Organizational Couplings: A Literature Review
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Arango Vásquez, Leonel | 2021
The loosely coupled systems (lcs) perspective emerged as a new way to understand the
organizational structure from the field of Organization Studies. The purpose of this article is to present the main features of previous research studies that have addressed the perspective of loosely
coupled systems. This article is based on a systematic literature review of 76 papers published during a 36-year period (1983-2019). The findings indicate that the main concepts studied around this
perspective have been loose coupling, tight coupling, decoupling, degree of coupling, and coupling
mechanisms, which are analyzed considering the dialectical relationship between distinctiveness
and responsiveness. Likewise, the study of organizational couplings has been extensively developed through qualitative methodology with case studies, interviews and documentary reviews.
In particular, there are two theoretical frameworks broadly used along with this perspective, the
sociological new institutionalism and the theory of normal accidents, which give rise to future
research on topics such as decoupling and the normality of accidents, among others. This article
contributes to the discussion of organizational ties by highlighting the contemporary relevance of
the lcs perspective, its usefulness for understanding current and future organizational issues in the
field of Organization Studies, and encouraging greater adoption of lcs analysis in Latin America.
Additionally, this paper provides conceptual clarity on the main categories of organizational couplings and its operationalization.
KEYWORDS: Coupling, loosely coupled systems, organization, organization studies, review
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