Competing institutions : organization of work and efficient reorganization

This paper contributes to recent research on work organization as a key success factor. On the theoretical side, two alternative analytical explanations are combined to an inte-grated approach, which predicts the existence of a clear cut ranking of organizational systems. In addition, this hierarchy translates into a second ranking, which is related to profitability. Based on econometric methods, these hypotheses are tested empirically. Since most theoretical studies derive the optimality of reorganizing tayloristic production, actual incidence of modern forms of work organization as well as trends in reorganization behavior are also examined.