Connecting the Dots: Towards a multi-level framework of organizational design

This conceptual paper intends to bridge the macro (organization design) and micro (organizational behavior) literatures in order to obtain an overall comprehensive and granular approach to design of organizational artifacts. We review literatures on organizational design at different levels (job design, unit/group design and structural design), allude to the shortcomings of taking a single-level perspective, and identify opportunities in advancing this field by accounting for interdependencies (top-down or bottom-up) among them. Next, we identify methodological advancements related to analytically assessing the path-dependencies among factors residing at different levels of research. Finally, we present an overarching research framework of multi-level organizational design and posit specific postulates to be tested in future research.