THE EVOLUTION OF
MANAGEMENT
THOUGHT, 6TH EDITION
Electronic Resource by:
Regina Greenwood and Julia Teahen
Chapter Fifteen
People and Organizations
People and Organizations
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Eduard C. Lindeman (1885-1953)
Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974)
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
Abraham H. Maslow (1908-1970)
Joseph N. Scanlon (1899-1956)
James F. Lincoln (1883-1965)
Charles P. McCormick (1876-1970)
William Foote Whyte (1914-2000)
Leadership Studies at Michigan and Ohio State with
Rensis Likert (1903-1981), Ralph Stogdill (1904-1978)
and Carroll L. Shartle (1903-1993).
People at Work – Micro View
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Eduard C. Lindeman
Early study of group
behavior in member
interaction,
participation, and
attitudes
 Origin of phrase
“participant-observer”
 Lindeman was a cohort
of Mary Parker Follett
and they appear to
have influenced each
other.
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Reproduced from the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org
People at Work – Micro View
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Jacob Moreno
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Jacob Moreno,
courtesy of Dr. Walter Logeman
Sociometry, trying to classify
individuals into groups that were
capable of harmonious
relationships.
Sociogram, mapping interpersonal
preferences…there was a
difference when preferences were
for social vs. task mates.
Psychodrama, a cathartic
experience for an individual in a
group setting
Sociodrama, the basis of role
playing.
Role reversal, taking the role of
others and a useful technique for
working with culturally diverse
groups.
People at Work – Micro View
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Kurt Lewin
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Group dynamics and
field theory – Gestalt
notions for
understanding
individuals in groups.
Quasi-stationary
equilibrium. Groups
never achieved a steady
state but were
continuously in a process
of mutual adaptation.
People at Work – Micro View
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Kurt Lewin and Leadership
 During leadership studies, Lewin asked his counselors
to role play democratic or authoritarian styles and
found what he expected in boy’s reactions.
 One counselor, however, misplayed his role and, rather
than throwing the data out, Lewin called this “laissezfaire,” meaning no leadership.
 This style has persisted in the literature despite its
inaccuracy.
People at Work – Micro View
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Kurt Lewin and Changing
Behavior
Lewin’s found that group
participation facilitated the
change process.
His three step model is still a
foundation for modern theory:
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“unfreezing” through
participation
“moving” to the new level
“freezing” (reinforcing) the
desired new behavior.
Lewin’s work became the basis
for sensitivity training through his
influence on Leland Bradford.
Kurt Lewin. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/338099/Kurt-Lewin
Changing Assumptions about People at
Work
Motivation
Job
Enlargement
Participation
Leadership
Motivation – Abraham H. Maslow
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Abraham Maslow’s
“humanistic psychology”
was a revolt against
behaviorism leading to the
Third Force in psychology.
His contact with industry led
to the book Eupsychian
Management.
Motivation – Abraham H. Maslow
Dynamics of need fulfillment or deprivation
Hierarchy of Needs
Motivation – A.H. Maslow
The Journals of Abraham Maslow by Abraham Maslow. The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1982.
Joseph Scanlon
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Union official and later
a colleague of Douglas
McGregor at MIT.
The Scanlon Plan
A union-management
productivity plan
whereby groups of
workers got bonuses for
proposing savings in
labor costs
 Group oriented
 Not profit sharing.
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James F. Lincoln
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Lincoln believed in rewarding
individual efforts based on skill
ratings.
 Wages
and benefits were comparable
to the Cleveland area labor market
 In addition, bonuses were paid for
performance based on quality and
quantity of output as well as selfmanagement.
 Bonuses are substantial.
Job Enlargement
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Research in the 1940’s by Walker and Guest
indicated some possible improvements if jobs were
designed to lengthen (broaden) the work cycle.
This concerned combining jobs rather than
increasing job depth.
Participation
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Participation was a power-equalization thesis of
this period to play down the importance of the
organizational hierarchy.
James Worthy (1910-1998)
 Worthy
at Sears, Roebuck argued for flatter structures
and decentralization.
 Also worked with the University of Chicago’s
Committee on Human Relations to study the impact of
structure on employee morale.
Participation
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William B. Given, Jr. – “bottom-up” approach
Charles P. McCormick – a plan for participation
which is still operative in the McCormick Company
(tea, spice, and extract firm).
 Junior
Boards were created (“multiple management”)
to improve communications, manager development,
and coordination through participation.
 The Golden Rule was the basis for his successful
technique for managing people.
Rensis Likert – University of Michigan
Studies
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Rensis Likert found a two
dimensional orientation:
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An employee orientation stressing
interpersonal relations
A production orientation focusing
on producing
An employee orientation
coupled with more general
supervision led to higher
productivity, better morale,
lower turnover, greater group
cohesiveness and less
employee anxiety.
Ohio State University Studies
Ralph M. Stogdill
Carroll L. Shartle
Ohio State University Studies
Summary of Michigan and OSU
Leadership Studies
Despite differing terminology, leadership was viewed
by each as a two-by-two matrix of leader behaviors
in which people-oriented was not mutually exclusive
of a production orientation.
People at Work: The Macro View
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William Foote Whyte (1914-2000) – restaurant
studies
E. Wight Bakke (1903-1971) – formal and
informal systems
Herbert A. Simon (1916-2001) – how choices were
made
George C. Homans (1910-1989) – activities,
interactions, sentiments
People at Work: The Macro View
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William F. Whyte’s
restaurant study:
 Status ran counter to
workflow and who
initiated work for others.
 Whyte's work was key to
the idea of sociotechnical systems.
 Whyte is noted for
“participatory action
research.”
People at Work: The Macro View
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E. Wight Bakke
 the
interactions of the formal and informal systems;
 the "bonds" of organization;
 the "fusion" process involving organizational position
and personal views of standing or status.
People at Work: The Macro View
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Herbert A. Simon, Nobel
Laureate, was influenced by
Barnard.
Wrote about limits that
“bound the area of
rationality.“
This led to “satisficing" or
"good enough" decisions.
People at Work: The Macro View
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For Simon, composite decisions are
better due to limits on a person's
ability to achieve better solutions;
participation by different groups
would be an improvement.
With James March (1928-), Simon
wrote the influential book
Organizations.
People at Work: The Macro View
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George Homans was
influenced by Pareto.
His study of relationships in
work and social systems
found dimensions such as:
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Activities, formal or
informal.
Interactions, prescribed or
emergent.
Sentiments, the elusive
nature of feelings.
Summary
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Evolving management thought had two phases in this period:
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Micro level inquiry into sociometry, group dynamics, participation,
leadership and motivation
Macro level search for models to explain interactions between the
formal and informal organization.
Human relation additions to concepts of management include:
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An increasing emphasis on the social
Enlarging jobs to counteract overspecialization
Less emphasis on hierarchy, more on participation
Recognition of the informal organization
Developing the means to study the interaction of the formal and
informal organization.