An important problem in comparing bureaucratic organizations in different societies involves separating “cultural” from “structural” explanations of behaviour. Theories involvingstructural characteristics such as size and span of control permit uniform, parsimonious statements to be made. Yet such explanations fail to account for observed differences in output, goal choice, adjustment, etc., between structurally similar organizations in different settings. A requirement exists to develop theory which integrates cultural factors into organizational theories without resulting in mere reductionist arguments.