The Lawrence and Lorsch study thus reinforced and developed the ideas emerging from
the other studies discussed above, marking an important turning point in favor of contingency
theory. This work served to popularize the idea that in different environmental circumstances
some species of organization are better able to survive than others and that since the relations
between organization and environment are the product of human choices they may become
maladapted. In such cases, organizations are likely to experience many problems both in
dealing with the environment and in their internal functioning. Such ideas naturally give rise
to a desire to know more about the nature of organizational species and the requirements for
designing and maintaining healthy organizations. Not surprisingly, these concerns have been
an important feature of recent research.