OPEN AND CLOSED ORGANIZATIONS - ON THE VA LIDITY OF A QUESTIONNAIRE (FOGO, QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE OPENNESS AND CLOSURE IN ORGANIZATIONS)

Drawing on Karl Popper's distinction between open and closed societies , we present a questionnaire to measure openness and closure in organi zations (FOGO). Based on a survey involving 361 employees of both prof it and non-profit organizations, our hypothesis is confirmed that the construct consists of three dimensions which are linked in a pattern. Openness can be interpreted as a strategy to solve problems which is t riggered by competition and reinforced by increased innovativity. In t erms of balancing between the poles of openness and closure, our resul ts show that organizations prefer functional differentation (more open and more closed subsystems within the same organization) to dimension al differentiation (different degrees of openness and closure referrin g to the different dimensions).