The early evolution of the foundations for behavioral organization theory and strategy
Abstract
While the field(s) of management theory and the history of modern ideas in
management, business education and organizations have many different intellectual
roots, the Carnegie Mellon Behavioral trio (James March, Herbert Simon and Richard
Cyert) who founded the behavioral perspective on organizations stand out not just for
their collective contribution to founding the field of organizational behavior as we know
it today, but also for their subsequent individual contributions to the field.
Organizations and Behavioral Theory of the Firm set the stage for several subsequent developments in
organization and management theory including research on learning, strategic manage-
ment, organizational economics and organizational routines (Gibbons, 2003; Pierce, Boerner & Teece, 2002; Williamson, 2002, 2004; Augier & Teece, 2005, 2009).
In addition to providing some background on the Carnegie work, this paper traces the
genealogy and development of some of the work of the founding fathers, and making
the points that (1) while the work of Herbert Simon crossed disciplinary boundaries, he
saw himself as doing only one thing, working in understanding limited rationality in decision making and (2) the work of James March shaped the field in a co-evolutionary way since he has been influenced too by the developments in organization studies.
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2012.11.005
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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