Fit, misfit, and design: JOD studies that touch reality

Abstract

Fit is both conceptually and empirically at the heart of our science in organization design. Illustratively, Joseph (2018) found in a text analysis of abstracts in the Journal of Organization Design (JOD) that fit was the most prevalent topic in articles published since the journal's founding. Fit is synonymous with words such as alignment, match, integration, and coordination. Alternatively, misfits are synonymous with misalignments, mismatches, gaps, and undesired properties. In this commentary, I take a less formal approach and review all of the JOD articles to find out how the concept of fit is used in these papers. All the articles, whether or not they use the term fit, address the question of how we get the elements of an organization to work together to meet its goals; that is fit.

Elgar Introduction to Designing Organizations

“…History and institutions help to explain these preferences (e.g., Senor & Singer, 2011), factors that should not be ignored in adopting some organizational design. As Burton (2020) notes, the fit between elements is dynamic, meaning that design implies ongoing redesign; as contingencies change, design must change. It is in this sense that design implies redesign as a process: fit is a process.…”