Thompson Chapter 1

Key Points
Gouldner’s Two Fundamental
Models of Organizations
 Rational

 Natural-System
Closed System Strategy
 The variables be few and predictable so we
can control and predict any variables.
 Types are Scientific, Administrative, and
Bureaucracy.
Scientific Management
Taylor 1911
1. Replace rule of thumb work methods with methods based on a
scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the
workman, whereas in the past the employee (or workmen) chose
his own work and trained himself as best he could.
3. Provide "Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in
the performance of that worker's discrete task" (Montgomery
1997: 250).
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so
that the managers apply scientific management principles to
planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.
Administrative Management
 Urwick and Gulick edited a 1937 publication titled Papers on the
Science of Administration, which included articles on
organization theory and public administration. Gulick isolated the
responsibilities of the chief executive and enumerated them
according to the acronym POSDCORB, which stands for
planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting,
and budgeting. One of his main points was that well-managed,
self-contained organizations or departments are nearly always
headed by a single top manager such as a CEO
 . For his part, Urwick believed that the activities necessary to achieve
organizational goals should be grouped and assigned to individuals in
an impersonal way,
Bureaucracy Weber 1947
 Jurisdictional areas are clearly specified, activities are distributed as official duties (unlike
traditional form where duties delegated by leader and changed at any time).
2. Organization follows hierarchical principle -- subordinates follow orders or superiors, but
have right of appeal (in contrast to more diffuse structure in traditional authority).
3. Intention, abstract rules govern decisions and actions. Rules are stable, exhaustive, and
can be learned. Decisions are recorded in permanent files (in traditional forms few explicit
rules or written records).
4. Means of production or administration belong to office. Personal property separated
from office property.
5. Officials are selected on basis of technical qualifications, appointed not elected, and
compensated by salary.
6. Employment by the organization is a career. The official is a full-time employee and
looks forward to a life-long career. After a trial period they get tenure of position and are
protected from arbitrary dismissal.
Open System
 InformalOrganizations-Hawthorne Effect
 Barnard, Selznick and Clark
Hawthorne Study 1939
 Four general conclusions were drawn from the Hawthorne studies:
 The aptitudes of individuals are imperfect predictors of job performance.
Although they give some indication of the physical and mental potential of the
individual, the amount produced is strongly influenced by social factors.
 Informal organization affects productivity. The Hawthorne researchers
discovered a group life among the workers. The studies also showed that the
relations that supervisors develop with workers tend to influence the manner in
which the workers carry out directives.
 Work-group norms affect productivity. The Hawthorne researchers were not
the first to recognize that work groups tend to arrive at norms of what is "a fair
day's work," however, they provided the best systematic description and
interpretation of this phenomenon.
 The workplace is a social system. The Hawthorne researchers came to view
the workplace as a social system made up of interdependent parts.

 Roesthlisberger and Dickson

Simon’s Organizational Theory
More Simon
Talcot Parsons Three Levels of
Organizatons
 Technical Level
 Managerial Level

 Institutional Level
Technical Level
 The technical level of the school is
concerned with the teaching-learning
process. The primary function of the school is
to produce educated students. Moreover,
teachers and supervisors have immediate
responsibility for solving the problems
associated with effective learning and
teaching.
Managerial Level
 The managerial level controls the internal
administrative function of the organization.
Principals are the administrative officers of
the school. They allocate resources and
coordinate the work effort. They must find
ways to develop teacher loyalty, trust, and
commitment as well as to motivate teachers
and to influence their own superiors.
Institutional Level
 The institutional level connects the school
with its environment. Schools need legitimacy
and support in the community. Both
administrators and teachers need backing if
they are to perform their respective functions
in a harmonious fashion without undue
pressure from individuals and groups from
outside the school.