Organization Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Contingent Role of Administrative Intensity in Hurricane Rita

• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Author: Sangyub Ryu,Robert K. Christensen
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074018799487
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074018799487

American Review of Public Administration

2019, Vol. 49(5) 519 –531

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074018799487

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Article

Introduction

The role of bureaucracy in a democratic society has been the

subject of myriad inspections. Normative critiques and justi-

fications of bureaucracy are nearly as numerous (Cook,

1996; Downs, 1967; Niskanen, 1971; Seidenfeld, 1992;

Wood & Waterman, 1994). Among bureaucracy’s least

remembered features, however, is that classical organization

theorists gave much attention to bureaucratic structures for

their efficiency maximization and performance benefits.

Some argued, among other things, that bureaucracies mar-

shaled stores of political and social capital that allowed soci-

eties to efficiently absorb the “the high decision and

transaction costs of democracy” (Meier & O’Toole, 2006, p.

38). Ironically, ensuing generations of citizens, policy mak-

ers, and scholars are far less mindful of bureaucracy’s once-

heralded democratic efficiency. Today, many critics bash

bureaucrats alongside politicians while advocating market-

like efficiency that cuts through red tape with the aim of

improving performance (Boyne & Meier, 2013; Moe &

Gilmour, 1995; Osborne & Gaebler, 1992).

In this study, we join the renewed interest (Boyne &

Meier, 2013; Walker & Andrews, 2015) in administrative

intensity as an important aspect of bureaucratic capacity. Our

focus on administrative intensity is a return to a theoretical

pursuit widely explored in the general management literature

(Blau, 1970; Damanpour, 1991; Donaldson, 2001)—but with

precedence in the public management and policy scholarship

(O’Toole & Meier, 1999)—that allows us to better identify a

contingency theory for public organizational performance

that accounts for the relationship between administrative

intensity and environmental turbulence (Lawrence & Lorsch,

1967; Morgan, 2006). In particular, we extend the work of

Meier, O’Toole, and Hicklin (2010), which found that central

staff capacity can help school districts deal with unantici-

pated shocks. In line with this and other scholarship, we

define administrative intensity as the ratio of noncore to core

personnel.

799487ARPXXX10.1177/0275074018799487The American Review of Public AdministrationRyu and Christensen

research-article2018

1Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

2Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

3Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

4Seoul National University, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Robert K. Christensen, Associate Professor, 771 TNRB Romney Institute

of Public Management, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young

University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.

Email: rkc@byu.edu

Organization Performance in Turbulent

Environments: The Contingent Role of

Administrative Intensity in Hurricane Rita

Sangyub Ryu1 and Robert K. Christensen2,3,4

Abstract

This study uses a natural experiment of school performance during Hurricane Rita in 2005 to investigate the impact of

administrative intensity on student achievement in turbulent environments. Administrative intensity constitutes the

bureaucratic capacity of the workforce, which we measure as a ratio of noncore to core personnel. Scholars have debated

the contingent impact of administrative intensity on organizational performance and policy outcomes—focusing either on its

contribution to organizational rigidity or enhancement of stores of human capital. We explore a curvilinear alternative to

this debate by investigating the moderating role of administrative intensity in the otherwise negative relationship between

environmental turbulence and organizational performance. Because school districts are the organizations of interest in

this study, we measure organizational performance via student achievement. Along a curvilinear continuum, we find that

administrative intensity contributes to poor performance in less turbulent environments but heightened performance in

more turbulent environments. Making a contingent case for “bureaucracy,” our findings draw attention to environments

where administrative intensity can provide a positive performance buffer. Our study extends insights offered by Meier,

O’Toole, and Hicklin.

Keywords

administrative intensity, organization performance, bureaucratic capacity, noncore personnel