ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND THE CHRYSLER CORPORATION
This research examines the application or organizational theory at the Chrysler Corporation. Organizational theory is considered within the general classification of organizational systems offered by W. Richard Scott (1987, pp. 27 28) and the "Human Potential Model" suggested by David Carlson (1989, pp. 1 7).
The contemporary Chrysler Corporation is the descendant of the Maxwell Motor Car Company (Moskowitz, Katz, and Levering, 1986, p. 282). Walter Chrysler took over Maxwell as president in 1920, and in 1925 the name of the company was changed to the Chrysler Corporation.
The new "Chrysler" line of automobiles was so successful that by 1926 the company had moved from a ranking of 27 in the American automobile industry to fifth place. At that time, only Ford, General Motors, Dodge, and Nash ranked ahead of Chrysler. In 1928, Chrysler acquired Dodge Motor Company, and the company's structure was, essentially, established for the next 59 years, and Chrysler soon became the number three automobile manufacturer in the United States.
In 1946, there were ten passenger car manufacturers operating in the US Checker, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Hudson, Kaiser, Nash, Packard, Studebaker, and Willys Overland, which were all that remained of the more than 40 passenger car manufacturers in the country prior to the economic depression of
the 1930s. By the early 1970s, however, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors (the successor to Nash, Hudson, Kaiser, and Willys Overland) were the only American owned domestic automobile manufacturers, although Volkswagen had established a manufacturing facility in the country, and Honda was soon to follow suit. American Motors was eventually acquired by Chrysler.
The Chrysler Corporation is an interesting vehicle for the examination of organizational theory because of the company's struggles for continued existence sinc...