Description
Book SynopsisAn 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
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
1. INFORMATION, UNCERTAINTY, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTION IN ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY
Rationality
Uncertainty
Uncertainty About What?
Information
Structure and Function
The Plan of the Book
2. INDIVIDUALS' SKILLS AS INFORMATION PROCESSING:CHARLES F. SABEL AND THE DIVISION OF LABOR
Introduction
Relations Between Routines and Skills
Two Relations Between Routines and Human Decisions
Complexity of the Routine
Artisans at the Beginning of the Industrial Revolution
The Division of Skill Between Workers and Professionals
Three Organizations for Learning Routines and Decision Skills
Earnings Curves for Craftsmen, Professionals, and Managers
Jurisdictions of Occupations
The Determinants of the Division of Labor Between Engineers and Skilled Workers
Manufacturing Artisans in the Early Industrial Revolution
Economic and Technical Threats to Artisan Organization
Authority Reorganization and Artisan Skill
The Ideology of Mass Production Management
Scientific Management Authority in Practice
Conflict over the New Authority System
"Fordism"
The Impact of Certainty and Uncertainty on Fordism
Sources of Uncertainty in the Market
Conclusion
3. MANUFACTURING INFORMATION SYSTEMS:SOURCES OF TECHNICAL UNCERTAINTY AND THE INFORMATION FOR TECHNICAL DECISIONS 73
Introduction
People Driving versus Information Systems in Management
Some Data on Manufacturing Information Systems
Operating Characteristics of Information Systems
Types of Operating Information Systems
Summary of Dimensions That Differentiate Operating Information Systems
Conclusion
4. MARKET UNCERTAINTY AND DIVISIONALIZATION:ALFRED D. CHANDLER'S STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE
Introduction
The Concepts of Centralization and Decentralization
A Definition of Methodological Individualism
Individuals in Du Pont: Organizing Information Flows
Individuals in Du Pont: Organizational Theory
Individuals in Du Pont: Responsibility for Inventing and Adopting a Remedy
Individuals in Du Pont and HUD: How Decentralization Works
Is It Still Sociology?
The Causes of Divisionalization
General Motors Creates a Multidivisional Structure by Centralizing
The Centralization Revolution at General Motors
The Theoretical Problem of Sears
Regional Information in Merchant Wholesaling and Sears
Commodity Line Rationality versus Store Inventory Rationality
The General Problem of Wholesaling
Organizational Problems of the Service Sector
What Is Chandler's Independent Variable?
Conclusion
5. TURNING INVENTIONS INTO INNOVATIONS: SCHUMPETER'S ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY MODERNIZED
Introduction
Innovation, the Learning Curve of Cost Reduction, and Monopoly
Cases in Which the Follower and Innovator Have Learning Curves of Different Shape
Innovation, the Marketing Network, and Monopoly
The Theory or Doctrine of an Innovation
A "Zero Resources Innovation" Described in Detail
The Multidivisional Structure of Chandler as an Innovation
Social Predictors of Success in Introducing Innovations
Technological Utopianism
Investment Approval
Cost Reduction and Manufacturing Improvements
Markets and Innovation Success
The Division of Benefits
Examples of Incentives for Innovation
Divisionalization and Innovation
Conclusion
6. ORGANIZING INFORMATION OUTSIDE THE FIRM:CONTRACTS AS HIERARCHICAL DOCUMENTS
Introduction
An Extended Definition of Hierarchy
Prediction of Performance Requirements and Performance Measurement
Elements of Hierarchy in Contract Contents
Theoretical Conclusion
Notes
7. SEGMENTATION OF THE LABOR MARKET AND INFORMATION ON THE SKILL OF WORKERS
The Fundamental Uncertainty of the Labor Contract
Institutional Substitutes for Measurement of Productivity
Types of Information About Work Performance
A General Theory of Certification
The Great Segmenting Factor Is Who Holds the Job Now
Segmentation by Internal Labor Markets: Promotions Go to Those Now Employed by Big Firms and Government
Worker-Controlled Recruitment in Professional and Craft Occupations
Family Recruitment in Small Firm Sectors
Union Membership as a Certificate of Productivity
The Secondary Labor Market
Conclusion
8. CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY: E. P. THOMPSON APPLIED TO CONTEMPORARY CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
Introduction
Unity in Diversity: Why Are Societies with Factories So Much Alike?
E. P. Thompson's Conception of Working-Class Consciousness
Cross-national Variation in Class Consciousness
Class Consciousness in Soviet Societies
Class Consciousness in Corporatist Capitalism
The Culture in Which Class Consciousness Grew
The Cultural Perception of Exploitation,Oppression, and the Wage Bargain
Constitutionalism in Modern Organizations
Debureaucratization, or Individualizing the Labor Contract
Low Unionization of the Modern Service Sector:Theory
Service-Sector Class Consciousness: Demography
Service-Sector Class Consciousness: Selling Status Symbols
Service-Sector Class Consciousness: The Small Firm Effect
Conclusion
9. UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION OF RESEARCH SPACE AND TEACHING LOADS: MANAGERS WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEIR WORKERS ARE DOING
Types of Information About Work Performance
A General Theory of Certification
The Great Segmenting Factor Is Who Holds the Job Now
Segmentation by Internal Labor Markets:Promotions Go to Those Now Employed by Big Firms and Government
Worker-Controlled Recruitment in Professional and Craft Occupations
Family Recruitment in Small Firm Sectors
Union Membership as a Certificate of Productivity
The Secondary Labor Market
Conclusion
8. CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY: E. P. THOMPSON APPLIED TO CONTEMPORARY CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
Introduction
Unity in Diversity: Why Are Societies with Factories So Much Alike?
E. P. Thompson's Conception of Working-Class Consciousness
Cross-national Variation in Class Consciousness
Class Consciousness in Soviet Societies
Class Consciousness in Corporatist Capitalism
The Culture in Which Class Consciousness Grew
The Cultural Perception of Exploitation,Oppression, and the Wage Bargain
Constitutionalism in Modern Organizations
Debureaucratization, or Individualizing the Labor Contract
Low Unionization of the Modern Service Sector:Theory
Service-Sector Class Consciousness: Demography
Service-Sector Class Consciousness: Selling Status Symbols
Service-Sector Class Consciousness: The Small Firm Effect
Conclusion
9. UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION OF RESEARCH SPACE
AND TEACHING LOADS: MANAGERS WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEIR WORKERS ARE DOING
