This condition requires that the organization be analyzed in structuralfunctional terms-that is, with an eye to discovering how the organization adapts to meet its basic needs for stability and self-preservation. Among such basic needs is “the stability of informal relations within the organization,” a need that is fulfilled through the development of informal mechanisms that may accommodate the individual differences noted earlier (Selznick, 1949, p. 252). The informal system enhances the flow of organizational communication but also restricts the policy prerogatives of the leadership. Another need of the organization is “the security of the organization as a whole in relation to social forces in its environment” (p. 252). This need may be met at least in part by developing stable relationships with various actors in the environment, even relationships that may seem to compromise somewhat the organization’s ability to determine its own directions.