contingency theory

65: Organizational Structure — The Aston School

June 9, 2020 Pedro Monteiro
The Aston Group was based in the United Kingdom and played a major role in the early development of organization theory and management science. Starting in the 1960s, they carried out a program of research that departed from the comparative study of work organizations in the Birmingham area in the UK and contributed landmark works on organizational structure and the development of contingency approach.Read More

60: Contingency Theory — Joan Woodward

January 14, 2020 Tom Galvin
Joan Woodward was a pioneer in organization theory, and in this episode we explore her seminal work Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice, originally published in 1965. The book presents the results of an extensive longitudinal study of the technologies, processes, and systems used by over one hundred industrial firms concentrated in southeast England over a ten year period. Read More

16: Contingency Theory – Lawrence and Lorsch

August 30, 2016 Dmitrijs Kravcenko 0:10:02
We discuss Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch's book “Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration” and a series of papers which advance an open systems perspective on organizations. The contingency school postulates that there is not one best way to structure work or an organization. An optimum course of action depends – is contingent – on the external and local conditions in which an organization is inserted. Read More

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5: The Law of the Situation – Mary Parker Follett

January 26, 2016 Dmitrijs Kravcenko 0:21:27
This episode is a review of one of Mary Parker Follett’s great lectures, "The Giving of Orders," contained in a collection of Follett’s lectures and writings that was assembled by Lyndall Urwick at the end of her life in an effort to preserve her ideas for others. Follett believed that exploring “the science of the situation” involved both management and workers studying the situation together. Read More

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