Information and OrganizationsUniversity of California Press, 1990 M06 11 - 404 pages An ambitious new work by a well-respected sociologist, Information and Organizations provides a bold perspective of the dynamics of organizations. Stinchcombe contends that the "information problem" and the concept of "uncertainty" provide the key to understanding how organizations function. In a delightful mix of large theoretical insights and vivid anecdotal material, Stinchcombe explores the ins and outs of organizations from both a macro and micro perspective. He reinterprets the work of the renowned scholars of business, Alfred Chandler, James March and Oliver Williamson, and looks in depth at corporations like DuPont and General Motors. Along the way, Stinchcombe explores subjects as varied as class consciousness, innovation, contracts and university administration. All of these analyses are distinguished by incisive thinking and creative new approaches to issues that have long confronted business people and those interested in organizational theory. A tour de force, Information and Organizations is a must-read for business people and scholars of many stripes. It promises to be a widely discussed and debated work. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 INDIVIDUALS SKILLS AS INFORMATION PROCESSING | 32 |
SOURCES OF TECHNICAL UNCERTAINTY AND THE INFORMATION FOR TECHNICAL DECISIONS | 73 |
4 MARKET UNCERTAINTY AND DIVISIONALIZATION | 100 |
SCHUMPETERS ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY MODERNIZED | 152 |
CONTRACTS AS HIERARCHICAL DOCUMENTS | 194 |
7 SEGMENTATION OF THE LABOR MARKET AND INFORMATION ON THE SKILL OF WORKERS | 240 |
E P THOMPSON APPLIED TO CONTEMPORARY CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS | 274 |
MANAGERS WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEIR WORKERS ARE DOING | 312 |
10 CONCLUSION | 341 |
Bibliography | 363 |
| 379 | |
| 385 | |
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Common terms and phrases
administration analysis analyzed argument artificial leather basic building buyers buying central certification Chandler Chapter class consciousness client competitive complex construction contractor cost create crucial decentralized decisions divisional divisions drilling duction E. P. Thompson economic employers engineering example fact factory faculty firm Fisher Body flow fordism functional hierarchy hire incentive system individual industry information system innovation inventory investment labor contract labor market learning machine manufacturing measurement ment methodological individualism monopoly Motors operations organization organizational particular percent performance Pierre du Pont political Pont predict problems production professional profits rational reputation responsibility risk routines Sears sell skilled workers social structure sort space specifications standard Statoil Stinchcombe teaching technical technological utopianism tend theory things time-and-motion study tion trade unions uncer uncertainty United variable wage working-class