ABSTRACT
The conceptual study of “organizational integration” originated back in the early 1960s when two Harvard Professors, Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch, conducted an industrial research study on collaboration (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967). These researchers were aligned with the “contingency” school of organizational theory, but their work focused specifically on refining the concepts of integration and differentiation particularly from the perspective of functional managers. Lawrence and Lorsch posed the question of “what kind of organization does it take to effectively deal with various economic and market conditions.” Their study conducted in 1963 examined 10 departments within 10 different
corporations focusing on the level of integration or differentiation within each company. The researchers identified four specific dimensions, which accounted for the managerial difference in thinking and activity. It is this part of their research, which has relevance to the question of integration of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), Worklife (WL) and Wellness Programs. Each of these three programs has arisen on a separate track with a very specific ideology and skill sets. Attempts to integrate these services have met with resistance and roadblocks despite the positive economic reasons for streamlining services. Lawrence and Lorsch’s earlier research provides some hints about both the decisions for integrating services within an environment as well as reasons why a differentiated model of service delivery might better fit certain organizations.
