ABSTRACT
The pattern of research in the field of organizational behavior over the past two decades has been the reverse of that in behavioristic psychology. Instead of looking at the stimulus and response, social scientists, with the exception of some economists, 1 ' 2 have studied what behaviorists refer to as the "black box," that is, the internal structures and processes of an organization. This strategy is justified in view of the complexity and variability of formal organizations, but it is a highly restricted approach to the analysis of organizational phenomena which consist of many external as well as internal interactions. I t has nevertheless provided an indispensable prologue to the analysis of the problems of interorganizational relations that some social scientists and practitioners are now attempting to study. 3
182 William M. Evan
The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to outline a model of interorganizational relations; and (b) to apply the model to some case materials on the interrelation of business and government organizations.
