Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative TheoryOrganizations act, but what determines how and when they will act? There is precedent for believing that the organization is but an extension of one or a few people, but this is a deceptively simplified approach and, in reality, makes any generalization in organizational theory enormously difficult. Modern-day organizations—manufacturing firms, hospitals, schools, armies, community agencies—are extremely complex in nature, and several strategies, employing a variety of disciplines, are needed to gain a proper understanding of them. Organizations in Action is a classic multidisciplinary study of the behavior of complex organizations as entities. Previous books on the subject focused on the behavior of people in organizational contexts, but this volume considers individual behavior only to the extent that it helps explain the nature of organizations. James D. Thompson offers ninety-five distinct propositions about the behavior of organizations, all relevant regardless of the culture in which they are found. Thompson classifies organizations according to their technologies and environments. That organizations must meet and handle uncertainty is central to his thesis. Organizations in Action is firmly grounded in concepts and theories in the social and behavioral sciences. While it does not offer an actual theory of administration, the book successfully extends the scientific base upon which any emerging administrative theory must rest. This classic work is of continuing value to organizational and management specialists, behavioral scientists, sociologists, administrators, and policymakers. |
Contents
Part One | 1 |
Stategies for Studying Organizations | 3 |
Rationality in Organizations | 14 |
Domains of Organized Action | 25 |
Organizational Design | 39 |
Technology and Structure | 51 |
Organizational Rationality and Structure | 66 |
The Assessment of Organizations | 83 |
The Variable Human | 101 |
Discretion and its Exercise | 117 |
The Control of Complex Organizations | 132 |
The Administrative Process | 144 |
Conclusion | 159 |
Bibliography | 165 |
Name Index | 179 |
Subject Index | 183 |
Common terms and phrases
ability achieve action activities adapt administrative appear approach assessment become behavior believe capacity cause/effect central changes Chapter coalition complex organizations components concept consider constraints contingencies coordination core decision dependence desired determined developed discretion domain dominant coalition effective efficiency elements employ environmental established example exercise expect extent face firm forces functional future goals groups highly hospital important incorporate individual industrial influences inputs institutional interdependence involved knowledge less major March measures ment nature necessary norms occupations operations organizational output patterns performance positions possible present problems production Prop Proposition question rationality reduce refer relations relationships relatively responsibility result rules seek significant situation social societies sources standards strategy structure task environment technical theory Thompson tion types uncertainty understanding units variables variety
Popular passages
Page 30 - Emerson (1962) , we can say that an organization is dependent on some element of its task environment (1) in proportion to the organization's need for resources or performances which that element can provide and (2) in inverse proportion to the ability of other elements to provide the same resource or performance.
Page 17 - This third variety we label intensive to signify that a variety of techniques is drawn upon in order to achieve a change in some specific object; but the selection, combination, and order of application are determined by feedback from the object itself. When the object is human, this intensive technology is regarded as "therapeutic...
Page 13 - With this conception the central problem for complex organizations is one of coping with uncertainty. As a point of departure, we suggest that organizations cope with uncertainty by creating certain parts specifically to deal with it, specializing other parts in operating under conditions of certainty or near certainty.
Page 13 - Instrumental action is rooted on the one hand in desired outcomes and on the other hand in beliefs about cause/effect relationships. Given a desire, the state of man's knowledge at any point in time dictates the kinds of variables required and the manner of their manipulation to bring that desire to fruition. To the extent that the activities thus dictated by man's beliefs are judged to produce the desired outcomes, we can speak of technology, or technical rationality.
Page 24 - Under norms of rationality, organizations seek to buffer environmental influences by surrounding their technical cores with input and output components.
Page 33 - If an organization and its product are well regarded, it may more easily attract personnel, influence relevant legislation, wield informal power in the community, and insure adequate numbers of clients, customers, donors, or investors. Organizations may be placed along a continuum from unfavorable to favorable public images. A predominantly favorable image we shall call "prestige," and it may range from low to high.
Page 54 - We can describe this situation as one in which each part renders a discrete contribution to the whole and each is supported by the whole.
Page 6 - The rational model of an organization results in everything being functional — making a positive, indeed an optimum, contribution to the overall result. All resources are appropriate resources, and their allocation fits a master plan. All action is appropriate action, and its outcomes are predictable. It is no accident that much of the literature on the management or administration of complex organizations centers on the concepts of planning or controlling. Nor is it any accident that such views...
Page 19 - But this technical core is always an incomplete representation of what the organization must do to accomplish desired results. Technical rationality is a necessary component but never alone sufficient to provide organizational rationality, which involves acquiring the inputs which are taken for granted by the technology, and dispensing outputs which again are outside the scope of the core technology. At a minimum, then, organizational rationality involves three major component activities: (1) input...
Page 55 - In the order introduced, the three types of interdependence are increasingly difficult to coordinate because they contain increasing degrees of contingency. With pooled interdependence, action in each position can proceed without regard to action in other positions so long as the overall organization remains viable. With sequential interdependence, however, each position in the set must be readjusted if any one of them acts improperly or fails to meet expectations. There is always an element of potential...
References to this book
Administración James Arthur Finch Stoner,R. Edward Freeman,Daniel R. Gilbert No preview available - 1996 |