Environmental-Organizational relations: The effects of deregulation

Deregulation is a fact for many industries throughout Europe and North America. The nature of the regulatory environment has changed and that change calls for new business strategies and new forms of organization to cope with and to capitalize on new opportunities. Nothing less than creative innovation is required. Deregulation requires customer-oriented strategies and an organizational form which can respond efficiently to customer preference in a timely manner. There is a clear dominant theme among the several theories examined; increased environmental uncertainty requires increased information processing capacity. The predominant functional organization under regulation must give way to either divisional forms, or, what is more likely, to more complex forms which can process information more quickly, and also must consider issues along new dimensions utilizing cross-functional task forces, committees, and issue or project managers. © 1986.

Duke Scholars

Author Richard M. Burton Fuqua School of Business