release them individually
Environmental complexity refers to the heterogeneity of elements in the environment, ie the number of dissimilar elements and organization has to deal with.
The combination of these 2 dimensions can help ascertain the level of environment uncertainty. Uncertainty is highest when the environment is both unstable and complex.
Structural Contingency Theory
The earliest studies investigating the effects of the environment on organizational structure were carried out by Burns and Stalker, in England in the early 60's. They compared firms in a dynamic, changing industry to those in a stable, established industry and found important structural differences. In the stable industry successful firms relied on formal rules with decision making very centralized, and narrow spans of supervisory control. In the more dynamic industry, spans of control were wider, with less formality and less centralization. In other words, they found that an organization's structure was contingent on the kind of environment in which it was operating.
Following up on the Burns and Stalker studies, Lawrence and Lorsch (1967), observing that different units of an organization face different types of environments, found that each subunit develops a structure matching its own environment. The successful organization was one which differentiated according to environments, but which was able to integrate the diverse elements. Successful coordination was key.
The buffering role is to absorb uncertainty from the environment by: 1) attempting to smooth out fluctuations in the environment; and 2) to ration during high demand periods and stockpile during slack periods.
The boundary spanning role is primarily concerned with information gathering and dissemination. It is important for the organization to be informed about changes in the environment, and also to present the organization and its product to the environment in a favourable light.
Resource Dependence Theory