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Katherine Klein and Steven W J. Kozlowski (Editors). Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations: Foundations, Extensions, and New Directions. San Francisco: JosseyBass, 2000, 605 pages, $47.95.
Reviewed by Paul Tesluk, Assistant Professor, Department of Management and Organization, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
To many of us, the "Frontiers Series" series published by Jossey-Bass is synonymous with encapsulating the most current theory, research, and practice on critical and timely topics by some of the best thinkers in our field. This latest volume, aimed at bringing to light the complexities and approaches to studying and understanding the multilevel nature of organizational systems, lives up to its heritage and the series' reputation.
As any good 1-0 psychologist knows, organizational phenomena are inherently multilevel. Individuals work within groups that are arranged into units or departments that are in turn nested within organizations. Within these hierarchically organized systems, factors at one level influence those at other levels in both top-down and bottom-up fashions. As the editors, Klein and Kozlowski point out that although the multilevel nature of organizations is well known, the different levels that represent the organizational system have been dominated by different disciplines that historically have not been integrated. Although there have been significant and very positive advances in bridging the micro and macro areas of our discipline, for the most part, these have been singular contributions. Moreover, different multilevel researchers have introduced their own unique terminology and different analytical techniques have been offered that make for a very confusing situation for 1-0 psychologists interested in studying issues that are multilevel in nature (which includes pretty much everything in our field!). Some sort of synthesis and integration of different theoretical multilevel perspectives and clarification of the relative merits of alternative data analytic techniques is certainly needed.
This book is intended to help provide that integration by articulating the theoretical, methodological, and analytical foundations that support multilevel organizational research. Further, the book attempts to apply multilevel perspectives to mainstream 1-0 topics, to provide new insights, and to discuss alternative data analytic techniques available to researchers doing multilevel work. In order to take on these ambitious goals, the editors have assembled a...