THE DIALECTICAL APPROACH TO INTERORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS REPRESENTS AN ATTEMPT TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN INTERACTIONIST AND STRUCTURAL TRADITIONS BY RELATING THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF PARTICIPANTS WITH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES OF THEIR CREATION. IN APPLYING SOCIAL REALITY THEORY, THE DIALECTICAL APPROACH ANALYZED INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION PROGRAM OF REALITY HOUSE IN COLUMBIA, MO., AND THREE OF ITS REFERRAL AGENCIES (STATE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, INCLUDING THE DIVISION OF PROBATION AND PAROLE, THE DIVISION OF CORRECTIONS, AND THE CIRCUIT COURT IN COLUMBIA). APPROXIMATELY 100 INTERVIEWS WITH KEY INDIVIDUALS WERE CONDUCTED IN 1975 TO OBTAIN INFORMATION ON DAILY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN AGENCIES AND RESULTING CONDITIONS AND CONSEQUENCES, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF INTERACTIONS, AND COMMUNITY REACTION TO THE PROGRAM. SHIFTING MODES OF EXCHANGE BETWEEN REALITY HOUSE AND STATE ORGANIZATIONAL ENTITIES WERE OBSERVED. VARIOUS MODES OF COORDINATION REFLECTED A BASIC UNDERLYING STRUCTURAL CONTRADICTION OVER THE DEFINITION AND CONTROL OF REFERRAL TO THE PROGRAM. REFERRAL FLOW WAS SUBMERGED AND RENEWED BY INTERORGANIZATIONAL PARTICIPANTS AS THEY PURSUED THEIR OWN INTERESTS AND COMMITMENTS. PATTERNS OF INTERACTION WERE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED BY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS THAT PENETRATED THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE NETWORK. THE DIALECTICAL ANALYSIS SERVED TO IDENTIFY FIVE MAJOR AREAS FOR INVESTIGATION THAT WERE CRUCIAL IN UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL EVENTS FROM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: AMBIGUITY, ORGANIZATIONAL ELITE, POWER AND DOMINATION, CONTRADICTION AND SOCIAL PRODUCTION, AND POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT. A BIBLIOGRAPHY IS PROVIDED. (DEP)