Applying the Adaptive Process to a Religious Organization

ABSTRACT This study applies organization theory, specifically the adaptation process described by Miles and Snow (1978), to the development of a religious organization. The adaptive process proposes stability when configurations of strategy, structure and process are aligned and unstable when configurations do not align. This study examines the religious organization's development as viewed by the adaptive process. An initial adaptive type of ‘defender’ appeared dominant during a long period of stability. Innovation and rapid growth hastened a change to a new unstable ‘reactor’ configuration. The new configuration did not consistently solve the entrepreneurial, engineering and administrative problems. The organization adjusted to a third configuration that realigned the organization to the ‘analyzer’ type and now appears to be stable. This study shows that organization theory may be applied successfully to religious organizations.