ABSTRACT
The nineteenth century stage models were constructed in the belief that it brought understanding as to what happened in history. The notion of evolution within the social sciences developed side by side with biology. The theory of evolution in biology, however, consists of specifying evolutionary mechanisms (mutation, selection, stabilization/retention), whereas in the social sciences the emphasis is dominantly on stage models referring to orderly processes of change passing through discernible phases. Development over time is central to administrative history. In the attempt to understand processes in time, author link short and long-term variations. Organizational theory is flooded with concepts derived from biology. This is especially so with studies that relates organization to environment. Attention for the analysis of the organization in society gained momentum since the mid-1960s and adopted such concepts as adaptation (contingency-studies) and selection (population-ecology studies).
