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The characteristics of organizations fall into one of five natural configurations, each a combination of certain elements of structure and situation. The five configurations are the simple structure, machine bureaucracy, professional bureaucracy, divisionalized form, and adhocracy. These five configurations serve as an effective tool in diagnosing the problems of organizational design.

Formal guidelines help companies identify and screen acquisition candidates. Two examples illustrate how the process of developing acquisition guidelines differs in focus and content between related diversifications and unrelated diversifications. In both cases, acquisition guidelines relate closely to corporate strategy. The screening process also provides a critical analysis of differences of opinion and improves the consistency between corporate objectives and resources. The procedure's final step involves comparing the candidate's potential for value creation to the cost of the acquisition as well as to the company's other investment opportunities.

Seven steps assist managers in evaluating an existing portfolio model or in designing an idiosyncratic approach: establishing the level and unit of analysis; identifying the relevant dimensions; determining the relative importance of the dimensions; constructing a matrix; locating the products or businesses on the relevant portfolio dimensions; projecting the likely position of each product or business on the dimensions; and selecting the desired position for each existing and new product and deciding how to allocate resources among these products.

The prevalent hiring tenets for salespeople are myths. A survey of 18,000 individuals and a control group of equal size shows that age, sex, race, experience, and educational criteria are irrelevant in deciding who will make the best salespeople. What is significant is matching a candidate's personality dynamics with the job. The survey indicates that the job-matching approach is far superior to standard ways of hiring.

A study of 64 U.S. manufacturing companies indicates that achieving the lowest delivered cost and/or highest differentiated position was the most successful corporate strategy in the 1970s. Inflationary pressures and foreign competition had a negative effect on the profitability and sales growth levels of eight basic manufacturing industries. Analysis of various companies within these eight industries reveals that some companies were still highly successful. These companies had clear, long-term objectives. They invested heavily in modern, automated production technologies and in marketing and distributing their products. Diversification was a less effective way of dealing with hostile market forces.

A four-phase model of multinational corporate planning proves useful for evaluating and improving corporate planning systems. Advances in explicit formulation of issues and alternatives, quality of preparatory staffwork, participation and guidance by top management, and effectiveness of implementation mark each phase.

Those responsible for selecting leaders may use these 20 dimensions of personality to evaluate candidate's behavior. A psychologist's experience offers a list of personality dimensions and a scale of characteristics with which to measure behavior. The 20 dimensions are classified into three groups according to psychological themes: thinking; feelings and interrelationships; and outward behavior and characteristics.

Venturing is serious business, requiring skill, patience, and entrepreneurial flair. Most new ventures involve entering unfamiliar markets, employing unfamiliar technology, and implementing an unfamiliar organizational structure. An approach of particular promise is the new-style joint venture, in which a small company with vigor, flexibility, and advanced technology joins forces with a large company with capital, marketing strength, and distribution channels. The most intensive corporate involvement occurs in the internal venture, in which a company sets up a separate entity within itself in order to enter new markets or to develop entirely new products.

A study indicates four factors which individually and in combination greatly affect salesperson motivation: the nature of the task; the personality, particularly the strength of the salesperson's need for achievement; the type of compensation plan; and the quality of management. Why the four variables work together is unclear; they do, however, continually impact each other.

Many executives have attempted to simplify the reporting procedures of fund accounting by using business practices. However, nonprofit enterprises have financial structures and objectives different from those of business. Managers of nonprofit institutions need greater familiarity with the requirements of nonprofit financial structures and accounting practices. A review of the components of fund accounting and an illustrative case help clarify the principles.

A study of more than 2,000 male executives and their wives over a five year period indicates certain factors which affect the ability of executives to have meaningful private lives. On-the-job frustration, self-doubt, and unfinished business cause emotional spillover into private life. This spillover manifests itself through fatigue, tension, and worrying. Major causes include the problems of adapting to a new job, the lack of an appropriate fit between a person and his job, and career disappointments.

The efforts of host governments to maintain control over their own national economies have restricted the freedom of multinational company (MNC) managers in deploying economic resources. Regulation interferes with product/market choice, use of technology, level of employment, and national trade balance. Compromise is an alternative to the choices of adaptation to or withdrawal from a national market.

Upper level managers often fail to realize the difficulties of first-level managers who may have once been among employees and now must form a new identity. Successful first-level supervisors establish a balance between informal authority and interpersonal influence, and responsibility. It is the responsibility of upper management to recognize the difficulties associated with the position and help supervisors develop a power base.

Marketers can differentiate any product or service, even commodities which seem to differ only in price from competitors' offerings. Products almost always combine a tangible entity with an intangible promise of user satisfaction. The expected product, which includes the generic product, represents the customer's minimal purchase conditions. These purchase conditions include variables such as delivery, terms, support efforts and new ideas. The sale of the generic product depends on how well the customer's wider expectations are met.

Coordination between advertising and price strategies may lead to higher profits. Analyses of data from 227 businesses show the price-advertising relationship. The results show that companies with higher advertising budgets charge premium prices; consumers are willing to pay more for a perceived "high quality" product; and the association between advertising expenditures and price is strongest in the last stage of the product cycle. The price-advertising consistency principle is important for attaining a substantial return on investment.

Managers enhance their understanding of communication by attending to images, settings, and body language. The imagery people use in their speech offers important clues regarding the world they inhabit. Because words are symbols, their meaning varies greatly depending on who is using them. A failure to understand this often results in misunderstandings between managers. The use of concrete as opposed to abstract words, of joking as a method of communicating risky statements, and of "I" rather than "we," often reveals important clues to meaning as does labeling, certain question-asking techniques, and evidence of either-or thinking.

The need for the effective management of stagnant industries will grow as more and more industries decline or increase only modestly. A study investigating 12 stagnant industries focuses attention on strategies determining the success or failure of those industries. Research reveals three common characteristics of the strategies of businesses successful in stagnant industries: 1) they identify, create, and exploit growth segments within their industries; 2) they emphasize product quality and innovative product improvement; and 3) they systematically and consistently improve the efficiency of their production and distribution systems.

Originally published in the January/February 1964 issue of HBR, this article presents an innovative approach for calculating the risks entailed in projects such as modernizing a plant or launching new products. The technique determines a frequency distribution for each of the factors influencing the rate of return and focuses on specific combinations of variables. Computer runs and data comparisons are an inherent part of the analysis. This approach allows management to understand the nature of the data being used, and thereby results in wiser investment decisions. The retrospective commentary is an informative update on the subject of risk analysis.

Research indicates that manipulation of subordinates by their superiors occurs because of the structure of the superior-subordinate relationship. Subordinates must recognize and resolve eight dilemmas of self-protection derived from the theory of individual development (formulated by Erik Erikson), which arise in a hierarchical organization. A superior who displays qualities of introspection, empathy, preparedness, commitment, and hope will be able to discuss the dilemmas with the subordinate and aid in the resolution of problems.

Power, the critical element in managerial behavior, is representative of efficacy and capacity, as well as dominance and oppression. An individual's power comes from his or her position in an organization and access to resources, information, and organizational support. Power positions allow job discretion, recognition, and task relevance. The more communication with superiors, peers, and subordinates, the more powerful the position is. Powerlessness is characteristic of task and routine oriented jobs. Managerial skills must be communicated to subordinates to ensure greater effectiveness in supervision. McKinsey Award Winner.