Talking About Organizations Podcast

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 b...

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 wo...

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 b...

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...

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 longe...

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 Carneg...

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 t...

In Episode 3 we discuss what is, perhaps, one of the most famous theories in management - the pyramid of human motivation by A.H. Maslow. Maslow's name has become synonymous with achieving motivation through gradual satisfaction of five categories of physio-psychological needs. In Part 1 we discuss the significance of Maslow's actual contribution, discover key but neglected aspects of his theory,...

In Episode 2 we convene to discuss Chapter 4 of General and Industrial Management by Henri Fayol. This work was composed only a few years after The Principles of Scientific Management by F.W. Taylor (Episode 1) and yet it remained virtually unknown to the English-speaking world until 1949. Never the less, Fayol's ideas have been, and still are, central to management theory and practice. Join us fo...

We are proud to inaugurate the podcast with a discussion of the theory of Scientific Management by F.W. Taylor. Join Dmitrijs, Ralph, Pedro and Miranda as they talk about Taylor's views on human motivation, knowledge and expertise, role in the development of commercial bureaucracy and why he advocated management based on systematic measurement and tasks in favor of anything else.