Etzioni's Structuralist Model

Etzioni (1964) argues that Weber and Marx together form the basis for the structural synthetic model. In this view, workers and managers are inevitabily in conflict, and all workers are alienated from their labor (they don't own the means of production). Control is central to the concept of organizations.

Etzioni sees the rational theorists like Weber contribute to this view by focusing attention on the distribution of power among organizational positions (Scott, p. 97). Natural theorists like Barnard insist that power alienates unless the control structure is acceptable to the subordinates.

Etzioni also proposes that his structural model gives equal weight to both formal and informal structures, social and material rewards, and the interaction between the organization and its environment. Still, it acknowledges the inevitable strains between management and workers, personal and corporate needs, rationality and non-rationality, etc. (Scott p. 97).

Overall, the structuralist view sees both natural and rational systems as two sides of the same truth. They are in conflict because the elements they describe are in conflict.