The forest ranger revisited: A study of control practices and identification

Abstract

This study was conducted for the purposes of: (1) describing current control practices in the U.S. Forest Service, an organization frequently cited as an excellent organization due to a dated but classic study, and (2) field testing three claims made in Tompkins and Cheney's theory of unobtrusive control, including: (a) unobtrusive control practices are associated with organizational identification, (b) members who report higher organizational identification use organizational premises in their decision making, (c) members who report higher organizational identification consider the organization as they consider the consequences of decisions. Findings indicated that: (1) control practices have changed from more unobtrusive to more obtrusive, and (2) theoretical claims were supported. Several implications are discussed. The value of the method employed to generating longitudinal research is discussed. The study illustrates the pragmatic relevance of organizational identification. Drawing on the experience of this organization, the potential problems of the culture approach are underscored.