We now return to the Carnegie-Mellon School for another classic of organization theory – James March and Herbert Simon’s book Organizations, first edition published by Wiley in 1958 and the second edition published by Blackwell in 1993. The book is one of the most cited texts and is the source of a number of novel concepts that have become ingrained in organizational discourse – such as bounded rationality and satisficing. Although portions of the book were covered in Episode 4 (Organizational Routines) as part of the first episode in this Series, we felt it was important to examine the full text in detail.
As a whole, the book constitutes an extensive research agenda emanating from several key questions about organizations that “classic” organization theory (explained in Chapter 2) left unanswered. Classic theory viewed organizations as machines and its members as parts of it. Hence, sometimes actual behaviors did not align with the theory. The unintended effects needed to be explained, and thus the authors examined the more emergent theories of bureaucracy – Merton, Selznick (see Episode 75), and Gouldner (see Episode 78) among them – and proposed a number of variables and relationships that researchers should explore to account for these behaviors. In total, there are over 200 variables named (and listed in an Appendix) from which several hundred propositions are argued, covering such topics as how decisions are made; how members decide to join, stay, or leave the organization; how conflict arises and is mitigated; and how organizations plan or innovate.
The intervening thirty-five years between the 1st and 2nd editions provided plenty of opportunity for reflection, and in the Introduction for the 2nd edition, the author provide a strong self-critique. For example, they would have given more consideration to historical and social contexts of organizations (p. 5). Still, while subsequent research has produced more robust treatments of the propositions laid out in this book, the propositions themselves largely still ring true. In the past decade, scholars continue to talk more about extending March and Simon’s work rather than debunking or replacing it. That’s the mark of a true classic.
Read with us:
March, J. & Simon, H. (1993). Organizations, 2nd ed. Blackwell.
To Learn More:
Tosi, H. L. (2008). James March and Herbert Simon, Organizations. Theories of Organization, 1(3), 93-102.
Wilden, R., Hohberger, J., Devinney, T. M., & Lumineau, F. (2019). 60 Years of March and Simon’s Organizations: An empirical examination of its impact and influence on subsequent research. Journal of Management Studies, 56(8), 1570-1604.
Other Talking About Organizations Podcast episodes referenced:
Episode 4. Carnegie-Mellon Series #1 — Organizational Routines
Episode 41. Images of Organization — Gareth Morgan
Episode 75: Institutionalization — Philip Selznick
Episode 78: Patterns of Bureaucracy — Alvin Gouldner
