Talking About Organizations Podcast

Join us for Episode 10 as we go to the Movies! To celebrate our 10th episode we are watching a classic film - Twelve Angry Men (1957). This is one of the film frequently used to illustrate and highlight challenges in consensus building, teamwork and leadership. On top of that, 12 Angry Men is an amazing film well worth seeing just for the pure enjoyment of it!

This is a summary of our discussion of Elton Mayo's Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization - a second text from the famous Hawthorne Studies. Listen to Miranda cover the key points of the book and of our discussion from the full episode!Summaries are designed to deliver an overview of TAOP Episodes, or as stand-alone teaching and learning tools. They are useful both if you are a professional looking to refresh your memory about the particulars of this management theory, or if you are a student looking to get some background information to better understand your course content. Either way - check this out and let us know what you think and how we can best develop this new segment going forward!

In this concluding part of our discussion of The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization - one of the texts comprising the famous Hawthorne Studies - we devote more attention to Mayo's social commentary, the methodological implications of qualitative empirical research as well as to the remaining three case studies. Learn more about what Mayo and colleagues did, how they came about to realize the significance of their findings, and why none of this has any bearing on the social problems of a post-WW2 industrial civilization.

For Episode 9 we turn to the famous Hawthorne Studies - a series of social experiments that gave rise to what is now a Human Resources Management approach to organizing work. Specifically we look at the second book published by Elton Mayo, The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization. In this book, Mayo reports on a number of his research projects – including the studies in the Textile Mill in Philadelphia and the at the Hawthorne plant – and provides an ambitious social commentary on industrial society. In this, he dialogues with a number of authors, including Chester Barnard, and expresses some nostalgic views on the relationship between the individual, the collective, and technology. Mayo also argues for the development an understanding of humans as social beings by definition, eschewing ideas put forward by economics and traditional political scientists who espouse ideas of the likes of Hobbes, and the importance of field studies in scientific development.

A brief summary of our humongous discussion of The Functions of The Executive (1938) by Chester Barnard. Listen for key takeaways and the synopsis of the reading.

Conclusion of our discussion of The Functions of The Executive (1938) by Chester Barnard. In this final bit of the conversation we wrap the book up and suggest a way how Barnard's sometimes-quirky-and-odd writing can be best interpreted. Enjoy!Just to remind, we began discussion of this book in Episode 7! So check that one out if you want to get full coverage of this phenomenal piece of management theory.

Kicking off the final part of our discussion of the Functions of The Executive (1938) by Chester Barnard, we talk about the executive functions and the executive process. Barnard delivers an excellent discussion on both of these, mentioning things such as communication, trust and organizational personality in the process.

In part 2 of 4 we spend quite a bit of time discussing Barnard's understanding of authority and decision-making. Because parts 1 and 2 are, basically, one separated recording, please listen to part 1 before this or it will make very little sense!

Second episode on The Functions of The Executive (1938) by Chester Barnard. This time we spent quite a bit of time talking about why people decide to cooperate and what is authority. Did you know that authority is a form of communication infused with ritual? Or, that Barnard has four criteria which need to be satisfied in order for something to qualify as a command? And that employees are free to ignore what their superiors tell them if those criteria are not met? To find out more join us as we finish discussing this grand management book!You will notice that we split this episode into 4 parts, instead of the usual 2. This is because of how long the recordings were due to the sheer amount of ideas contained in this work. Accordingly, we will be posting Episode 8 in 4 parts.

Conclusion of Episode 7 but only half-way point in the Functions of the Executive by Chester Barnard. In the second part of this episode we take a closer look at the antecedents of organized labour, as proposed in the book. If you want to learn how individuals become phases of cooperation or what are the conditions for healthy organizational functioning, among other fascinating things, listen to this part of our conversation.