To call for decentralization, representative bureaucracy, collegial authority, or employee-centered, innovative or organic organizations - to mention… - Charles Perrow

" "

To call for decentralization, representative bureaucracy, collegial authority, or employee-centered, innovative or organic organizations - to mention only a few of the highly normative prescriptions that are being offered by social scientists today - is to call for a type of structure that can be realized only with a certain type of technology, unless we are willing to pay a high cost in terms of output. Given a routine technology, the much maligned Weberian bureaucracy probably constitutes the socially optimum form of organizational structure.

English
Collect this quote

About Charles Perrow

Charles B. Perrow (born February 9, 1925) is an American Emeritus Professor of sociology at and visiting professor at . He is the author of several books and many articles on organizations, and is primarily concerned with the impact of large organizations on society. Perrow graduated in 1960 at the University of California, Berkeley, supervised by Philip Selznick, with the unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, entitled "Authority, Goals, and Prestige in a General Hospital." Perrow's research interests broadened over the years. Nowadays they include "the development of bureaucracy in the 19th Century; the radical movements of the 1960s; Marxian theories of industrialization and of contemporary crises; accidents in such high risk systems as nuclear plants, air transport, DNA research and chemical plants; protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure; the prospects for democratic work organizations; and the origins of U.S. capitalism (source: yale.edu)."

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Charles B. Perrow • C. B. Perrow • Charles Bryce Perrow
All quotes from Charles Perrow Similar Quotes by other Originators
Works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI

Add semantic quote search to your AI assistant via MCP. One command setup.

Set Up MCP

Additional quotes by Charles Perrow

Routine tasks... are well-established techniques which are sure to work, and these are applied to essentially similar raw materials, That is, there is little uncertainty about methods and little variety or change in the tasks that must be performed.
Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from
Find Similar
Inspection of the questionnaires also indicated that because staff members in the more custodial institutions were more willing to use negative sanctions they probably were confronted with less disruptive behavior, since the inmates recognized the costs of acting as they felt.
Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from
Find Similar