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Period: to
Civil Reform Movement
Sought to establish bureaucratic method of administration in opposition to authority from tradition or charisma. Career positions tied to capability, not connections. -
The Study of Administration
Article published by future President Woodrow Wilson in the journal: Political Science Quarterly. Calls for the study of administration separate and distinct from the political sphere. -
Period: to
Classic Theories - Closed Systems
Emphasized stable conditions with efficiency maximization as the end goal. The 'one best way' approach to organization. -
Scientific Management
Frederick Taylor pioneered the practice of managerial analysis. Recognized a division of responsibility between managers and their workers. Aim of the analysis was to maximize output with excellent quality and to motivate by means of increased earnings. Critics admonish the inhumanizing recommendations in the pursuit of efficient production. -
Economy and Society
Max Weber, posthumously published volume on bureaucracies and public administration. Promoted qualified career officials, structured hierarchy and rule-based specifications as the way to achieve the best organization. Bureaucracies were the most efficient organizational forms developed.
Where: Germany -
Period: to
Human Relations and Group Dynamics
Analyzed the relationships that were more psychological in nature as opposed to the efficiency and monetary motivation of the classic theorists. -
Giving of Orders
Mary Parker Follett's essay proposing cooperative, participative process for decision making. Foreshadowed the group dynamics movement later in the century. -
Hawthorne Studies
Short Video
Experiments conducted to determine level of productivity factors in assembly workers. Concluded that human relations had significant impact on improved performance. Began a new trend in organizational theory based around influence of the human aspects of work.
Where: Chicago -
Principles of Administration
Gulick and Mooney. Two fundamental functions of management: division of work and co-ordination of work. Within these were the principles of specialization, span of control, single authority and homogeneity of groups. The job of management and administration can be defined by POSDCoRB: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting.
Where: US -
Brownlow Committee
Gulick acts as major contributor to re-organization efforts for federal government. Brings several offices under the authority of the Executive Office. Fosters idea of span of control and accountability to specific authority. -
Functions of the Executive
Chester Barnard's influential work describing the equilibrium that must be managed by the executive between the availability of incentives and the contributions from workers. Going beyond the classic theorists, the importance of prestige, altruistic motives and power are explored. Viewed organizations as operating systems rather than unchanging static entities. -
Period: to
Economy of Incentives and Limits of Rationality
Break from the administrative principles of the classic theorists with focus on how leaders induce and coordinate the cooperative activities of an organization. -
Change and decision making
Kurt Lewin conducted experiments which influenced the field of social psychology and the group dynamics movement. Investigated mechanisms which resulted in changed attitudes or behaviors by adjusting the group forces which acted on the individual. One of the first to use control groups in the analysis of human behavior. Studies demonstrated that participative decision making led to more effective and efficient change in the workplace.
Where: MIT -
Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow presents the physical and psychological needs of humans necessary to reach self-actualization. Begin to view ourselves as more than just machines needing basic maintenance requirements. Opening of the complexity of human motivation. -
Proverbs of Administration
Herbert A. Simon publishes critique of Gulick's administrative principles. States that the principles do not stand up to empirical tests. Calls for more scientifically relevant descriptions of organizations. Calls for development of comprehensive criteria that must be weighed in evaluation. -
Administrative Behavior
Herbert Simon's influential work describing necessary inducements with regard to members, outside constituencies and supporters. Introduced the idea of satisficing whereby a decision is made within the constraints of a limited set of alternatives in a given amount of time with limited informational resources. This goes against the classic theory of rational choice indicating that rational is not always available in the world of an operating organization. -
Tavistock Institute
Still researching
Research on sociotechnical systems with emphasis on technical factors and social dimensions. Found that in order to achieve effective operation, organizations are systems that must respond to social, economic and technological imperatives. -
Organizations
James March and Herbert Simon publication furthering the idea of equilibrium between inducements and worker contributions. Looks at the factors influencing why an individual joins an organization and then what entices them to produce once a member. -
Human Side of Enterprise
Douglas McGregor introduces the Theory X and Theory Y concepts of management. X is characterized by the American industry model, where the view was employees were lazy, irresponsible and indifferent to organizational needs. Y encourages management through such practices as worker participation, self-control, decentralization of authority and management by objectives. -
Management of Innovation
Burns and Stalker delineated organizations on management structure; organic and mechanistic. Found that organic methods were better equipped to deal with highly fluctuating environments of technical, social and economic conditions. There was an emphasis on collaboration, networking and flexibility in communication to achieve the goals of the organization.
Where: Great Britain -
Period: to
Open Systems and Contingency Theory
Analysts become open to the idea that different forms of organization are effective under certain conditions depending on factors such as task, size and environment -
Environmental Variations
Emery and Trist discussed influence on internal operations from turbulence in outside factors such as political climate and state of the economy. A move towards the emphasis of open system analysis of organizations. -
Social Psychology of Organizations
Katz and Kahn use a systems analysis looking at inputs, outputs, throughputs and feedback in the context of organizations. -
TVA and the Grass Roots
Philip Selznick analyzed how organizations develop relationships with external environments. Co-optation involves inclusion in decision making processes in order to gain support for a project that may otherwise be contentious. -
Uncertainty, complexity and change
Lawrence and Lorsch concluded that highly differentiated internal structures were more successful in contending with uncertain, complex, changing environments. Collaboration between units, liasons necessary for effecting operational change. -
Organizations in Action
James Thompson's analysis of organizations that integrated the closed and open-systems perspectives. Organizations aim to provide stable structures for the basic operational units, but will decentralize when environments are unstable in order to provide flexibility for meeting the new challenges.
