Surveying Organizational Structures and Human Resource Practices: The National Organizations Study

This chapter discusses the National Organizations Study (NOS), a survey of a representative sample of work establishments in the United States conducted in 1991. The NOS was designed as a multipurpose, multi-investigator project to produce a database suited to answering a broad variety of questions about structural features and human resource practices of contemporary work settings. Empirical research based on the NOS has enhanced understanding both of organizations per se and of the relationships linking organizations and their employees.