Analysis and Synthesis of Industrial Era Organization Theory

This analysis will utilize three seminal books in the field of organizational theory -- Classics of Organization Theory, by Jay M. Shafritz and J.Steven Ott; Complex Organizations, by Charles Perrow; and Images of Organization, by Gareth Morgan. This analysis will take the following form. In Part One, each of the three books will be presented in terms of their subject matter, their underlying assumptions, and their contributions to the field. In Part Two, each of the three books will be analyzed and compared, paying particular attention to their differences. In Part Three, the three books will be synthesized, paying careful attention to a notation of the efficiency and effectiveness of each book. Part Four, the Conclusion, will show how these theories will affect the coming decades and will address key issues of a) human nature and human beings; b) sources of authority and power; c) communication; d) roles of managers and leaders; e) view of organizational boundaries; f) view of structural differences; and, g) view of organizational success.

(Shafritz, J.M.; Ott, J.S. (1991), Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing)

Shafritz and Ott are not theorists but editors and in this work they have compiled numerous writings about organizational theory, all of them considered to be seminal works. The purpose of the collection is to provide the tyro scholar in the field of organizational theory w

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1986, 18). In this book, the most original of the three under consideration, he states that his task is "borrowing" what has traditionally been thought of as a literary device, the term "metaphor" to define and understand the complex theory of organizational behavior. For maximum clarity, he ensures that he produces very clear parameters of how he is using the term. "The use of metaphor," he suggests, "implies a way of thinking and a way of seeing that pervade how we understand our world generally. . .We use metaphor whenever we attempt to understand one element of experience in terms of another" (p. 23). Morgan constantly cautions that a metaphor is not simply a shortcut to understanding, since it, of necessity, gives a skewed approach to understanding. Morgan's approach is to trace the "idea" of organizational development using a developmental paradigm that follows a path from mechanism to humanism. He lays out this theme in 12 chapters that gradually increase in complexity. It is from Chapters 3 and 4 that the main ideas for this analysis will be drawn, since these two chapters have the most humanistic approach. Morgan credits previous scholars who conceived "open systems theory," a system of beliefs that was, in

Category: Business - A