Talking About Organizations Podcast

The podcast is back for 2019 with Part 2 of Episode 51 on The Tyranny of Light by Hari Tsoukas! If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, please go and do so before playing this episode as this is a direct continuation of that discussion.

"The Tyranny of Light" was a bold 1997 article that challenged conventional wisdom about the oncoming information society. The Internet, personal computers, and the dot-com boom were still new and exciting. With information technologies advancing at an incredible pace, the sky (and the capacity of silicon) was the limit. Internet start-ups were sprouting up everywhere as young entrepreneurs strove to become the next Bill Gates. Never mind that the vast majority failed and faded quickly away (see Episode 49 and the example of normative control in a tech company). The possibilities seemed endless.But so too were the dangers. Hari Tsoukas foresaw the problems that an information dominated society might produce. Could greater access to information have undesirable consequences, such as the loss of understanding or the growth of distrust? Could an information society disrupt socio-political norms? If these became true, what would happen.Bolstered by hindsight and knowledge of how the information society evolved, we (your intrepid podcasters) take a look back at 1997 and examine to what extent Tsoukas got the future right, and what else transpired that Tsoukas could not have known or anticipated. What does this suggest for society and its leaders today?

Do you remember the Principles of Scientific Management? The one from 50 episodes ago? As we continue to celebrate this milestone of the podcast, please join us for a trip down memory lane to Episode 1, originally aired on 13 October 2015! But that's not it - to complement the podcast, we have produced and released the audiobook version of Taylor's classic text! So if you (or anyone you know) ever wanted to read his work but could not find the time to do so, it is now available to listen to! Featuring a new historical introduction that sets the text in contemporary management theory context, The Principles of Scientific Management is a must-have work for any serious management scholar or enthusiast. As a treat to our listeners only, this re-release of Episode 1 features the Historical Introduction chapter from the audiobook! Please share and enjoy!You can listen to the book for free here: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07KY2THBF/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-135067&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_135067_rh_uk , or get it on Amazon or iTunes.

To mark our 50th episode, we gathered all seven of us hosts to discuss what we like (and perhaps not) about the podcast and podcasting, what our favorite or most remembered episodes were, and what we have learned along the way. Turns out, one of the key things we learned was how much such a small number of dedicated scholars and practitioners can do with a lot of motivation and energy. As we discuss, there were many in the beginning who scoffed at the idea of podcasting on classic and emerging organization theories and concepts of management science. But with over 12,000 active listeners worldwide, Talking About Organizations has proven to be useful and entertaining all at once.

Conclusion of our discussion of Gideon Kunda’s ethnography of culture engineering in high-tech corporation. What are the practical and research implications of this work?

Innovation, burn-out and power dynamics. Join us for Part 2 as we discuss these and other aspects of Gideon Kunda's ethnography of normative control in high-tech organizations!

Originally published in 1992, Gideon Kunda’s ethnographic study of a high-tech corporation altered the discourse on organizational culture. “Tech,” the firm being studied, was a firm on the rise and saw itself as a leader and ground breaker in the rapidly growing high-tech industries of the 1980s. But as the firm grew from a modest couple hundred to tens of thousands of employees and multiple sites, Tech undertook an effort to indoctrinate its members with its tried-and-true formula for success — hard work, sacrifice, and belief in the company. The degree to which this indoctrination occurred was extensive, from the choreographed leader messages, trained cultural experts and internal publications to the highly competitive and cut-throat nature of project work. Kunda captured it all in gripping detail.The centerpiece of Kunda’s thesis was Tech’s exercise of normative control. This was ironic in a way given how Tech’s professed culture valued self-determination and autonomy. But, the rewards and sanctions were constructed to enforce a particular form of autonomy, one in which Tech extracted the most out of its people while breaking their lives in the process.Does this mean ‘normative control’ as a mechanism for mission accomplishment is bad? As we dove into the text and applied its lessons to present-day matters, the question is actually difficult to answer as there are many factors to consider. Listen as we wrestle with this extraordinary and provocative text!

Having gone through the mechanics behind SST in Parts 1 and 2, we now ask ourselves if there is a more suitable way to measure individual time-span of discretion? Join us as we conclude Episode 48 on the Stratified Systems Theory!

How viable is SST and what are the 'real world' implications of using this theory to structure organizations? Is it really a good idea to use time-span to differentiate between the strata or is there something else? In part 2 of the episode we delve deeper into the Stratified Systems Theory to examine the fundamental mechanics of this approach through both theoretical and practical lenses.

As bureaucracies became more prevalent as a feature of organizations post-WWII, questions surfaced as to how they could be improved. Was there an optimal way to design them? What was the best role of individual members within a bureaucracy? Could individuals be developed to handle higher level roles?Among those asking such questions was Elliott Jaques, co-founder of the Tavistock Institute and later the author of the renowned book Requisite Organization that combined social theories with theories of organization. As a scientific approach to organizational design, the "stratified systems theory" of requisite organization sought to optimize the hierarchical structure based on the time-span of decisions at echelon. Then, using methods for measuring individual capabilities and capacity for decision making, members could be assigned posts within the organization based on best fit. Stratified systems theory (SST) established a common schema for using time-span that could be applied to any organization.Please join us for Episode 48 as we discuss this controversial yet fascinating approach to organizational design!