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Exploring What an Organization Is

In: Chester I. Barnard: Innovator of Organization Theory

Author

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  • Kazuhito Isomura

    (Chuo University)

Abstract

This chapter aims to trace how Barnard created his concepts of organization as he developed his career at AT&T from general staff to top manager. It examines published papers and unpublished manuscripts in which Barnard presented his views on the organization. When Barnard worked as general staff in the headquarters, he understood an organization as a mechanical structure from the viewpoint of the macro perspective. In contrast, when he became president of New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, he focused on dynamic aspects of the organization; he saw an organization as a system of human interactions from the viewpoint of the micro perspective. Barnard then started to prepare for the Lowell lectures and The Functions of the Executive. Henderson’s reviews contributed to refine and develop Barnard’s conceptual scheme for the theory of organization. As a result, Barnard systematically built his concepts of organization from the cooperative system to formal and informal organizations, to unit and complex formal organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kazuhito Isomura, 2023. "Exploring What an Organization Is," Springer Books, in: Chester I. Barnard: Innovator of Organization Theory, chapter 0, pages 95-107, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-99-7039-1_7
    DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-7039-1_7
    as

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