

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complements these chapters with several more that focus on empirical support for embedded

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intergroup relations theory. Chapter 8 offers an extended meditation on the nature and definition
of empirical support, as used in the physical and social sciences. This chapter continues to work

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the theme, layered throughout the volume, of the nature of and arrival at scientific
understandings via empirical research. Alderfer argues that researchers should not only take

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seriously how theory informs their empirical work but how their own identity and organizational

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group memberships do so as well. He then offers at some length in Chapter 9 a dizzying array of
empirical support across the social sciences for the five laws of embedded intergroup relations.

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As former Editor of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Alderfer takes seriously

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Kurt Lewins (1951) dictum that there is nothing as practical as a good theory. The remaining
chapters of the volume focus on the practice implications of embedded intergroup relations

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theory for organizational diagnosis. Chapter 10 examines the ethical dimensions of the practice

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of organizational diagnosis, as viewed through the lens of embedded intergroup relations theory.

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Alderfer is unsparing in his examination of how practices in the medical, physical and social
sciences have struggled (or not) with ethical issues; he concludes the chapter by articulating an
overarching principle of ethical practice to guide organizational diagnosis. Subsequent chapters
apply that principle in the context of the diagnostic process. Alderfer details the nature and

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conduct of negotiating organizational entry (Chapter 11), data collection (Chapter 12), data
analysis (Chapter 13), and providing feedback to client systems (Chapter 14) as informed,
profoundly and deeply, by the laws of embedded intergroup relations theory. These chapters
offer both the concrete details of how these practical aspects occur and the theoretical

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foundations that anchor such practices, reflecting Alderfers insistence on taking seriously the
theory-method interrelationship. The final chapters provide empirical support for the use of these

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practice techniques (Chapter 15) and a brief summary of the courses by which graduate students

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and practitioners can learn the theory-informed practice of organizational diagnosis (Chapter 16).
This volume offers a sweeping theory of organizational diagnosis, ranging across fields

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and disciplines, and in so doing illuminates the theory-methods-practice continuum. It is

undeniably ambitious in scope. Alderfer is questioning, probing, and challenging. Organizational

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diagnosis is about seeing social systems clearly, ethically, and usefully. Throughout this volume,

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Alderfer presses social scientists to see themselves in that equation as well, as part of the
technique that yields both better theory and practice. The book is thus most likely to be

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accessible to groups of graduate students and reflective practitioners who wish to learn together

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the theory and practice of organizational diagnosis; it seems meant to be collectively read and
discussed and applied, as readers learn and reflect together on their own experiences of

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embedded intergroup relations and organizational diagnosis.

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Scholars who teach and research aspects of organizational change will find this volume,

used slowly and carefully, a multi-layered educationfor themselves and their studentsabout
the useful theory and practice of professional diagnosis. Such education is clearly beneficial for
doctoral students. It is also useful for MBA or executive level students as well, who might use

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the books concepts as a catalyst for the creation of mini-cases or reflection papers that enable
them to apply and thus deeply learn the deeper ideas and skills of organizational diagnosis. Such
pedagogy supports Alderfers desire to educate successive generations, not simply about the
practice of diagnosis, but about the nature of the theory-method-practice connection, and more

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broadly still, about what it means to be a social scientist and reflective practitioner.

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References

Alderfer, C. P. (2011). The Practice of Organizational Diagnosis. New York: Oxford University
Press.

Argyris, C. (1970). Intervention theory and method. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

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Kuhn (1996). The structure of scientific revolutions (3rd ed). Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.

Levinson, H., Molinari, J. & Spohn, A. (1972). Organizational diagnosis. Cambridge MA:

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Harvard University Press.

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Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in social science. New York: Harper & Row.

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Rice, A. K. (1965). Learning for leadership. London: Tavistock Publications.

Roethlisberger, F. J. & Dickson, W. J. (1939). Management and the worker. New York; Wiley.

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Stouffer, S. A., Suchman, E. A., DeVinney, L. C., Star, S. A. & Williams, R. M. (1949). The
American Soldier (Vol. 1). New York: Wiley.

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Schein, E. H. (1987). The clinical perspective in fieldwork. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

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