ABSTRACT
Paul J. Dimaggio and Walter W. Powell are American professors of sociology they are leading exponents of the particular approach to the study and understanding of organizations known as 'Institutional Theory'. An important way in which normative isomorphism is encouraged is through the selection of the top personnel of organizations. Andrew Pettigrew also examined the contribution of the various organizational development (OD) groups which were operating in the different divisions of ICI. Together with Evelyn Fenton, Pettigrew later initiated a European network of research groups to study innovating organizations and the effects of those innovations on operational success. Peter Senge, a systems theorist argues that, in the present-day complex world, organizations have to be able to learn how to cope with continuous change in order to be successful: that is, they have to become learning organizations. A key contribution to an organization's capacity to learn is thus the use of computer-based simulations, called 'microworlds'.
