Chester Barnard: Organizations as Networks of People

Chester Barnard was a Harvard economist and follower of Max Weber. And he was one of the few major management thinkers who actually held a senior line management position! He spent all of his working life at American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T).
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The Nature of Organizations
=======================
This video is part of course module number 6.1.5
Program 6: Managing within Organizations
Course 1: The Nature of Organizations
Section 5: Masters of Organizations
Other videos in this section include:
🎬 Max Weber: The Father of Organizational Theory • Max Weber: The Father ...
🎬 Harold Geneen: Data-driven Charismatic Organization • Harold Geneen: Data-dr...
🎬 Edgar Schein: The Master of Organizational Culture • Edgar Schein: The Mast...
🎬 Charles Handy: Philosopher of Organizations • Charles Handy: Philoso...
🎬 Kim Cameron: Positive Organizational Scholarship • Kim Cameron: Positive ...
LESSON NOTES
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Chester Barnard was focused on the interconnectedness of organizations and the involvement of executives, employees, suppliers, customers, and investors.
In many ways, he anticipated ideas like Porter’s 5 Forces and the conception of stakeholders of men like E Merrick Dodd, Frank W Abrams, and Igor Ansoff.
Barnard’s basic idea is simple.
People have their own individual motivations. But, when we come together to work towards common goals (or purpose), we become an organization.
The organization then needs to prompt further willingness to collaborate, with incentives. This is especially so when the purpose of the organization differs in some way from the goals of its individual members.
Barnard also focused on the need for effective communication:
• A formal channel of communication to link every member to the organization
• Everyone understands the channels of communication
• Communication channels short be as short and direct as possible
He believed that large organizations are made up of lots of small organizations - thus anticipating ideas around ad hocracy and holacracy! Smaller groupings can operate with less formality and therefore greater speed. But, as they grow, they have to establish more formal systems, to ensure everyone understands and focuses on the same goals.
RECOMMENDED EXERCISE
======================
How effective is communication in your organization? Assess it by reference to are Chester Barnard's three criteria. (3 MC CPD Points)
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RECOMMENDED READING
=====================
Chester Barnard's book, 'The Functions of the Executive' is not available. But the book, 'Management Theory by Chester Barnard: An Introduction' explains his ideas well
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Also look at:
- Understanding Organizations geni.us/oB774Do
- Images of Organization geni.us/hrOemEs
- Inside Organizations: 21 Ideas for Managers geni.us/YwwL
Managers Need a Basic set of kit to do your job well. Here are my top recommendations: kit.co/MikeCla... (the links are affiliated)
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#OrganizationalCulture #ManagementCourses #ChesterBarnard

[@ManagementCourses]

Organizations harness our instinct to collaborate. That's the core of Chester Barnard's thinking. He was an important early contributor to our understanding of organizations. Thank you for watching - please do like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so KZbin knows to let you know when I produce more videos.

[@pfjasonwu]

This is great content. Thanks for the effort.

[@ManagementCourses]

Thank you very much - it's my pleasure.

[@cartergomez5390]

Can you talk about the history of rational planning and prescriptive approaches?

[@ManagementCourses]

Thank you. I am not sure I know what you mean. Are you referring to the rational planning model? If so, this looks a lot like basic project management to me. But I don't know much about it. Prescriptive approaches, as a term, is not familiar to me. I'll put them on a list of possible video topics and if you can be more specific, I can better assess their priority.

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[@ManagementCourses]

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Field practicum

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I don't understand the relevance?