'Institutional Sources of Change in the Formal Structure of Organizations: The Diffusion of Civil Service Reform, 1880-1935', Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, pp. 22-39.

Here. one important pomt of convergence is explored by using both perspectives to explam the adoption of civil service procedures by municipal governments from 1880 to 1935. Adoption of formal structure can be investigated in diverse organizational contexts; here we examine the process in cities, often used as the context for such research (e.g., Schnore a_nd Alford, 1963; Knoke, 1982). Early adoption of civil service reform-before 1915-appears to reflect efforts to resolve specific problems confronting municipal administrations, while later adoption is rooted instead in the growing legitimacy of civil service procedures, with the diffusion of societal norms serving to define local structure (Parsons, 1951 ). We first turn to a bnef history of civil service reform. leading to a discussion of the InStitutionalizatiOn of reform. We then examine basic assumptions in the organization literature about the sources of change in formal structure to establish the basis for the analysis of adoption patterns of c1vil serv1ce procedures.