Talking About Organizations Podcast

On The Functions of The Executive (1938) by Chester Barnard. Join us for this two-episode (four-part) conversation about one of the most influential management and organization texts of... well, ever!In Part 1 of Episode 7 we talk about Parts I and II of the book, concerning Barnard's theory of what humans are and how they (we) are motivated; as well as fundamental principles of cooperation and coordination. Have you ever thought of yourself as a 'phase of cooperation' while at work? No? Well, tune in to learn why Barnard did and why it makes a degree of sense to do so!

A summary of our discussion in Episode 6 with some bonus examples and an outline of the reading. During the main episode we discussed topics such as: rules, what is bureaucracy for, and who is bureaucracy for, among many other (smaller) ones.Listen to this summary if you would like a quick abstract of the episode, if you are interested in teaching/learning about Weberian bureaucracy, or simply to refresh you knowledge of this timeless classic.

In the concluding part of our discussion of Max Weber's bureaucracy we pay closer attention to his views on rules, the rational-legal authority principle, and to how bureaucracy works in more contemporary, horizontal forms of organization. Also, Ralph tells us about how nuclear reactors work and what is the one thing you should never do to them!

Bureaucracy. What is it? Who is it for? How does it work and what are the limits of it? Join us for this episode as we explore Max Weber's ideal-type bureaucracy and attempt to make sense of its, sometimes peculiar, implications.In order to do so we have read two Chapters from his magnum opus - Economy and Society. Chapter 3 on Three Forms of Legitimate Domination, where he outlines his view on bureaucracy for the first time; and Chapter 11 on Bureaucracy, where he goes into more detail on how bureaucracy ought to work, why it is superior to preceding forms of organization and what are the characteristics of it.

In Part 2, we conclude our discussion of the Giving of Orders by Mary Parker Follett. Most significantly we finally arrived at an understanding of what a situation is and how it manifests itself in Follett's understanding of management. We also went in more depth on such topics as normative control, organizational and individual learning, and historical and theoretical context within which this work is situated. This has been a very enjoyable reading and a thought-provoking discussion and we urge you to join us and learn about one of the founding thinkers of management and her alternative take on how to achieve efficiency.

How to issue orders? When is it right to do so? Are you going to hurt the feelings of your employees? Does it matter? These and many other questions are at the centre of 'The Giving of Orders' (1926) by Mary Parker Follett. This seminal work written at the height of Scientific Management dares to compete with the establishment and, in doing so, contributes so much to our current understanding of business and organization. Easy to read and simple to follow, this text is a lecture given by Mary Parker Follett at a scientific management conference where she outlined a part of her scholarship - all in all, an excellent overview of something as central to management as the giving of orders.

In the final part of our discussion on organizational routines we continue examining how routines relate to the internal/external organization, what are the external stimuli and how valid is it to postulate them as catalysts for the routines, and why the more contemporary term 'routines' can be a misleading way to refer to the 'performance programmes' that the authors wrote about. Join us for this super-informative discussion as Katharina tells us everything we wanted to know about routines but were afraid to ask (well, not really - we did ask!).

In Episode 4 we are discussing the origins of organizational routines with the help of our special guest Dr Katharina Dittrich. Organizational routines are ways to reduce complexity and distribute learning throughout the organization. The idea is simple - once a problem occurred often enough and a solution has been found, the solving of this problem can become routinised so that employees no longer have to 'reinvent the wheel'. Corporate procedures such as hiring and firing and order processing are some of the examples.Join us for part 1 of this fascinating discussion as Dmitrijs inadvertently finds himself playing a role of devil's advocate as Katharina delivers a stunning amount of knowledge about routines.

Our first special guest, Dr Katharina Dittrich explains what organizational routines are, where they came from and why and talks about how the readings she helped us pick for Episode 4 - Behavioral Theory of the Firm (1963) by Cyert and March, and Organization (1958) by March and Simon - relate to one another. To learn more about Episode 4 and why (as well as how) it is different, check out Carnegie Mellon School Series: An Introduction from last week!

Upcoming Episode 4 is going to be focused on the “Carnegie Mellon School” with a special emphasis on organizational routines. You will note that the structure of Episode 4, and the episodes on this subject that follow, is slightly different because we have chosen to explore the ‘entire’ school by focusing on single key topics, which are identified across texts and authors. This is mostly because the authors within this tradition are not famous for just one work but have given rise to a series of what are considered to be seminal works. In this sense the Carnegie Mellon School resembles a small community of scholars in, what was at that time, a minor institution from which fundamental intellectual cornerstones emerged and which still have a great influence over management and organization studies (and many other fields as well!).Listen to this short introduction to find our more about how such episodes are going to work and about why we decided to pay such close attention to Carnegie Mellon School in particular.