Organizations in action social science bases of administrati ve theory

Organizations act, but what determines how and when they will act? There is precedent for believing that the organization is but an extension of one or a few people, but this is a deceptively simplified approach, and in reality makes any generalization in organizational theory enormously difficult. Modern-day organizations - manufacturing firms, hospitals, schools, armies, community agencies - are extremely complex in nature, and several strategies, employing a variety of disciplines, are needed to gain a proper understanding of them. Organizations in Action is a classic multidisciplinary study of the behavior of complex organizations as entities. Previous books on the subject focused on the behavior of people in organizational contexts, but this volume considers individual behavior only to the extent that it helps explain the nature of organizations. James D. Thompson offers 95 distinct propositions about the behavior of organizations, all relevant regardless of the culture in which they are found. He classifies organizations according to their technologies and environments, and the theme that organizations must meet and handle uncertainty is central to the books thesis.